لوم (شعب)

For other uses, see Lom (disambiguation).

يجب ألا يـُخلـَط بينها وبين Loma people.

Lom
Bosha

Bosha gypsies, 19th century
المناطق ذات التجمعات المعتبرة
Armenia, Georgia and Turkey
اللغات
Lomavren, Armenian, Georgian, Turkish
الدين
Christianity
الجماعات العرقية ذات الصلة
Romani, Doms, Domba, Ghorbati; other Indo-Aryans

The Lom people (تركية: Lomlar), also known by non-Loms as Bosha or Posha (تركية: Poşa; بالأرمينية: Բոշա; بالجورجية: ბოშა; روسية: Боша) or as Armenian Romani (روسية: армянские цыгане; بالأرمينية: հայ գնչուներ) or Caucasian Romani (روسية: кавказские цыгане), are an ethnic group originating from the Indian subcontinent. Their Lomavren language is a mixed language, combining an Indo-Aryan substrate with Armenian.

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 Number

Lom/Bosha in Soviet Transcaucasia
Year	Armenia	Georgia	Azerbaijan
1926	2	333	333
1939	7	727	400
1959	18	1,024	577
1970	12	1,224	843
1979	59	1,223	121
1989	48	1,744	145

It is difficult to determine the exact number of Bosha people that exist, due to the dispersed and often mostly-assimilated nature of the group. Estimates suggest only a few thousand of the people can be found across Armenia and Georgia, while the Armenian Government's census reports only 50 living in the former.

 Distribution

Concentrations of Bosha can be found in Yerevan and Gyumri in Armenia. Some of the Bosha in Armenia have adopted the Armenian language and assimilated with the larger Armenian population.

In Georgia they live in such cities as Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Akhalkalaki and Akhaltsikhe. They are noted for such occupations as sievemakers.

In Turkey the Lomlar or Poshalar adopted Islam at the 19th century and assimilated Turkish culture. They mostly live in Artvin, Rize, Ardahan and Kars and identify themselves as Meshketian Turks, hiding their Lom origins, while taking Armenian words from their contact with the Hemshin.

 Further reading

• Marushiakova, Elena and Popov, Vesselin. "The 'Gypsies' (Dom – Lom – Rom) In Southern Caucasus (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan)" Preserving the Roma Memories. Festschrift in Honor of Dr. Adam Bartosz, hrsg. v. Kyuchukov, Hristo, Marushiakova, Elena, Popov, Vesselin (Roma 7)., 2020. IJBF Online [1]. Accessed 2023-07-14.

 External links

• Media related to لوم (شعب) at Wikimedia Commons
• Marushiakova, Elena and Vesselin Popov. 2016. Gypsies of Central Asia and Caucasus. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Roma and Gypsies