Morning journal and courier., 1888-10-01

| Gang, Schiff, Strauss, Silkerkron, &c. Some | of the occupation names are interesting Rophe is Hebrew for physician, and Rsppo- ! port is a corruption of Rophe d'Oporto; | Jalfon is Hebrew for money changer, and Moeatta is Arabic for mason.
 More strictly Anglo-Jewish are the natural assimilations of Hebrew and Jewish names to English forms. Thus Coleman is a cor ruption of Kalman, which is an abbrevia- tion of Kalonymos, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Shem Fob Good Name.) Bon ny is derived, through Bondi, from Latin translation of Tom Fob Good Day.) Phil
 lips comes from the Hebrew Uri or Meier,
 both meaning '1ight," through the Greek equivalent Phoebos and it's German-Polish diminutive Pheibul. Saville is 8 more natu- ral corruption of Samuel than is generally imagined, seeing that in Germany the scrip tural name has been shortened into Sanvel, and in England we have the authority of MT.
 Weller, senior, to spell it with t'we." Freeman is from the German Friedman, 8 translation and apocopation of Shalom ben Menachem. Hayman is derived through Lyman and Hyan from the Hebrew Haim Qife.) Jsssel is from Echeskel, the Hebrew pronunciation of Ezekiel. Yates Is from Goetz, an abbreviation of Gottschalk, which in Low German means "Gods servant" and is literal translation of Eljakim. Among simpler changes are Cowan-Cohen, Levin Levi, Victor-Avigdor, Archer-Asher, Jes- sop-Joseph, and Soman and Slowman-Sol- omon. Curious instances of misdirected translations are afforded by the names Mar chant and Chapman, both of which are An- glieizations of the German Kaufmann or Handelsmann. Originally, however, neither of these names meant merchant" among the Teutonic Jews. Kaufmann is a corrup- tion of Koppelman, of which the first two syllables German diminutive of Jacob and the third an abbreviation of Menachem, the whole being contraction of Jacob ben Menachem. Handelsmann has similar his- tory, being derived from Elchanon ben Men achem, through Handl, recognized German diminutive of Elchanon. In the same way Seligman is contraction of Selig ben Mena- chem, and Felberman 8 corrupted contrac- tion of Phoebus (Uri) ben Menaohem.
 One of the most curious instances of an erroneous etymology is the name Jsffe, which figures among the landed gentry of county Down. It is the Hebrew word for "beautiful," and is a direct translation of the German "Schon." As 6 Jewish sur name, however, Schon or Schen has no meaning. It is simply an acrostic of the Hebrew Schliach Neemon (faithful messen- ger.) These acrostic names are particularly Jewish, and many of them are found among English Jews. For example, Katz, which one of these days will perhaps be Anglicized into Cat, is derived from the initials of Ko- hen Tzekek (priest of righteousness); Schatz, which Tn Hungary has actually been transla- ted into Kincz, the Magyar for treasure" is from Sch1iach Tzibur Messenger of the Con- gregation); Babad is from Ben Alb Beth Din (Son of the President of the House of Judg ment); Sack is from Sera Kadosh (Holy Pos terity), and when the name of town begin ming with is added-as, for example, Sera Kadosh Speyer (Holy Posterity of Speyer)- it becomes Saks or Sachs, which has been frequently mistaken for an abbreviation of Sachsen (Saxony); Bram is from Ben Rabbi Moses; Bran Corrupted into Braun, and translated into Brown), from Ben Rabbi Nachman; Bard from Ben Rebbi David; Bersal from Ben Rabbi Solomon the Levite; and Bril- from Ben Rabbi Judah the Levite.
 The exegetical names are also peculiarly Jewish. They consist of equivalents for Hebrew names derived from collocations in Biblical tests. Thus the comparisons in Ja- coh's blessing furnish equivalents for Benja- min in Wolf, for Judah in Lion and for Naphtali in Hart. Fisher is an equivalent for Ephraim, because it was foretold Gene sis xviii, 19) that he should multiply ex- ceedingly, and the fish is symbol of fruit fulness It is also sometimes substitute for Moses, because Pharsoh's daughter, in giv
 ing him his name, said Exodus ii, 10): "For drew him out of the water" Gold smith has been sometimes adopted as an equivalent for Uri, on the, strength of the verse in Exodus (xxxi., 4 which describes BeEaleel ben Uri as s'c1nning to work in gold" This is the case with the English family of Goldsmid, which is descended from certain Rabbi Halevi