From: dbtdxc@ARCO.COM (David Chapin)
Subject: Re: Davidic Lineage
Organization: ARCO Oil and Gas Company
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 16:45:02 GMT


 
1> I heard once that names like "King", "Koenig", "Kingsley" were commonly 
1> assumed by European Jews to preserve an indication of Davidic lineage.

No evidence to substantiate this. More than likely, these were corruptions
of other names, such as names of towns (eg. Koenigsberg).
  
1> If I am not mistaken, the large scale adaptation of non-Hebrew names 
1> by Jews happened for political reasons in the eigteenth century. Does
1> anyone know about this?

True. However a small minority of Jews retained family names from previous times. 
For instance, Rapaport comes from the name of the RABbi of OPORTo Portugal in the 
mid 1400s. Other names from Sephardic origin were accepted long before the 1800s. 
Also, some prominent Jews in Western Europe adopted family names early on. A good 
example is the Rothschild family (literally "red shield"). They took their name from 
the symbol on their house - a precursor to modern street addresses. As a general rule 
for Eastern European Jews, those Jews with rabbinic family names can trace their 
unique family name much further back in time. 

The vast majority of Eastern and Central European Jews adopted family names by edict 
of the local government, usually for tax or military reasons. As I remember, Jews in
Austria-Hungary were ordered in the late 1700s. Russia was the last to do so, and most 
Jews adopted family names by about 1830. Apparently, there were Jewish committees that 
handed out the names or had lists to choose from. Rich Jews could sometimes buy a name. 
Names like Rosenberg probably fetched a high price. Names like Schwartz or Weiss 
probably referred to the physical characteristics of the individual assigned the name. 
There were several other categories of names such as occupations (Zimmerman), father's 
names (Mendelson), mother's names (Gittleson), place names (Brody), slavic corruptions 
(Moseson -> Moshkowitz), etc. One of the reasons our immigrant ancestors found it so easy
to change their name once they arrived in America was that it was either that generation 
or their parents who got the name in the first place, and they weren't particularly 
attached to it.

Good references on the subject are: Benzion Kagan, Jewish Names; and Alexander Beider,
Jewish Names in the Russian Empire.
 
2> They lie.  I'm living proof.  My family has a Hebrew "family tree"
2> in the form of "x son of y son of z son of..." all the way back to
2> Adam.  Records were kept back to the Davidic days, after which point,
2> the list is biblical.  Believe me, these families know who they are.
2> And there are a great many of them.  For example, the Lubavitcher
2> Rebbe (Rabbi Schnerson) is of Davidic lines as well.

3> I have a neighbor, a sephardic Rabbi, who can trace himself to
3> a certain author.  The author of the sefer - in the introduction
3> - traces his own lineage to David.  That sound like Davidic
3> lineage to me.

What you are referring to are "Yiches Briefs" which are genealogical
letters that were often included in rabbinic publications as a sort
of "about the author" segment (also to establish the author's authority).
Yiches Briefs were common by the 1700s. Before that time, they were rare.
Typically, they are fairly detailed "x son of y ..." descriptions until
you hit the generations which would correspond to 1500s and earlier. Then
they typically say something like "x son of y who was the great-grandson of
z". In this way several generations may have been skipped. Also, some
Yiches Briefs were of dubious origins and sometimes were outright wrong.
In short, I would be suspicious of any Yiches Brief with generations prior
to 1400s for Askenazis and 1000s for Sephardis. This is not to say that 
they are wrong or don't point to Davidic lineage. Its simply that you need
other evidence to substantiate the claim (eg. Yiches Briefs from other sources).
Of course G-d can resolve this very easily ...

  David Chapin
  dbtdxc@er.arco.com 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish