Roma in Spain
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (Estimated 720,000-1,500,000) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Spain
|
|
| Languages | |
| Caló · Spanish · Catalan · Basque (Erromintxela) · Galician · Asturian · Aragonese · Roma | |
| Religion | |
|
Predominantly Evangelicalism, Roman Catholicism |
|
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Other Romani people |
The Romani people in Spain, generally known as gitanos (Spanish pronunciation: [xiˈtanos]), belong to the Iberian Kale group, with smaller populations in Portugal (known as ciganos) and in southern France. They tend to speak Caló, which basically encompasses a range of regional dialects of Spanish with numerous Romani loan words and mannerisms. Nevertheless, to varying degrees, they identify with Andalusian culture and music due to the large and culturally significant gitano population present in that region. Data on ethnicity is not collected in Spain, although the Government's statistical agency CIS estimated in 2007 that the number of Gitanos present in Spain is probably around one million.
The term "gitano" evolved from the word "egiptano" ("Egyptian"), the Old Spanish demonym for someone from "Egipto" (Egypt). "Egiptano" was the regular adjectival form for someone from Egypt, however, in Middle and Modern Spanish the irregular adjectival form "egipcio" suplanted "egiptano" to mean Egyptian, while "gitano" went on to refer specifically to Romanis in Spain.
The etymological meaning of the term "gitano", therefore, was originally "Egyptian".
The use of the Spanish word "gitano" to refer to Romanis in Spain evolved from "egiptano" in the same way that the English word "Gypsy" evolved from the term "Egyptian" to refer to Romanis. Both terms are due to some Romanis, upon their first arrivals to Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries, claiming to be Egyptians for a more favourable treatment by local Europeans, or being mistaken as Egyptians by local Europeans.
While it is now known that Romanis are ultimately of northwestern Hindustani origin (an area today shared between India and Pakistan), many did enter Europe via a generations-long migration which included Egypt as one of their last stops before their arrival into Europe.
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Wikipedia