The Lom people (), also known by non-Loms as Bosha or Posha (; ; ; ), are an ethnic group originating from the Indian subcontinent.

Their Lomavren language is a mixed language, combining an Indo-Aryan substrate with Armenian.

Number

{|class="wikitable" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"

|colspan="4" style="text-align:center;" |Lom/Bosha in Soviet Transcaucasia

|-

! Year

! Armenia

! Georgia

! Azerbaijan

|-

| 1926

|

|

|

|-

| 1939

|

|

|

|-

| 1959

|

|

|

|-

| 1970

|

|

|

|-

| 1979

|

|

|

|-

| 1989

|

|

|

|-

|}

It is difficult to determine the exact number of Bosha people, 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 partially assimilated with the larger Armenian population.

In Georgia they live in such cities as Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Akhalkalaki and Akhaltsikhe. They mostly live in Artvin, Rize, Ardahan and Kars and identify themselves as Meskhetian Turks, hiding their Lom origins, while taking Armenian words from their contact with the Hemshin.

References

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 [https://www-degruyter-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/database/IJBF/entry/ijbf.36428/html]. Accessed 2023-07-14.
  • Marushiakova, Elena and Vesselin Popov. 2016. Gypsies of Central Asia and Caucasus. London: Palgrave Macmillan.<!-- Bot generated title -->
  • Roma and Gypsies<!-- Bot generated title -->