Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/463

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GYMPIE. 411 GYPSIES. GYMPIE, gim'pi. A gold-mining town of JIarili I'uunty, yiu'cnsland. Australia, on the Upper Jlaiy River, 107 miles north of ISrisbane by rail (Map: Queensland, H 9). TopuUition, in lk)l. ll.'.lf.il. GYN^CETJM, jin'e-se'um (Lat., from (ik. )i'i'Oi^t(or, t/i/iiaikcioii, women's apartments, from yvvcuKei'is, iji/iuiiJ:cios, relating to women, from yvvT), yi/nC; woman). The apartments lor women in aneient Greek houses. In the fourth cen- tury A.I), and later, the term was applied to large factories where slaves of both sexes wove and made up clothing of fine stufl's for the im- perial families, and also of coarser materials for the soldiers. These factories were in direct dependence on the Emperor and under the super- vision of imperial officers. GYNECOLOGY, jT'ne-ki.l'o-ji (from Gk. 7u>'7i, f/i/H, woman + -i>yia., -lor/ia. account, from X^- 7«i', legein, to say). That branch of medicine which treats of diseases and afl'ections peculiar to the physical organization of women. All oper- ative work upon the female genital apparatus is called g^'n;ccologieal surgerj-. But childliirth and the care of the parturient womali belong to the domain of Obstetrics (q.v.). Consult Kelly, Opcriitirr (SijiHvcology (New York, 1S98). GYOMA, dyo'nio. A town of Hungary, in the county of Bekes, situated on the Koriis. about 114 miles east-southeast of Budapest by rail ( INIap : Hungary. G .3 ) . The country is extremely fertile and produces much grain and fruit. Cattle and sheep are raised in considerable numbers, and the fishing is also important. Population, in 1900, 11.54.5, mostly Magyar Catholics. GYbNGYOS, dyen'dyesh. A town of Hungary, in the County of Heves, situated at the base of the Matra ^Mountains, about GO miles northeast of Budapest (Jlap: Hungary, F 3). The town has a gvmnasium and a large Franciscan monastery. It manufactures bricks, alcohol, and copper goods, and carries on a large trade in grain, cattle, and particularly wine, the vineyards yielding the grape which prodiices the fine Erlauer wine. In the vicinity are excellent medicinal baths. Popu- lation, in 1900, 10.442, nearly all Magv'ar Catho- lics, GYP, zhep. The nom-de-plume of the French writer Sibylle Gabrielle Jlarie Antoinette de Ricpictti de Mirabeau, Comtesse de Martel de Janville. See Martel de Janville. GYPSIES. A singular race of wandering tribes, scattered through Western Asia, all the countries of FAirope. and Northern Africa, and found, where the tide of modern immigration has flowed, in North and South America and in Aus- tralia. From the standpoint of ethnography and language .ilike they present one of the strangest problems vith which modern scholarship has to deal. Dwelling in the midst of highly civilized nations, associating in the daily life of diverse peoples, they yet retain their physical and racial characteristics and their peculiar language wher- ever they may live. No similar phenomenon is to be observed in all the world. The nearest parallel is to be found in the .Tews, who, also scat- tered among the nations of the earth, retain the distinguishing characteristics and customs of their race: but the .Tews are numerous and pow- erful, and have the influence of a long history and strong traditions, not to speak of the bond Vol. IX— 27. of their ancient religion. The gj'psies, on the other hand, are isolated, unlettered, the despised of the earth ; with no common bond of religion, history, or tradition. It is an unexplainable native" instinct that holds them together in com- muniliis and roving bands, that keeps them apart from the rest of the world, and that drives them to endless, restless roaming. It is in their blood to love the open-air. nonuKlie life; and even where education or .self-interest leads them here and there to adopt the settled haliits of civilization, the old native instinct returns at times and forces them from house and town to the wander- ing life in the fields. Name. In his own language a gypsy calls himself and his race Rom, i.e. 'man,' the man par rxcellciicc, for all the rest of mankind he defines under the generic term (jiijo ( English- gypsy dialect gajo), 'gentile.' His wife is roinni, and all that characterizes him and his ways is summed up in the term romnipen, while his lan- guage is romani. The gypsy of each country accepts the name applied to him by the people, but knows not what it means. These local names are as varied as the countries in which he lives; but if we except the many appellations of gypsy- like tribes in the East (the Luri and the Karachi in Persia, Nowars in Syria, .Tat and Sinti in India, etc.), of which but little is known, they may be reduced to three general categories: (I) Those referring to the supposed origin of the tribe; (2) a group of allied names of uncertain etymology; (3) depreciatory appellations, such as 'heathen' and 'outcasts.' Instances of the third class occur in Holland, where the g;'psie9 are known as ITcidcnet}, 'heathens,' and in Egypt, where they are Hnrami, i.e. 'robbers.' To the sec- ond group belong most of the appellations of Eastern Europe and Germany. Early Byzantine writers (ninth to twelfth century) speak of the wandering tribes under the name aTalymmi, whence the gypsies in Turkey are to-day called Chinriianc, in Bulgaria Cignviii. in Rumania Cigaiui. in Hungary C:igun>i. in Bohemia Cinlcfin, in Germany Zigeuiier (Old German Zigiiirr. Zi- geiner). in Italy Zingari. To their emigi-ation from the East we owe the first group of appella- tions; a very general, but wholly false, belief that they had wandered into Eurojie from Egypt led the Greeks to call them VvipToi, the Albanian"* Jcvk, the Turks Fiirdicni (i.e. 'Pharaohs'), the Hungarians Faraonepe (or Pharaoh's people), Spaniards flltanos, and the English in olden times Egipcions. whence Gi/psies. Similarly in Dcraiiark, Sweden, and Northern Germany they are designated as Tatars, and in France Bohc- miens. Ohigix axd Ethxic Traits. Of their own origin the g-psies can give no sensible account. They are apt, at least those of Western Europe, to follow the popular belief that they came orig- inally from Egy'pt. Among the many authors that have written about them from the fifteenth century to recent times the most diverse and ab- surd theories have been advanced. A fanciful resemblance in their German name Zificiinrr led early writers to trace them to Zeugitania (Tu- nis), or to Singara, in Mesopotamia. Others have sought to trace them to the Saracens, the .Tews, the Amorites, the Canaanites. the Lost Tribes of Israel, or the 'mixed multitude' that followed Moses out of Egypt. It was the com- parison of their language that gave the first clue