Galcha

The word “Galcha,” which has been explained as meaning “the hungry raven who has withdrawn to the mountains,” in allusion to the retreat of this branch of the Tajik family to the mountains to escape the Tatar hordes, is probably simply the Persian galcha, “clown” or “rustic,” in reference to their uncouth manners.

Galatians, the, 545 Galcha, the, 541, 543 sq.

This term Galcha, although new to science, has long been applied to the Aryans of the Pamir valleys, being identified with the Calcienses populi of the lay Jesuit Benedict Goez, who crossed the Pamir in 1603, and describes them as "of light hair and beard like the Belgians."

But it is no doubt the Persian galcha, a peasant or clown, then a vagabond, etc., whence galchagi, rudeness.