The word "Gypsy" is derived through many different languages as a corruption of the word "Egyptian", most recently through the Middle English gypcian (The Gypsies, Fraser 1992).

When the Romani first arrived in Europe, there was confusion as to where they had come from, and many different narratives arose to describe their place of origin. One of these theories, which must have been more widespread, was that the Romani came from Egypt, likely based on their dark skin and eastern features.

The discrimination of the Romani can be originally attributed to when they entered the borders of the Byzantine Empire. The fact that they had professions like metal workers and musicians, and were thought to be lazy and dirty, which meant they existed at the bottom of the social hierarchy. This general discrimination spread throughout Europe just as the Romani spread through Europe, with the Holy Roman Empire and other local kingdoms threatening death for simply being a Romani (A History of the Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia, Crowe 2004) With this historical animosity towards the Romani, compounded with the fact that some Romani were often caught stealing, led to a general disapproval of the population, which carried through to the Holocaust, and exists, although to a much lesser extent, today.

It is now believed and is slowing being proved through DNA research that the eastern Romani bloodline is from India not Egypt. There are many similarities between early indo-aryan words and Romani specific languages. The movement of the primary Romani populations can be traced almost exactly along the trade rote from Europe to India. The farther westward spread of Romani peoples into Western Europe created many unique subsets of "gypsy" cultures.