October 8, 1998

gyp

If I got "gypped," I didn't get my money's worth. How'd we end up with that? I feel gypped!

The verb gyp, meaning 'to cheat; swindle; defraud' and usually found in the passive, is one of those words that has received attention due to the possibility of offending ethnic sensitivities.

Gyp is derived from Gypsy. Though the noun Gyp meaning 'a Gypsy' has always been very rare, the noun gyp meaning 'a thief or swindler', first recorded in the 1850s, has been relatively common for most of the century, and gyp verb, from 1880, is quite common indeed.

First, we should observe that the very word Gypsy is sometimes objected to. This word is derived from Egyptian, under the mistaken belief that the Gypsies were from Egypt. (In fact they are originally from northern India.) The people refer to themselves as the Roma, after Rom 'a Gypsy man', ultimately derived from a Sanskrit word meaning 'a low-caste musician'.

In relatively recent times--since the mid-1980s or so--some people have objected to the word gyp on the grounds that it is offensive to the Roma, since it stereotypes them as swindlers. It should be noted that the word gyp has apparently never been used as a deliberate ethnic slur, and many people are unaware even that gyp is derived from Gypsy. Thus gyp may be perceived as offensive, but it is never used with such intent.