Origin: 1880–85; < F
tzigane, prob. < Hungarian
cigány, akin to G
Zigeuner, Romanian
ţigan, Serbo-Croatian
cı̏ganin, Bulg
tsíganin, all ult. < MGk (
a)
tsínganos, earlier
athínganos member of a heretical sect of Phrygia, perh. lit., “untouchable, inviolable” (Gk
a- a- 6 +
-thinganos, deriv. of
thingánein to touch)
[tsi-gahn] 