Erdős Kamill: A Békés megyei cigányok és cigánydialektusok Magyarországon (A Gyulai Erkel Ferenc Múzeum Kiadványai 72. kötet. Gyula, Erkel Ferenc Múzeum 1979)

Mr. Kamill Erdős summarizes two studies in that work. On the one hand he presents us the traditional life of the gipsydom in county Békés and the gipsy language on the ether hand describing the most characteristic signs of the gipsy dialects as well. To introduce he sums up the previous research work in the history of gipsydom, he presents us these people living on the outside of society, ousted to the border of settlements and communities. By his research work he ascertained that the ancestors of the gipsy majority, living in county Békés at present, had wondered over territories settled by Rumanians to arrive at their present dwelling place. Their culture and language preserved many Rumanian elements. Mr. Erdős informs us of the tables concerning gipsydom from state statistics in 1893. In his third chapter Mr. Erdős analyses the present situation of the Oláh (oláh=a hysterical Hungarian name for a Rumanian), the Hungarian and the woodtroughmaker (teknovdjó) gipsies, dealing with some traditional elements of their culture as well. According to his determination the most abundant tradition has been preserved by the Oláh gipsies. They have never ceased speaking gipsylanguage. Mr. Erdős publishes two of their ballads and one of their folk-tales. From his collection he presents us an ample choice of their habits, following the oder of their ample choice of their habits, following the order of their folk-therapy. He states: "The Hungarian gipsies cannot speak their own language." Hungarian gipsies, mostly families of musicians, do not lead the traditional gipsy way