GUEST: Yeah, that occurred to me, too. I had heard the Rom (Indo-Aryan) word spelled "gadgie." As in . . . she's awa' with the gadgie's gear." And the Japanese word pronounced gai-ji. A Japanese friend of mine once said it meant "hairy Chinese."

"Griego" sounds persuasive to me. But I had also been told "Gringo" derived from "Ringold," a very well known artillery officer from the Mexican War.