r, _manro_ means
bread, _mas_ stands for meat, and _lon_ for salt.

The nouns of number are almost the same in every case. The German
dialect seems to me much purer than the Spanish, for it has preserved
numbers of the primitive grammatical forms, whereas the Gitanos have
adopted those of the Castilian tongue. Nevertheless, some words are an
exception, as though to prove that the language was originally common
to all. The preterite of the German dialect is formed by adding _ium_
to the imperative, which is always the root of the verb. In the
Spanish _Romany_ the verbs are all conjugated on the model of the first
conjugation of the Castilian verbs. From _jamar_, the infinitive of "to
eat," the regular conjugation should be _jame_, "I have eaten." From
_lillar_, "to take," _lille_, "I have taken." Yet, some old gipsies
say, as an exception, _jayon_ and _lillon_. I am not acquainted with any
other verbs which have preserved this ancient form.

While I am thus showing off my small acquaintance with the _Romany_
language, I must notice a few words of French slang which our thieves
have borrowed from the gipsies. From _Les Mysteres de Paris_ honest
folk have learned that the word _chourin_ means "a knife." This is
pure _Romany_--_tchouri_ is one of the words which is common to every
dialect. Monsieur Vidocq calls a horse _gres_--this again is a gipsy
word--_gras_, _gre_, _graste_, and _gris_. Add to this the word
_romanichel_, by which the gipsies are described in Parisian slang.
This is a corruption of _romane tchave_--"gipsy lads." But a piece of
etymology of which I am really proud is that of the word _frimousse_,
"face," "countenance"--a word which every schoolboy uses, or did use, in
my time. Note, in the first place, the Oudin, in his curious dictionary,
published in 1640, wrote the word _firlimouse_. Now in _Romany_,
_firla_, or _fila_, stands for "face," and has the same meaning--it
is exactly the _os_ of the Latins. The combination of _firlamui_ was
instantly understood by a genuine gipsy, and I believe it to be true to
the spirit of the gipsy language.

I have surely said enough to give the readers of Carmen a favourable
idea of my _Romany_ studies. I will conclude with the following proverb,
which comes in very appropriately: _En retudi panda nasti abela macha_.
"Between closed lips no fly can pass."

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Carmen, by Prosper Merimee

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EB