• REDACTED
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    1 day ago

    Isn’t it USA that invented a word “gypsies”?

    • droans@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      1 day ago

      Oxford states that the first known use of Gypsy was in 1514. It was popularized by Edmond Spenser and Shakespeare and has its entomological root from the Middle English word gypcian due to the misbelief that Romani people were from Egypt.

      So, to answer your question, no. The only Europeans in the Americas at this time were the Spanish.