Roma in Albania

The Romani people in Albania are part of the larger Roma diaspora.

In Albania they are divided mainly into two groups, the "Jevgs" (Jevgj), who speak only Albanian and are more assimilated, and the "Gabels", who are bilingual, and live more according to Roma tradition. Jevgs claim Egyptian descent, but are considered as magjup by the Albanian majority, the same category used to include the Gabels. Others divide the Roma in four groups (urban/rural, assimilated/un-assimilated). Ethnic Albanians have historically used various different names to refer to Romani people, most of them today being considered offensive, including:

Among Roma, ethnic Albanians, in addition to being ‘’gadjo’’, may be referred to as “whites”. "White hand" may also be used by Gabels and Jevgs to refer to Albanians as well as non-Roma minorities such as Greeks, Aromanians and Slavs. Jevgs may occasionally be derogatorily referred to as gadjo (non-Roma) due to their greater level of assimilation, and are also called sir ("garlic") by Gabels. Albanians, meanwhile, may refer to Jevgs and Gabels as "blacks" conversely, although this may be considered offensive. Using the phrase tsigan to refer to Roma is considered extremely offensive and should be avoided.

The Jevgs and Gabels share common genetic history .

Roma are occasionally held to share the "faith" (fe) of Aromanians in Albania, not for religious reasons (Roma are mostly Muslim but Aromanians are mostly Christian), but because of their historic shared nomadic lifestyle, although in the case of Albania many Roma had long been settled.

The Romani people originate from Northern India, presumably from the northwestern Indian states Rajasthan and Punjab.

The linguistic evidence has indisputably shown that roots of Romani language lie in India: the language has grammatical characteristics of Indian languages and shares with them a big part of the basic lexicon, for example, body parts or daily routines.

More exactly, Romani shares the basic lexicon with Hindi and Punjabi. It shares many phonetic features with Marwari, while its grammar is closest to Bengali.

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