Itinerant groups in Europe

There are a number of traditionally itinerant or travelling groups in Europe who are known as Travellers or Gypsies (the latter being increasingly taken as derogatory).

The origins of the indigenous itinerant groups are not always clear. The largest of these groups are the Romani people (also Roma or Rom), who have Indian roots and heritage; they left India around 1,500 years ago, entering Europe around 1,000 years ago. They include the Sinti people, who are themselves the second largest group. Others, assumed to have taken up the travelling lifestyle out of necessity at some point during the early modern period, are unrelated to the Romani, and assumed to not be ethnically distinct from their source population. However, recent DNA testing has shown that the Irish Travellers are of Irish origin but are genetically distinct from their settled counterparts due to social isolation, and more groups are being studied. The third largest group in Europe is the Yenish, an indigenous Germanic group.

Many intinerant groups speak their own language or dialect, though with outsiders will use the language of the surrounding settled population. Such insider languages are often a blend of the regional settled language and Romani language, but sometimes a cant based on a regional language without Romani influence. As opposed to nomads, who travel with and subsist on herds of livestock, itinerant groups traditionally travel for trade or other work for the sedentary populations amongst which they live.