This has occurred to the point where Spaniards from other regions of Spain can commonly mistake elements of one for the other. A confusing element is the thorough hybridization of Andalusian and Roma culture (and some would say identity) at a popular level. Nevertheless, it can be safely said that both from the perspective of gitano and non- gitano ( payo) Spaniards, individuals generally considered to belong to this ethnicity are those of full or near-full gitano descent and who also self-identify as such. The group's identity is particularly complex in Spain for a variety of reasons which are examined below. Some Romanis, a people originating in the northern regions of the Indian subcontinent, upon their first arrivals to Europe, either claimed to be Egyptians for a more favourable treatment by local Europeans, or were mistaken as Egyptians by local Europeans. Though etymologically the term gitano originally meant "Egyptian", the use itself of the Old Spanish word meaning "Egyptian" (egiptano) to refer to Romanis in Spain developed in the same way that the English word " Gypsy" also evolved from the English adjective "Egyptian" to refer to Romanis in Britain. The two peoples are now unambiguously differentiated in modern Spanish, "egipcios" for Egyptians and "gitanos" for Roma in Spain, with "egiptano" being obsolete for either. Meanwhile, the term egiptano evolved through elision into egitano and finally into gitano, losing the meaning of Egyptian and carrying with it a specific meaning of Romanis in Spain. "Egiptano" was the regular adjective in Old Spanish for someone from Egypt, however, in Middle and Modern Spanish the irregular adjective egipcio supplanted egiptano to mean Egyptian, probably to differentiate Egyptians proper from Gypsys. The term gitano evolved from the word egiptano ("Egyptian"), which was the Old Spanish demonym for someone from Egipto (Egypt). Data on ethnicity are not collected in Spain, although the public pollster CIS estimated in 2007 that the number of gitanos present in Spain is probably around one million. The emergence of Pentecostalism has impacted this practice, as the lifestyle of Pentecostal gitanos involves frequent contact with gitanos from outside their own patrigroups during church services and meetings. Traditionally, they maintain their social circles strictly within their patrigroups, as interaction between patrigroups increases the risk of feuding, which may result in fatalities. Their sense of identity and cohesion stems from their shared value system, expressed among the gitanos as the leyes gitanas ('Gypsy laws'). The Romani in Spain, generally known by the exonym gitanos ( Spanish pronunciation: ) or the endonym Calé, belong to the Iberian Cale Romani subgroup, with smaller populations in Portugal (known as ciganos) and in Southern France.
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