Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-09-14
HEBREW NOMENCLATURE.
Jewish Surnames as Compared with
Those of Other Races and Nationali-


ties.
The subject of nomenclature, says the
Cleveland Herald, has always been con.
sidered one Of the most interesting Of stu
dies, and considerable has been writer
OF recent years concerning it. Before the
regular system of surnames was adopted
n ames consisted of single words, all o.
which originally signiHed something, as
for example, Moses, which means taken
out of the water; or Saumel. God hath
hearkened, and so on through the long list
OF Hebrew names, such as Joseph, Jacob
David and all others. Surnames, though
not generally systematiZed, were first
adopted by the Romans and Grecians at a
time when the Inhabitants of northern
Europe used single name. In the twelfth
century only people of rank INDUCED in
the luxury of surnames: but after the
reformation they began to be introduced
among the general public. 1t took many
centuries ere the common people adopted
them, and it is said that now in certain
parts of England there are families SIM
ply known by their fathers Christian
names. A large majority of the surnames
now In existence have no meaning what
ever. Some of them are cOrruptiOns of a
series OF words and others had some local
significance, as for instance when sur
names were first adopted in England,
John, who lived under the hill, was known
as John Under the Hill. His son most
likely adopted the same name if he chose
10 do so, and for the sake of convenience
the next generation, perhaps, reduced the
size OF the name to simply Underhill. The
son OF William would sometimes adopt
the easiest method by calling himself
Williamson. Henry's son most likely
spelled his name Henryson. and his grand
son or great-grandsOn changed it to Hen
derson. A person who happened to have
charge of forest was called the ward OF
the woods until finally his surname was
altered to Woodward. Column after col
umn of examples of like nature might be
cited. but the object of this article is not
to give an extended history of surnames
IN general, but those of the Hebrews in
particular. Few people have ever thought
OF studying the meaning of many of the
Hebrew surnames which are daily seen
on business signs in the principal thor
oughfares of every city in the world. A
great majority OF the names are of Ger
man origin. Few, if any, are corruptions
or authorizations, Indicating that when,
by royal edict, they were obliged to
adopt surnames they selected names with
some significance. Though some of them
do not sound romantic to an English read
er, great many Of them would attract
more than general attention if their true
meaning was known. Until the middle
ages the Hebrews were known by one
name. After that period some of them
formed surnames with the Hebrew word
Ben, signifying son, as per example, Moses
Ben Solomon. Some centuries later they
adopted a regular surname, and in ninetv-
nine cases out of a hundred with some
significance. English readers not con-
Yersant with the German tongue will
probably be surprised when they learn
that all of the Hebrew names beginning
with ''ROsen" have some beautiful mean
ing. The names of Rosenthal, very
common one among Jewish people of Ger
man descent, translated into English
means Rosedale; ROsenbaum signifies
ROsetree; Rosenberg, ROsehill; ROsenz.
We1g, Rosebranch; ROsengarten. Rose
garden; Rosenblatt, Roseleaf; Rosenbluth,
Rosebud; Rosenwald, Rosewood; Rosen-
Wasser, ROsewater. The last name has
been translated into English by some, and
others have compromised matters by call
ing it ROsenwater. Nearly all the names
can be translated with ease, as, for in
stance, Steinfeld, which translated would
read Stonefeld; Nussbaum, Nuttree:
Mandelbaum, AlmOndtree; Steinberg.
Stonehill; Felsenheld, Hero of the Rock.
lOWtree; Apfelbaum, Appletree: Vein
garten, Vineyard; MorgenthaI, Morning
dale; Sonenschein, Sunshine; RothschiId,
Redsign; and so on through the long list
of Hebrew names. The above would in
dictate that a number of these names were
chosen owing to some peculiar circum-
stance connected with their surround
ings. 4 number of the surnames were
evidently taken from the name of the city
they occupied at the time, as the follow
ing few examples will show: Guggen-
heimer, Ronrheimer, Tiemendorfer, Ham,
burger, Lahrheim, Berliner, Alsbacher
etc. They also adopted the names of
such as Englander, English
man; DeutScb, German and others with
out number. In the animal kingdom are
found such cognomens as Leow, lion:
kalb, calf; Cans, goose; Wolf, bear;
Katz, cat. Among the birds very COM
mon name is that of Strauss, ostrich, which
can also be translated into nosegay; Vo-
gel, bird; Hahn, rooster, and Adler, eagle.
A number of Jewish people have adopted
for the family name the first name, which
explains the presence all over the world
Of people bearing such surnames as
Isdacs, Moses, Levi, Samuels,
SOlOmOns, AarOns, Jacobs and others.
Some annexed the 'Eson," custom COM
non with other people, producing such
names as Aaronson, jacobson, Solomon
son and others. Surnames, signifying
some occupation, are not common in the
Hebrew race, although such names a
smith, Koch, Cook, Lederer, Leatherman,
Mahler, Painter, SchOenfaerber. Over.
Locksmith, Kaufman. Mer-
;hant and others Of like import are occa-
iionallv found ,,1iina. Some OF then have partly
)r in whole been AngllciZed, which ac-
counts for such surnames among Ameri- I
IAN Hebrews of German descent as Aus
rain, Oestreicher, Black, Schwartz, !
JoOdheaTt, GutherZ, etc. The name of
Jashberg was doubtless written originally
Churchhill; and thus a num-
Der of names which have no particular
significance can be accounted for. COlors
If every description are also found among
Jewish names, such as Weiss (white),
Roth (red y Gruen (green), Biau (blue).
The sizes are distinguished by Gross
large), Klein (AngliciZed occasionally
10 Kline, signifying small or little).
Among the curious names can be found
such as Gutentag (gOod-day), GrOsskopf
big head J, and a few others. Cohn, Co
len, KOhn or Kahn, name often found,
has its derivation from the title given in
Biblical days to the Jewish people who
as high priests. Those bearing
hat surname claim to be direct descend
ants OF the CHOSEN among the "chOsen
people Of G0d,v There are also Neumann
and Altman (new man and old man },
and Kleinmann (big man and
little man), Bergman (mountain man),
and so on through the long list. Surnames
such as Sampliner and Schlesinger have
heir origin in Hungarian towns and coun-
lies. Their number is almost without
limit. Columns might be printed on the
subject and the end could never be
reached.
DIR. TANNERS GREAT RIVAL.