Romanesh Nicknames

nwilkins

I think tchan tchou is just something that sounds Asian, not an actual word, so he got the nickname because he looked sort of Asian.

Tschabo (kid) is also the same as Tchavolo and Tchocolo I believe

dennis

some names don't really mean anything in themselves, they're derived from words... ie tchavolo which actually comes from tchavo (boy) as barengero said....

bireli does come from beer.... i think the romnes word for beer is bier (like in german / yiddish if i'm not mistaken)... bireli is similar enough ....

the hard thing with the language is there's no standardized spelling and not all sinti are fluent in it.... they learn orally and sometimes certain people hear things in different ways and therefore pronounce words differently : tikno/ dikeno.... dinello / dilo.... the fluency thing is actually important, many of them (especially the recent generations) are losing it and make a lot of mistakes which they pass onto the next generation.

romnes grammar is more or less similar to french/german grammar...

o at the end of an adjective is masculin, y is feminin

raillo tchavo (handsome boy), railly tchai (beautiful girl)

but there are certain inconsistensies as well....

choukar tchavo, choukar tchai ... the adjective in this case doesn't take any endings although, if i'm not mistaken it is also possible to say choukary tchai...

and the way you write isn't always necessairly the way you pronounce...

familia (as in tchavolo's album miri familia -my family-) is pronounced famiya (at least that's how the people i know pronounce it)

baro deivel (god) is actually pronounced (at least with the people i've been) bar deivel (you let go of the o)... but in poems/songs or "official" speech the word baro is pronounced as written...

sendelo (cousin of paulus) seems to be derived from zenelo which means green.,...

lollo (nephew of fapy) means red

i dont know if ziroli itself means something, but i think it's derived from the word Ziro, which means time (as in "there was a time when i actually practiced guitar")

Kake (there you go), tou rakre romnes (you speak romnes)

Barengero

nwilkins wrote:

I think tchan tchou is just something that sounds Asian, not an actual word, so he got the nickname because he looked sort of Asian.

There was a book for children in the 30´s or 40´s in france about a chinese boy. The book had the title "Tchin Tchan Tchou" (I think that was the name of the chinese boy, too). Maybe that was the origin for Paul Vidals nickname.

Best,
Barengero

Barengero

dennis wrote:

bireli does come from beer.... i think the romnes word for beer is bier (like in german / yiddish if i'm not mistaken)... bireli is similar enough ....

In my romanesh dictionary "beer" is "bira" and "bee" is "birli". But there are a lot of regional differences and different dialects. But maybe that Zirolis story was completely true…

Best,
Barengero

Jack

dennis wrote:

fire would be jak

I guess this means I can't quit smoking yet. In the meantime, can anyone tell me where 'Hono' comes from? I love the guy.

Thanks,
Jack.

Barengero

Hi
I don´t know where "Hono" comes from. The father of Häns´che Weiss was called "Gono" and this means "Sack" or "Bag". But I dont´t believe that somebody would say "Hono" instead of "Gono".

Best,
Barengero

Barengero

Barengero wrote:

nwilkins wrote:

I think tchan tchou is just something that sounds Asian, not an actual word, so he got the nickname because he looked sort of Asian.

There was a book for children in the 30´s or 40´s in france about a chinese boy. The book had the title "Tchin Tchan Tchou" (I think that was the name of the chinese boy, too). Maybe that was the origin for Paul Vidals nickname.

Best,
Barengero

I just found a picture of this book.

Best,
Barengero

stuckinkansas

Doesn't "fuli tchai" mean bad girl? I believe Schnuckenuck had a song with that title.

dennis

fuli can also mean ugly

gitpicker

These are great stories. I don't know if Dorado Schmitt's name applies but a Dorado is a fish. Like a dolphoin or mahi mahi or something. I hope they didn't think he looked like a fish as a kid and so named him Dorado.