Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1888-12-04
TIE NAMES OF JEWS.
Uay Ecns HAZE chosen GENTLE eurnamea
f;nGiiah rorynr--caangcr-

teree.ias s';cn,a tho other day when he
Inquired q certain jewish witnessed how
1t We, that they had adopted the Names
OF laosdarnt and saviIle in lieu Of their
nntivo ratronynaica Of Moses and Gam.
ucl. II Is not quito correct to say tl,ot
Jews o~or change their original ranes.
In tho synagogues they bear throughout
their lives tho Hebrew ne,nes--i, fho
Irrational Oriental form Of so-and-so.
so1 OF oo-and-eo--given to then, shortly
after their birth. The instability Of the
names By which they are known to tho
world is due to the fact that originally.
like all Oriental peoples, they had no
family names, and that wherever thew
have congregated very closely together
the secular use Of the traditional prnea.
logical forms has been tenaciousiv mo-
served. LII some countries such as Ger
many ana Austria, special legislation has
been found necessary to compel them to
adopt fixed surnames. As, at different
times, they have come into closer con.
tact with the Gentle verdi, they have
themselves seen the necessity Of sur
names, and it is not surprising if, under
these circumstances, some of them should
(, have chosen the most sonorous and d;s.
tinguished they could find.
An examination Of the lists of seat hold
ers in the twelve principal synagogucs OF
London shows that less than per cent.
OF the namcs-such as Beddington, Cliff
ford, Coburn, Curtis, Graham, Halford,
Hamilton, Hardinge, Hardy, Herbert,
Howard, Lumley, ManviIle, Marsden,
Merton, Montagu, Morley, Morton.
Neville, Norman, Russell, Sydney, Wal
ford, etc~-aro accounted for on this
! hypothesis.
The foreign surnames and place names
preserved by the Jews Of England form
small cpitome of the history Of the
lsraelitish dispersion. Side by side with
tho Hebrew Abrahams, the Egyptian
Moses, and the English Mordaunt, we
have the Greek Alexander and Margolies,
the Latin Marcus, and the Arabic Mocatta.
Those derived from mediaval house
signs are Rothscliild, Adler, CAM, Schiff,
Strauss, SllberEron, etc. Some of the
occupation names arc interesting. Rophe
is Hebrew for physician, and Rappoport
is corruption of Rophe d 'Oporto; Jalfon
is Hebrew for money changer, and
Mocatta is Arabic for mason.
More strictly Anglo-Jewish arc the
natural assimilations of Hebrew and
Jewish names to English FORMS Thus,
Coleman is corruption Of Kalman,
which is an Authorization of Kalonymos,
the Greek translation of the Hebrew
Shem Tob Good Nance. Bonny is de-
rived, through Bondi, from Latin
translation Of Yom lob Good Day..
Phillips comes from the Hebrew Uri OF
Meier, both meaning eight" through
the Greek equivalent Phcabcs and its
German-Polsh diminutivo Pheitul. Sa-
vile Is a more natural corruption of
Samuel than is. generally imagined, Sec
ing that in Germany the Scriptural name
has been shortened into SaAvel, ard in
England we have the authority of Mr..
Weller, senior, to spell it with Eve"
Freeman is from the German Friedman,
translation and Appropriation of Shaiom
ben Mepachenl. Esymen is derived
through LYMAN and Hyan from the He
brew Hahn Qife) Jessel is from Eches-
acl, the Hebrew pronunciation of Eze-
kicl. Yates is from Goetz, an abbrevia-
ton of Gottschalk, which in Low Ger
man means Gods servant, and is
literal translation of Eiiakim. Among
npler changes arc Cowan- Cohen.
Lewin-Leyi, Victor--Avigdor, Archer
Asher, Jessop--Josepl, and Soman
md Slowman-Solomon. Curious i'll.
stances of misdirected TRANSACTIONS are at.
forded by the names Marchant and Chap
Nan, both of which are Anglicizations
# the German Kaufman or HANDLES
mann. Originally, however, neither Of
,hese names meant "mcrchant" among
he Teutonic Jews. Kaufman is a cor
ruption OF Koppclman. of which the first
Two syllables are q German diminutive
Of Jacob and the third an Authorization Of
Mcnachem, the whole being n contrac-
ton Of Jacob ben Menachem. Haudels-
mann has a similar history, being
iciived from Echanon ben NleHachcm,
through Handl, a recognized German
diminutive of Elchanon. In the same
way Seligran is contraction OF eelis
ben Menachem, and Felherman Il cor
rllpted contraction of Phnbus UrD ben
Menachem.
One of the most curious instances Of
an erroneous ctymology is the name
Jsfre, which figures among the landed
gentry Of county Down. 1t is the He
brew word for "beautiful, and is a
direct translation of the German 'Schon."
As a Jewish surname, however, Schon or
Schen has no meaning. 1t is simply an
acrostic of the Hebrew Schliach Neemon
faithful messcnger. These acrostic
names o1n Deculiarly jewish and many
of them arc found among English Jews.
For example, katz, which one of these
days will perhaps be Anglicized into Cat,
is derived from the initials of kohen
TzedcI Q:icst of righteousness); Schatz,
which in Hungary has actually been
translated into Kincz, the Magyar for
"treasurc," is from Schliach Ilbur
messenger of she congregation); Ballad
is from Ben Ab Beth Din (Son OF The
President of the House of JudgmenO;
Sack is from Sera kadosh Qoly poster
ity), and when the name of q town be-
ginning with s is addded-as, for exam
pie, Sera Kadosh Speyer (holy posterity
of Spcyou-it becomes Saks or Sachs,
which has been frequently mistaken Tor
an abbreviation of Saclsen (SaXony)i
Dram is from Ben Rabbi Moses; Bran
CORRUPTED into Braun, and translated
into Brown from Zen Rabbi Nachman;
Bard, from Ben Rabbi David; Bersal,
from Ben Rabbi Solomon the Levite, and
Bril- from Ben Rabbi Judah the Levite.
The exegetical names are also peculiar
" Jewish. They consist of equivalents
for Hebrew names, derived from coiioca-