Romani DNA Tells History

[Shari]

What path did your Romani ancestors take after they left India centuries ago? There is no ancient written Romani history so it has been necessary to pursue knowledge of their migration through research in linguistics and genetics. Languages and language patterns common to Northern India and areas of current Romani populations have been and continue to be major sources of knowledge in piecing together the wide-ranging complexities of Romani history.

Increasing amounts of DNA research is confirming much linguistic research as well as revealing new information. One area of DNA research that contributes to historical knowledge, for example, is the study of diseases commonly afflicting the Romanis that are less typical of other ethnic groups. Studying them can reveal time and location of certain migrations as noted in, “Romani Genetic Linguistics and Genetics” - http://romani.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/virtuallibrary/librarydb/web/files/pdfs/385/Paper31.pdf

Peter Bakker commented on page 92, “In this article I will try to shed new light on the history of migrations, by reviewing the increasing body of literature on recent genetic research, and compare it with what linguistic research has established...”

From page 92 - “The question where the Roms come from has long fascinated both students of the Roms and the Roms themselves...”
From page 99 - “...There are a number of genetically transmitted diseases that are more typical for Roms than for non-Roms...”
From page 104 - “The genetic studies summarized here make a number of things clear. Roms are genetically closer to Indians than to European populations...”