Devla/Del/Devel, Devlam, Devles, Devleske or Dovel is the word used when directly calling or praying to

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

in the

Romani language Romani (; also Romany, Romanes , Roma; rom, rromani ćhib, links=no) is an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities. According to '' Ethnologue'', seven varieties of Romani are divergent enough to be considered languages of their ...

Names

''Devla'' basically means "God". It cannot be confused with the English word

Devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

, because the word for "Devil" in Romani is ''Beng''. Interestingly some villages in

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

are named "Devla", as example Devla, India. These Roma words existed in the Roma language centuries before any Roma adopted Christianity or Islam. That is, "Devla or Del" is a common noun meaning "a god". It is based on the Sanskrit word ''deva'', related to the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

words ''deus'' ("god") and ''divinus'' ("godly, godlike"),

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, ...

'', Lithuanian ''Dievas'' and the name for the sky god ''* Dyeus'' present throughout Indo-European religions and cultures.

Devlaism

After the

Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and insurgencies that took place in the SFR Yugoslavia from 1991 to 2001. The conflicts both led up to and resulted from ...

, some Roma of different groups, like the

Arlije The sedentary Arlije are the main group of the Romani people in North Macedonia, and the majority live in Šuto Orizari Municipality. They belong to the Muslim Romani people. There are various subgroups of the Arlije, named after their traditio ...

and

Gurbeti Gurbeti (also Kurbet or Kurbat) are a sub-group of the Romani people living in Cyprus and North Cyprus, Turkey, Crimea, Albania, Serbia and former Yugoslavia whose members are Eastern Orthodox and predominantly Muslim Roma. The Gurbeti make up a ...

, created their own

Ethnic religion In religious studies, an ethnic religion is a religion or belief associated with a particular ethnic group. Ethnic religions are often distinguished from universal religions, such as Christianity or Islam, in which gaining converts is a pr ...

, based on there Folk beliefs of their old Romani mythology, but there are few believers, their holy days are named ''Djisatedimi''. They are named Gadjikane Roma. Rites like

infant baptism Infant baptism is the practice of baptising infants or young children. Infant baptism is also called christening by some faith traditions. Most Christians belong to denominations that practice infant baptism. Branches of Christianity that ...

(Bona) and religious male circumcision (Sunet Bijav) maintained from Christianity and Islam and is performed.

References

Romani religion Indo-European deities {{reli-stub

Names

Devlaism

See also

References