Hirsch (family name)

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Hirsch is a family name .

Origin and meaning

The word deer itself comes from Indo-European and means horned animal with antlers . (Middle High German: hirz , Old High German: hiruz ). This means the red deer (Cervus elaphus). Deer are found in mythology and culture in many cultures around the world . It is therefore not surprising that houses in the cities were named after them. In Christian mythology, the deer occurs a. a. as an attribute of saints: Hubertus, Eustachius (both with a crucifix between the antlers), Oswald and Aegidius (the latter is a doe).

Hirsch as a family name cannot be assigned to any region, as the word is common throughout the German-speaking area. Only derivatives such as Hirschle (Swabian) or Hirschl (Bavarian and Austrian) reveal the origin of the name and the bearer. Further derivatives are: Hirzel, Hirschel, Hirtz, Hersch, Herschel and Hirschmann. Hirscher and Hirschkramer, on the other hand, probably refer to millet (grain).

The surname Hirsch will mostly go back to a house name in the city. Up until the 18th century there were hardly any street names or house numbers. In addition, very few people could read. For better orientation, the houses have been named and given the respective house sign. The residents were then often named by their neighbors after their place of residence or called themselves after it. (e.g. Johannes Gensfleisch in the Haus zum Gutenberg called himself Johannes Gutenberg) There are still inns to the Hirsch or Hirschhäuser (the latter e.g. in Regensburg and Vienna)

Deer can also be a professional name for a hunter or a nickname, if the named z. B. was "nimble as a deer".

As a Jewish family name, Hirsch refers to the Hebrew Bible (Genesis 49: 9-27), where the patriarch Jacob compares his sons Judah, Naftali and Benjamin with lion, gazelle and wolf. In German the gazelle became the deer. Hirsch was originally the German name of the Hebrew Naftali; It was not until the Jews were forced to use a family name that many took Hirsch as a family name.

The family name Hirsch is common all over Germany today. Apart from the major cities of Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Cologne, Frankfurt am Main and Hanover, the name occurs most frequently in the area between Ansbach (Middle Franconia) and Karlsruhe (Baden). In the Rhineland, the name can be found mainly between the Cologne area and the area around Dortmund. Overall, the main focus of the spread is in the west (NRW) and south (Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria) of the Federal Republic. In Austria, the name can be found most frequently in Vienna and Lower Austria and in Linz. There are other larger deposits in the districts of Bruck-Mürzzuschlag (Styria), Vöcklabruck (Upper Austria), St. Johann im Pongau (Salzburg) and in the city of Salzburg.

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael E. Graf v. Matuschka: Hesse, the Jew from Salms (Solmes): doctor and scribe. A mainly name-based excursus. In: Würzburg medical history reports. Volume 8, 1990, pp. 207-219, here: pp. 209 f.
  2. ^ Hans Bahlow : German name dictionary. Family and first names explained according to their origin and meaning. Keyser, Munich 1967 ( Keyser's reference works ).
  3. ^ Konrad Kunze : dtv-Atlas onenology. First and last names in the German-speaking area. Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-423-03234-0 ( dtv. 3234).
  4. ↑ Rosa cabbage, Volker carbon home: Duden family name. Origin and meaning. Dudenverlag, Mannheim et al. 2000, ISBN 3-411-70851-4 .