The Roma have been made up of many different groups of people from the very beginning, and have absorbed outsiders throughout their history. Because they arrived in Europe from the East, they were thought by the first Europeans to be from Turkey, Nubia or Egypt, or from some vague place.  They were called, among other things, Egyptians or 'Gyptians, which is where the word "Gypsy" comes from.  In some places, this Egyptian identity was taken seriously, and was no doubt borrowed by the early Roma themselves.  In the 15th century, James V of Scotland concluded a treaty with a local Romani leader pledging the support of his armies to help recover "Little Egypt", which was the old name for Epirus, an area on the Greek-Albanian coast, for them.
     It was not until the second half of the 18th century that scholars in Europe began to realize that the Romani language, in fact, came from India. Basic words, such as some numerals and kinship terms, and names for body parts, actions, and so on, were obviously Indian.  They concluded that if the language were originally Indian, those who spoke the language must be as well.
     Through the various migrations of the Roma and the absorption of various elements of other cultures, they developed, a very unique form of culture that eventually became exclusive to them.  One important part of the Gypsy culture is the use and practice of divination and magick.  The person who performed these duties was known as a Shuv'hani, or Wise-Woman, because the shuv'hani is most often a female.