Originating in India, the Gypsies arrived in Europe around the 14th century, spreading not only across the entirety of the continent but also immigrating to the Americas. The first Gypsy migration included farmworkers, blacksmiths, and mercenary soldiers, as well as musicians, fortune-tellers, and entertainers. At first, they were generally welcome as an interesting diversion to the dull routine of that period. Soon, however, they attracted the antagonism of the governing powers, as they have continually done throughout the following centuries. The second edition of the Historical Dictionary of the Gypsies (Romanies) seeks to end such prejudice by clarifying the facts about this nomadic people. Through a list of acronyms, a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on significant persons, places, events, institutions, and aspects of culture, society, economy, and politics, the history of the Gypsies and their culture is told.

Through the centuries the Gypsies all over the world have been misunderstood, maligned, rejected. Outcasts of the countries in which they lived, they have wandered for centuries over the face of the earth. They have no homeland, no political unity, no recognition among nations. They have been alone, sundered, shunned, persecuted and banished. Until about a century ago, their original home has been a matter of dispute. Their language has been a source of puzzlement. Yet their conduct and their traditions, their feeling for music, dance and song, have all been acclaimed. Still they were not accepted and were forced to remain apart from conventional society. Here is their epic history, with its folktales and beliefs, its rites and customs. Here is the vast treasury of the Story of the Gypsies. Harry E. Wedeck was a linguistic, scholar of the classics, and observer of spheres beyond the norm. A native of Sheffield, England, Mr. Wedeck was chairman of the department of classical languages at Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn from 1935 to 1950 and then taught the classics at Brooklyn College until 1968. Afterward he lectured on medieval studies at the New School for Social Research, until 1974. Some of his excursions into the unusual remain available in reprint editions. They include "Dictionary of Astrology," "A Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs," "A Treasury of Witchcraft" and "Triumph of Satan." They were originally written near the end of Mr. Wedeck's career, when he was steeped in the classics as an educator in the New York City school and college system.

Originating in India, the Gypsies arrived in Europe around the 14th century, spreading not only across the entirety of the continent but also immigrating to the Americas. The first Gypsy migration included farmworkers, blacksmiths, and mercenary soldiers, as well as musicians, fortune-tellers, and entertainers. At first, they were generally welcome as an interesting diversion to the dull routine of that period. Soon, however, they attracted the antagonism of the governing powers, as they have continually done throughout the following centuries. The A to Z of the Gypsies (Romanies) seeks to end such prejudice by clarifying the facts about this nomadic people. Through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on significant persons, places, events, institutions, and aspects of culture, society, economy, and politics, the history of the Gypsies and their culture is told.

Who are the Romani people? -- Romani society -- Customs and traditions -- The Romani language -- The Roms among the nations -- Between romanticism and racism -- A modern Romani identity -- Appendix: The mosaic of Romani groups.