Boyash

Boyash or Bayash (endonym: ''Bȯjáṡ'', Romanian: ''Băieși'', Hungarian: ''Beás'', Slovak: ''Bojáš'', South Slavic: ''Banjaši'', ''Bojaši'') are a Romani ethnic group living in Romania, Moldova, southern Hungary, northern Croatia, northern Serbia, Slovakia, the Balkans, but also in the Americas. Alternative names are Rudari (Ludari), Lingurari and Zlătari.

History

The Boyash or Băieși (in Romanian) are a branch/caste of the Roma who were forced to settle in the 14th century in the Apuseni Mountains, located in Transylvania, and work as slaves in mining (a regionalism for ''mine'' in Romanian: "baie," from Middle Age Slavonic).

At the end of the 16th century the Boyash started migrating towards the south, in Wallachia, and the east, in Moldavia, where they were held as slaves together with other Romani groups (until the slavery was abolished in 1855–56).

Another name for the Boyash, ''Rudari'', comes from the Slavic ''ruda'' ("metal", "ore"). As the mines became inefficient, the Boyash people were forced to readjust by earning their living making wood utensils (''Lingurari'' means "spoon-makers" in Romanian; also cf. Serbian ''ruda'', Hungarian ''rúd'', Romanian ''rudă'' meaning "relative", but also "rod, pole, stick"). The nickname ''Kashtale'' ("wood-workers") was also given to them by the Romani-speaking Roma and it has remained in Romani as a more general word for a Rom who does not speak Romani.
After the point at which they began to make wood tools they scattered themselves in isolated communities. The consequence of this is that nowadays they speak a distinct archaic dialect of Romanian, with borrowings from other surrounding languages.

Population

After the liberation of the Roma from slavery (by the middle of the 19th century), many emigrated to other countries, especially Hungary and the Balkans, but also as far as the Americas, South Africa and Australia.

In 1993, about 14,000 of the 280,000 recorded Hungarian Roma were Boyash.

In Croatia, the Boyash are settled in several small communities along the Hungarian border in the regions of Međimurje, the Podravina, Slavonija and Baranja with an overflow of settlers living in the Apatin county of Vojvodina, Serbia. 2005 saw the Boyash language of Croatia published in its own alphabet for the first time in the Catholic Catechism, published by the HBK Glas Koncila in Zagreb. In 2007, the first Bible—a children's Bible—was published by OM EAST in Austria and facilitated by The Romani Bible Union.

Names in other languages

In English, the commonly accepted name for the ethnic group is ''Boyash'', however in contemporary Bulgaria the terms ''Ludari'' and ''Rudari'' are in common use, while in Romania both terms are present in some form: ''Rudari'' and ''Băieși''.

For the same ethnic group in Hungary and Croatia the terms ''Beyash'' and ''Bayash'' (Bajaši) are now officially used. The ethnonym ''Banyash'' ("miner") in Serbia is known only among the group settled in Bačka region, living along the river Danube, near the border with Croatia and Hungary. This term is only sporadically understood, and not used among some other Banyash groups in the Serbian Banat region, e.g. the village of Uljma.

They are also known by many appellations based on trades; in addition to Rudari/Ludari ("miners", from Serbian and Bulgarian ''ruda'' "ore, metal") they are known as ''Kopanari'' ("cradle-makers", from Serbian and Bulgarian ''kopanja'' "wooden box"), ''Koritari'' ("trough-makers"), ''Lingurara'' ("spoon-makers", cf. Romanian ''lingură'' "spoon") and ''Ursari'' (cf. Romanian ''urs'' "bear") or ''Mechkara'' ("bear-trainers").

Education

Education in the Romanian language is available only for the Banyash living in Romanian villages in the Serbian Banat, as well as in Hungary, in the subdialect of the Romanian language spoken by Boyash communities in (central and western) Hungary.

During the last few years there have been several attempts on behalf of local non-governmental organizations in East Bačka region to introduce optional classes in Romanian. According to 2004 field research data, only two such projects are still going on there: optional classes in Romanian in the village of Vajska, and kindergarten in the local Ardeal dialect in Bački Monoštor, attended by 20 pupils altogether.

References

Notes

Bibliography
Kemény, István: The Structure of Hungarian Roma Groups in Light of Linguistic Changes
* Biljana Sikimić, ''Linguistic Research of Small Exogamic Communities: the Case of Banyash Roumanians in Serbia''
* Hancock, Ian

1987.
* Kahl, Thede. "The Rudari in Greece." ''Sorescu-Marinković, Annemarie, Kahl, Thede; Sikimić, Biljana (eds.). Boyash Studies: Researching “Our People”.'' Frank & Timme: Berlin 2021, Forum: Rumänien 40: 193-212.
* Marushiakova et al

* Orsós, Anna. "The Boyash in Hungary: Linguistic Situation, Language Education and Teacher Training." ''Sorescu-Marinković, Annemarie, Kahl, Thede; Sikimić, Biljana (eds.): Boyash Studies: Researching “Our People”.'' Frank & Timme: Berlin 2021, Forum: Rumänien 40: 215.
* Orsós, Anna, and Eszter Gergye. "The linguistic situation of the Boyash language in Hungary." ''Studia Romanica et Anglica Zagrabiensia: Revue publiée par les Sections romane, italienne et anglaise de la Faculté des Lettres de l’Université de Zagreb'' 66 (2021): 169-176.
* Orsós, Anna and László Kálmán ''Beás nyelvtan'' (Boyash Grammar n Hungarian Tinta Publishing 2009
* Kahl, Thede; Sikimić, Biljana; Sorescu-Marinković, Annemarie (eds.). Boyash Studies: Researching “Our People”.'' Frank & Timme: Berlin 2021, Forum: Rumänien 40.
* Orsós, Anna and Eszter Gergye. 2021. "The Linguistic Situation of the Boyash Language in Hungary." ''Studia Romanica et Anglica Zagrebiensia'' LXVI 161-168.
Studies about Boyash Gypsies in Hungary
Studies about Boyash Gypsies in Hungary boo
Google Books Zsuzsanna Bódi - 1997

External links

Boyash/Rudari Collection
at the "Vanishing Languages and Cultural Heritage" Commission, Austrian Academy of Sciences" with recordings by Thede Kahl and Ioana Nechiti

Kahl, Thede: Nechiti, Ioana 2019: The Boyash in Hungary: A Comparative Study Among the Argeleni and Munceni Communities (pdf download)

Kovalcsik, Katalin 1996: Roma or Boyash Identity? The Music of the "Ard'elan" Boyashes in Hungary

Orsós, Anna: Boyash in Hungary; in Sorescu-Marinkovic; Kahl, Thede; Sikimic, Biljana 2022: Boyash Studies: Researching “Our People”

The Gypsies/The Roma in Hungarian Society

{{Romani diaspora

Romani groups
Languages of Romania
Romani in Romania
Languages of Hungary
Romani in Bulgaria
Romani in Croatia
Romani in Hungary
Ethnic groups in Romania
Ethnic groups in Hungary
Romani in the United States