„Țiganii” de Constantin Hanațki ‒ prima schiță științifică despre țiganii din Basarabia
“Gypsies” by Konstantin Hanatsky – the first scientific essay about the gypsies of Bessarabia

Summary/Abstract: It is known that in order to recreate the history of gypsies who migrated from India to several regions of Europe more than five centuries ago, researchers are concerned with evidence kept in printed form and providing anthropological information about the mysterious people, who from ancient times was called the “pharaonic tribe”. The object of the present study is the work by Constantin Hanatsky (1826–1889) “Gypsies” (1865–1866), which, as a rule, is included in the list of works on gypsy themes and which is traditionally mentioned in the bibliography of romologists around the world. The book was printed in Chisinau, being a copy of “Bessarabskie Oblastnie Vedomosti”, issues 33–52 of 1865 and issues 1–3 of 1866. The purpose of the study is to characterize the work of С. Hanatsky “Gypsies” as an important source for the study of Gypsies in the XIX century Bessarabia. To achieve this goal, the author tries to solve a number of tasks, including: determining the degree of knowledge of Bessarabian gypsies by C. Hanatsky during his stay in Bessarabia; characterization of C. Hanatsky’s study on the issue of ethno-genesis and migration of Gypsies from India; determining the level of informational content of C. Hanatsky’s activity in order to give a general picture of the stay and traditional occupations of Gypsies in Bessarabia during the analyzed period. The relevance of the research is highlighted by the lack of research on the work of C. Hanatsky, despite the inclusion of his book “Gypsies” in the bibliography of works on gypsy themes.

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