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Lavengro

George Borrow

Summary

" Lavengro " was a name applied to George Borrow himself as a youth by Ambrose Smith. It means, in gypsy language, 'philologist'. Like many other travel books of its time it is partially autobiographical and of a confessional nature although in this respect its mixture of fact and fiction is predictably somewhat self-glamorising. In fact, Lavengro is set up as the tale of Borrow's own life of wandering (he visited France, Spain, Russia and the East among others studying their languages as he went). Here, as the son of a soldier, he travels through England, Scotland and Ireland experiencing strange and diverse places and befriending such people as gypsies and tinkers. His adventures lead him to murderers and thieves and to fighting while Borrow always reminds us of his beloved comparative study of languages. However, it is of note that doubt has been cast upon some of his scholarship in this respect and he liked to exaggerate somewhat - though presumably only in pursuit of an exciting story.

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