Zargari tribe

The Zargari people are a Muslim Romani ethnic group that live in Zargar, in northwestern Iran.^[1] They speak Zargari Romani, a distinct dialect of Balkan Romani most closely related to dialects historically spoken in Rumelia.

Zargar

Regions with significant populations
Zargar, Qazvin, Iran
Languages
Zargari Romani Persian Azerbaijani
Religion
Shia Islam
Related ethnic groups
Muslim Romani people

Origin and history

Historical documentation of Zargari origins is lacking, but one seemingly accurate tradition traces their origins to three goldsmith brothers,^[2] (Persian: زرگر, zargar), who migrated from the Ottoman region of Rumelia to Maritsa Valley, in present-day south Bulgaria, and subsequently to Ottoman Damascus, from where they were brought to Shiraz as hostages during the reign of Nader Shah (1736–1747) and given pasture lands as a reward for their skills.^[3]

See also

• Persian Romani

References

1. Pstrusińska, Jadwiga (18 July 2014). Secret Languages of Afghanistan and Their Speakers. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4438-6441-1.
2. O'Connell, John Morgan; Castelo-Branco, Salwa El-Shawan (23 September 2010). Music and Conflict. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-03545-6.
3. Rastegar, S.; Vanzan, A. (2007). Muraqqa'e Sharqi: Studies in Honor of Peter Chelkowski. AIEP Editore. ISBN 978-88-6086-010-1.

Bibliography

• Baghbidi, Hassan Rezai. "The Zargari language: An endangered European Romani in Iran", Romani Studies, vol. 13, pp. 123–148 (2003).Wayback Machine
• Marushiakova, Elena and Vesselin Popov. 2010. "Migrations West to East in the Times of the Ottoman Empire: The Example of a Gypsy/Roma Group in Modern Iran" Anthropology of the Middle East 5 (1): 93–99.
• McDowell, Bart. "Gypsies: Wanderers of the World" (Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, 1970), pp. 163–166.
• Windfuhr, Gernot. "European Gypsy in Iran: A First Report" Anthropological Linguistics 12.8 (1970): 271–292.