Doms in Egypt

Doms in Egypt
Total population
100,000 (estimated)
Regions with significant populations
Upper Egypt, Cairo and Alexandria
Languages
Domari, Egyptian Arabic
Religion
Islam (main religion), Christianity (1%)[1]
Related ethnic groups
Romani people, Nawar people, Kawliya

The Dom (دوم) people migrated to the territory of the present day Egypt from South Asia, particularly from Indian Subcontinent, and heavily intermixed with Egyptians. Scholars suggest that their Egyptian admixture later made them known around the world by the vernacular term Gypsies, deriving from the word Egyptian.[2][3]

Though some of the Dom people self-segregated themselves for centuries from the dominant culture of Egypt,[4] historically; Domari in Egypt have intermixed with Egyptians and participated at local musical entertainment at weddings, circumcisions and other celebrations, singing Egyptian traditional songs and dancing in return for money. The Dom people in Egypt or Roma Egyptians include subgroups like Nawar, and Ghagar or Ghaggar (غجر).[5][6]

The Dom in Egypt are Sunni Muslims, and apart from Egyptian Arabic, they also speak their own Domari language.[7]

  1. ^ "Romani, Domari in Egypt".
  2. ^ "Gypsies arrived in Europe 1,500 years ago, genetic study says". the Guardian. 7 December 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  3. ^ "Gypsy, Domari of Egypt" (PDF). Nehemiahteams.com. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  4. ^ ""Homeless, yet at home": Egypt's Domari Ghagar". Egyptianstreets.com. 7 April 2022. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  5. ^ Phillips, David J. (16 July 2001). Peoples on the Move: Introducing the Nomads of the World. William Carey Library. ISBN 9781903689059. Retrieved 16 July 2022 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ Berland, Joseph C. (2004). Customary Strangers: New Perspectives on Peripatetic Peoples in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers. ISBN 0-89789-771-4. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  7. ^ "Doms of Egypt". Peoplegroups.org. Retrieved 25 July 2022.