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Sinti


The Sinti (also Sinta or Sinte; masc. sing. Sinto; fem. sing. Sintesa) are a Romani people of Central Europe. They were traditionally itinerant, but today only a small percentage of the group remains unsettled. In earlier times, they frequently lived on the outskirts of communities. The Sinti of Central Europe are closely related to the group known as Manouche in France. They speak the Sinti-Manouche variety of Romani, which exhibits strong German influence.

"Sinti" may be derived from "Sindhi", the name of a people of the Sindh region in Pakistan, a notion popular among the Sinti themselves, although the vast majority of scholars and anthropologists have claimed that there is no basis for the comparison.

The Sinti arrived in Germany and Austria in the Late Middle Ages along with Romani from India, eventually splitting into two groups: Eftavagarja ("the Seven Caravans") and Estraxarja ("from Austria"). They arrived in Germany at least before 1540. The two groups expanded, the Eftavagarja into France, Portugal and Brazil, where they are called "Manouches", and the Estraxarja into Italy and Central Europe, mainly what are now Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, eventually adopting various regional names. In Italy they are present mainly in Piedmont region (where in Piedmontese they are called Sinto, although the word for Gypsies is sìngher, as the Italian zingaro), with some communities in Veneto and Emilia Romagna as well.


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