Athinganoi
/əˈθɪŋɡənɔɪ/noun
A historical Byzantine Greek name, meaning “the untouchables,” applied to a religious group and later associated with Roma communities.
Did you know?Although Athinganoi was later linked with Roma communities, historians debate whether the original Byzantine religious group was actually Roma, showing how labels can outlive—and distort—their origins.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*tag-
“To touch, handle, or come into contact with”
Ancient Greek
Greek
thingánō (θιγγάνω)
“To touch, handle, or come into contact with”
Late Ancient Greek
Greek
áthinganos (ἀθίγγανος)
“Untouched or untouchable, formed with the privative prefix a- (“not”)”
8th–9th Century
Byzantine Greek
Athinganoi (Ἀθίγγανοι)
“The “Untouchables,” a name used for a Byzantine religious community”
11th–14th Century
Medieval Greek/Latin
Athinganoi / Acingani
“A historical label increasingly associated by outsiders with itinerant groups, including people later identified as Roma”
Modern English
English
Athinganoi
“A scholarly historical term for the Byzantine group and the name associated with the disputed etymological ancestry of “Gypsy””