Bohemian

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Bohemians are the people of Bohemia, in the Czech Republic, inhabitants of the former Kingdom of Bohemia, located in the modern day Czech Republic. The ancient Kingdom of Bohemia was absorbed into the Habsburg Empire after 1527 and came under the control of Vienna.

The name "Bohemia" derives from the Latin term for the Celtic tribe inhabiting that area, the Boii, who were called Boiohaemum in the early Middle Ages. The word "Bohemians" was never used by the local Czech (Slavic) population. In Czech, the region since the early Middle Ages has been called only Čechy ("Bohemia") or Království české ("Kingdom of Bohemia"), and its mainly Czech-speaking inhabitants were called Čechové (in modern Czech Češi).

In other European vernaculars and in Latin (as Bohemi), the word "Bohemian" or a derivate was used to designate all inhabitants of Bohemia. If the Czech ethnic origin was to be stressed, combinations like "Bohemian of Bohemian language" (Čech českého jazyka), "a real Bohemian" (pravý Čech) etc. were used.

It was not until the 19th century that other European languages began to use the word "Czechs" (in English – Tschechen in German, Tchèques in French) in a deliberate (and successful) attempt to distinguish between Bohemian Slavs and other inhabitants of Bohemia (mostly Germans). Currently, "Bohemians" is still used when there is need to distinguish between inhabitants of the western part of the Czech Republic (Bohemia), and the eastern (Moravia) or the north-eastern part (Silesia).

The term "Bohemian" as related to Bohemianism – i.e. describing the untraditional lifestyles of marginalized and impoverished artists, writers, musicians, and actors in major European cities – emerged in France in the early 19th century when artists and creators began to concentrate in the lower-rent, lower class gypsy neighbourhoods. The term bohémien was a common term for the Romani people of France, who had reached Western Europe via Bohemia.

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