The Romani language has for most of its history been an entirely oral language, with no written form in common use. Although the first example of written Romani dates from 1542,[1] it is not until the twentieth century that vernacular writing by native Romani people arose.
Printed anthologies of Romani folktales and poems began in the 20th century in Eastern Europe, using the respective national scripts (Latin or Cyrillic).[2] Written Romani in the 20th century used the writing systems of their respective host societies, mostly Latin alphabets (Romanian, Italian, French, etc.).