Zott

Arabic term for the Gypsies

Zott (Arabic: زط; singular Zottī) is the Arabic term for gypsies, Romani people, and Dom people. The Zott were musicians who migrated in great numbers from northern India to the Middle East about 1000 years ago. Their name was later applied to any itinerant entertainer of Indian origin; and came to be the common name of the Dom people in the Middle East, as English gypsy or tinker with contemptuous connotations. The Al-Qamus Al-Muhit glosses the term as equivalent to Nawar (singular Nawarī).^[1]

References

^ Kenrick, Donald (2004). Gypsies: From the Ganges to the Thames. Univ of Hertfordshire Press. ISBN 978-1-902806-23-5.

M. J. de Goeie, A Contribution to the History of the Gypsies, Amsterdam (1875, 2007 reprint)
Hanifi, M. Jamil (December 15, 2008). "JĀT". Encyclopedia Iranica.
Amanolahi, Sekandar (1999). "The Gypsies of Iran (A Brief Introduction)". Iran & the Caucasus. 3/4: 109–118. doi:10.1163/157338499X00065. JSTOR 4030769.