Page 2 of 2 Sunday, May 04, 2014 ʡʩʡʠʬʺ ʣʺʡʩʡʠʺʮʸ bh.org.il )D[ ʱʷʴ7HO ʬʨ Ramat Aviv, POB 39359, Tel Aviv 61392, Israel LEWENSTAJN Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name is a patronymic surname based on a male ancestors given name, in this case of biblical origin. Lewenstajn is a Yiddish variant of the German Loewenstein. Literally lions stone in German, Loewenstadt can be associated with the Hebrew biblical male personal name Levi, thus indicating Levite lineage. Levi was the third son of Jacob and Leah. It is also linked to Loewe, the German equivalent of the Hebrew Arie, which means lion, the traditional by-name of the biblical male personal name Yehuda throughout the Dispersion, used first as a personal name and eventually as a hereditary family name. Yehuda (in English, Judah) was the name of the fourth son of Jacob and Leah. His name also became the general name of the Jewish nation – Yehudim (Jews). Translated into Latin (Leo/Leonus), Italian (Leone/Leoni), French (Lion), German (Loewe), Slavic (Lev), and Yiddish (Leib/Leb), the kinnui produced many patronymics (names derived from a male relative) and was sometimes transformed into variants whose meaning and spelling are far removed from the root, although the sound is reminiscent of the original. In some cases Lev is a toponymic (derived from a geographic name of a town, city, region or country). Surnames that are based on place names do not always testify to direct origin from that place, but may indicate an indirect relation between the name-bearer or his ancestors and the place, such as birth place, temporary residence, trade, or family-relatives. Quite often it was associated with places of origin or residence, for instance the city and ancient kingdom of Leon in Spain, and Lyons, the capital of the Rhone department in east central France. Related place names include Lewin Brzeski/Lubien(the German Loewen) in lower Silesia, south western Poland; Lwowek Slaski (the German Loewenberg) in Silesia; Loewenstein in Wuerttemberg, Germany; Levin near Ustek in northern Bohemia; Lewin (the German Hummelstadt) in lower Silesia; or with Levice (the Hungarian Leva) in south Slovakia. Leonte is documented as a Jewish name in the 12th century, Leo in 1204, Lyon in 1292, Juda Sire Leon in the 13th century, Loewelinus in 1334, Leonus in 1486, and Lion in 1621. Jewish family names based on them and their variants comprise Leon and de Leon, recorded in the early 16th century, Lion (1670), Leonhard (1717), Lyon (1726), and Loew (1792). Stajn, the final part of Lewenstajn, is a variant of the German Stein. Stein, literally stone/rock in German, is an artificial name that is commonly found in Jewish family names in its own right, or as a prefix (Steinberg) or a suffix (Loewenstein). It was translated by Jews into the Yiddish Shteyn. Moreover, a considerable number of towns and villages have names comprising the term Stein. In the 20th century Lewenstajn is documented as a Jewish family name with Nuchym Lewenstajn who was deported from France to the German death camp at Auschwitz in July 1942.
Posted on: Sun, 04 May 2014 16:18:06 +0000
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