Woith

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A Woith with a court book around 1620 (signed J. Gerner 2003)

The Woith was in German-speaking countries from the Middle Ages, a service man of a village or a stately good. The official title was transferred as the surname of the official with the spellings Woith , Woit , Woyt , Woid (ke) . The Woith belonged to the upper class in the villages. You worked as a Kretschmar, aka court jury. The Erbschulze, called the Silesian and Polish space Woith were Erbrichter ( Schultheiße ). They had the right to run the village inn (-krug), also the Kretscham . The taxes were collected from them. They were also allowed to keep craftsmen and operate their own mills. The economic primacy was connected with the village police force and the lower jurisdiction (in the judicial cretscham). They acted as assessors in higher courts.

history

The name Woith was borrowed from the Polish language and Germanized.

In Sorau in Brandenburg , today Zary in Polish, 1,381 people named VOIT were mentioned six times in a civil register. In Zittau, Saxony, there were four house owners of the same name in 1578. The estate was bought from the landowners in order to get the social advantages. The assigned duties, according to police law, tax revenues, and the lower court for the landlords had to be fulfilled.

In Boberwitz, Lower Silesia, a Woith is found in 1582, whose name was Christoph Woite . The same Woith family owned the village tavern in Petersdorf bei Sprottau for centuries and exercised the function of the Woiths (community leader / mayor) there until 1945. In this family a widow of Woyth was married to a Swedish corporal from the army of the Swedish king Gustav Adolf during the Thirty Years' War . This marriage temporarily secured the rights of the Reformed Christians in the surrounding villages, which at the time belonged to Bohemian Silesia.

The name also appeared as a place name in the former East Prussia, the village was called Woiten.

Similar word names

The identity of Wojt and Woyt shows that they have the same root. The origin of the name is Woithe, -oy-, the Slavic first name Voj, which means man or knight. Vogt and Voit (h), Woyt (h) are of equal importance.

This is how Horst Naumann explains the book of family names: Woit 1593 Woyth. Professional name in Polish wojt, "Dorfvogt, Dorfschulze", 1356 Woytke– Woyzeck vurman (foreman).

A connection to Vogt is also established: “Vogt, Voigt. Oral Voit, Low German Vagt, Rhenish Low German Voigts: 1284 der Voget, 1361 Voyt, 1387 Voit, 1492 Vaghedt / dialect Fait (h): 1292 Fayd / Fauth: 1304 Voutt, 1344 Vaut. Professional name in Middle High German Vogt, voit 'legal counsel, supervising official, court official' Middle Low German Vaget 'Vogt' "

The connection between Vogt and Woyt is explained:

Voigtmann: 1593 Fogtman. Professional name in Middle High German Vogetman “who is subordinate to a Vogt; Owner or landlord of a bailiwick "

Today's Vogtland Voigtland was also written on old maps : “Voigtland, Voigtländer 1401 Foytlant; 1400 Foitlender. Name of origin for the landscape name Vogtland, ie from the Vogtland (the terra advocatorum) "

coat of arms

Surname Source / remark
Voit from Voitenberg Siebmacher 212, Honorable Nuremberg
Voit von Rieneck
Voitus, Eylau Siebmacher, commoners 10
Woytt Bourgeois Saarland, 
 Georg Christian WOYTT 
(1694-1764), Erster Stadtpfarrer, Konsistorialrat 
 und lutherischer Inspektor in Ottweiler. 
 Kaiserlichgekrönter Poet und Mitglied des 
 Edelgekrönten Pegnesischen Blumenordens.
This Woytt family came from Breslau.
Woytt coat of arms, arm in armor with battle ax
Woyt Bourgeois, soaring stag in the shield
Woyt coat of arms, sieve maker

Name bearer

John Paul II, civil KJ Wojtyła
  • The most famous name bearer named Woith is Karol Józef Wojtyła (1920–2005), former Catholic Pope John II .
  • Georg Christian Woytt, pastor from Ottweiler ( 1694 –1764) [1] , imperially crowned poet, consistorial councilor, court preacher
  • Johann Jacob Woyt (1671–1709), doctor, author of the medical textbook Schatz = Chamber Medicinisch = and natural things, Leipzig 1709.

literature

  • Horst Naumann: The big book of family names, age, origin, meaning. Pp. 275, 288, Falkenverlag 1999
  • Rosa and Volker Kohlheim: Duden family names, origin and meaning of 20,000 surnames. Dudenverlag, Mannheim 2005
  • Jürgen Gerner: AGOFF , work report 2009. Issue 3, pp. 30–32, research based on Woyt / Woyth ancestors in Sprottau.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Richard Wolf: Woyt, Johann Jacob (1671-1709. ( Biographical keyword )).