Rumelian Romani is a dialect of Southern
Balkan Romani
Balkan Roma, Balkaniko Romanes, or Balkan Gypsy is a specific non- Vlax dialect of the Romani language, spoken by groups within the Balkans, which include countries such as Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, North Macedonia, ...
of strong Turkish pronunciation with Turkish and Greek loanwords, once was spoken by the
Turkish-
Muslim Roma
Muslim Romani people or Muslim Roma are people who are ethnically Romani and profess Islam. They may also be known as Muslim Gypsies, with some Roma preferring to use the term, not perceiving it as derogatory. They primarily live in the Balkan ...
(
Xoraxane) in Ottoman
Rumelia
Rumelia (; ; ) was a historical region in Southeastern Europe that was administered by the Ottoman Empire, roughly corresponding to the Balkans. In its wider sense, it was used to refer to all Ottoman possessions and Vassal state, vassals in E ...
, especially by the Sedentary Rumelian Romani people of various groups in
Edirne
Edirne (; ), historically known as Orestias, Adrianople, is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the Edirne Province, province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, Edirne was the second c ...
in
East Thrace
East Thrace or Eastern Thrace, also known as Turkish Thrace or European Turkey, is the part of Turkey that is geographically in Southeast Europe. Turkish Thrace accounts for 3.03% of Turkey's land area and 15% of its population. The largest c ...
First described by
Evliya Çelebi's Seyahatname in 1668, of the Muslim Roma in
Gümülcine
Komotini (, , ), is a city in the region of East Macedonia and Thrace, northeastern Greece and its capital. It is also the capital of the Rhodope. It was the administrative centre of the Rhodope-Evros super-prefecture until its abolition in 2010 ...
, and later by
William Marsden in 1785 and by Alexandros Georgios Paspatis (Paspati), a scholar of the Romani language in 1870.
This Romani dialect is almost extinct in Turkey, but still spoken by Muslim Roma in
Western Thrace
Western Thrace or West Thrace (, '' ytikíThráki'' ), also known as Greek Thrace or Aegean Thrace, is a geographical and historical region of Greece, between the Nestos and Evros rivers in the northeast of the country; East Thrace, which lie ...
today.
References
{{Romani-stub
Dialects of Romani