Erromintxela Language - Name

Name

The origin of the name Erromintxela is unclear and may be of relatively recent origin; Basque speakers had previously grouped the Erromintxela under more general terms for Romani such as ijitoak "Egyptians", ungrianok "Hungarians", or buhameak "Bohemians". However, a number of authors believe it to be a Basque rendering of the French name romanichel or romané-michel, a name attested primarily in the vicinity of the Pyrenees and in particular the Northern Basque Country. Romanichel is in turn a French rendering of the Romani phrase Romani čel "Romani person". Though now uncommon in France, it is found in the names of the British Ròmanichal and the Scandinavian Romanisæl, all descendants, like the Erromintxela, of a group of Roma who had migrated to France.

Early attestations of the name in Basque include Errama-itçéla, Erroumancel, later errumanzel and erremaitzela. The initial E- is the Basque prosthetic vowel, added because no Basque word may begin with an R-, and the final -a is the absolutive case suffix, used when citing a name. If this etymology is correct, it is a rare case of a native Romani name for themselves (an endonym) being borrowed by another language.

The people identify themselves as ijitoak, Basque for "gypsies", but more specifically as Erromintxela, in contrast to the Caló Romani, whom they refer to as the xango-gorriak, Basque for "red-legs".