Domari

The Dom are an Indo-Aryan people scattered across the Middle East and North Africa, from eastern Anatolia and the Caucasus to Syria, Iraq and Egypt. They descend from the Dom caste of the Indian subcontinent but left India by a different route and at a different time from the Romani of Europe; linguists derive both names, Domari and Romani, from the same Indo-Aryan word for a caste of itinerant musicians.

Arab writers knew them as the Nawar, roaming smiths, horse traders, musicians and dancers whose groups included the Ghawazi dancers of Egypt. Under Ottoman rule their communities entered town life across Anatolia.

Their tongue, Domari, has no standard written form and is laced with Kurdish, Turkish, Arabic and Persian words, with a distinct Garachi dialect in northern Turkey.