The Jewish advance., 1880-07-30

sway or the M0Slem The jew has gen
orally been compelled to provide him
self with two namcs-his Hebrew name
by which he has been known in the
synagogue. and a name more familiar to
his Gentle neighbors by which he has
been known in the world Very often
an attempt has been made to render the
secular word representation, in some
manner, of the Hebrew original. Thus,
Naphtali among the Jews Of Germany
has become Hirsch Ca stag); and the
connection between the two names is
established by the blessing given by the
patriarch Jacob to Naphtali in which
the latter is compared to hind For a
similar reason Benjamin has been trans
| lated Wolf, and Jehudah Leon or Lyon.
Sometimes contrary process has been
| adopted; the secular name being selec
| ted first, and Hebrew equivalent found
for it. But this has taken place with
reference to surnames, not to the first
names. Thus in the 11th century lived
Joseph Bonfils (goodchild); he is bet
ter known as the poet Joseph Tob-elem
the latter word being the exact Heb
rev translation of the French Bontils.
Asarjah di Rossi, the eminent man of
letters Of the 10th century is surnamed
| by Jewish writer's Min ha-adumin, and
the title is literal rendering Of the
Italian di Rossi (of the red). There are
other names which are still more curious
Protat Duran, a writer of the beginning
OF the 10Th century, is commonly known
as Efo-di. This title represents the
Hebrw 7aM which IS itself composed of
the initial letters of the words IN INIT
ra'-a, Il Protiat Duran. Duran him
self took this name and called his gram
matical work Naoge Etod. \ grand
son of Rashi was Rabbenu Tam His
great name was Jacob; and the fact that
the patriarch Jacob is described in
Genesis as ISL Tam Ga simple man }
accounts for the name by which Rashi's
grandson is always known. The name
was, however, freQsently given in for
mer times to perseTs Wearing thesnanle
of Jacob. Some names in common use
at the present day are peculiar. Many
Jews have Phcj$ for their Hebrew name.
This is the equivalent for Philip, PhejS
is Phoebus (the SUM, or Phos, the
Greek for light And by some means
Phcis and Philip have become connected
though, etymologically they are quite
distinct. BY like insuuctable method
PEilip has been made to stand inditfer-
entity for ri and Sh'raga, both Of which
mean light" In the same category
may be mentioned the name Sabbath
(&7-w) a title made familiar by the
history of the notorious Sabbatai Ieyci
(',y '&7-w though it is still owned by
many persons, The word is the Hebrew
name of the planet Saturn. The names
of many eminent Jews authors are de
rived from the places in which they lived.
At one time when Lunel was thoug ht to
be the birth place of Rashi, he was
known as Jarchi, a word formed from
the supposed Origin of the word Lunel
from the French Flme Isaac Alfasi,
better known as lRav Alfes, was so
called because he lived at Fez. Obadia
di Bertinora, the famous commentator
on the Nlishna, lived at Bertinora; Mo
scs Narboni at Narbonne, and Jedaia
Bedaresi, the author of the Bechinoth
Ola0l, at BeMers. Many names familiar
in the mouths of Hebrew scholars as
household words are simply manufac
tured from the initial letters of the full
name. Maimonides is known us the
u"-o7 because his title in full was 77wo y
80 = Simon Duran Chen Zemach)
figures in Hebrew works as the RoSh-
Ja.; Nachmanides (R. Moses ben Mach
mani as the Ramban; Gersonides Ievi
ben Gershon) as the Ralboa, Occasion,
ally the surname is employed in the
combination instead Of the patronymic
Thus r. Moses Isserles is abbreviated
I ~