AMSEL Origin of surname
AMSEL, AMSELLE, AMZEL
Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This Jewish family name may be a patronymic surname based on a male ancestor's personal name, in this case of biblical origin.
Literally "blackbird" in German, Amsel/Amzel can be an Ashkenazi variant of As(c)her or a form of the Sephardi name Amselem. Amselle is a French spelling. As(c)her, meaning "the happy one" in Hebrew, was a son of Jacob and Leah's handmaid Zilpah (Genesis 30.12). The form A-s-sa-ra is mentioned in Egyptian documents from the days of Seti I (1309-1291 BCE).
Many variants of Asher have evolved, some of which became the source of other groups of names, among them Anselme, mentioned in Wuerzburg, Germany, in 1212, and later also in North Africa; the Latinized Anzelinus, recorded in Savoy in 1294; Oscher, documented in 1495 in Lutzelbourg in the French department of Moselle; Amschel, found in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, in 1691, and others. The original root was combined with place names from several parts of Germany, Bohemia and Eastern Europe to form family names like Ackermann (the German for "ploughman") and Aschenburg (literally "fortress of ashes").
As a Sephardi name, Amsel could be an abbreviation of the north west African Amselem, which is documented as a Jewish family name in Morocco since the 16th century. Amselem/Amsellam/Amsellem has been interpreted in several ways. It could come from the Hebrew Am Shalem ("a perfect/united people") or Am Shalom ("a people of peace"), but it might also be of Arabic origin, in which case it is linked to the term Islam, meaning "submission to God", which is a synonym for "Jew". Yet another explanation derives this name from Amsellam, a town in the Casablanca region, Morocco, or from Amsallem, which is the masculine form of Transalmet, the Berber name of a suburb of Oran.
Distinguished bearers of the Jewish surname Amsel include the 19th/20th century Hungarian Rabbi Jicchok Amsel and the 20th century Canadian psychologist and educator Abram Amsel.
Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This Jewish family name may be a patronymic surname based on a male ancestor's personal name, in this case of biblical origin.
Literally "blackbird" in German, Amsel/Amzel can be an Ashkenazi variant of As(c)her or a form of the Sephardi name Amselem. Amselle is a French spelling. As(c)her, meaning "the happy one" in Hebrew, was a son of Jacob and Leah's handmaid Zilpah (Genesis 30.12). The form A-s-sa-ra is mentioned in Egyptian documents from the days of Seti I (1309-1291 BCE).
Many variants of Asher have evolved, some of which became the source of other groups of names, among them Anselme, mentioned in Wuerzburg, Germany, in 1212, and later also in North Africa; the Latinized Anzelinus, recorded in Savoy in 1294; Oscher, documented in 1495 in Lutzelbourg in the French department of Moselle; Amschel, found in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, in 1691, and others. The original root was combined with place names from several parts of Germany, Bohemia and Eastern Europe to form family names like Ackermann (the German for "ploughman") and Aschenburg (literally "fortress of ashes").
As a Sephardi name, Amsel could be an abbreviation of the north west African Amselem, which is documented as a Jewish family name in Morocco since the 16th century. Amselem/Amsellam/Amsellem has been interpreted in several ways. It could come from the Hebrew Am Shalem ("a perfect/united people") or Am Shalom ("a people of peace"), but it might also be of Arabic origin, in which case it is linked to the term Islam, meaning "submission to God", which is a synonym for "Jew". Yet another explanation derives this name from Amsellam, a town in the Casablanca region, Morocco, or from Amsallem, which is the masculine form of Transalmet, the Berber name of a suburb of Oran.
Distinguished bearers of the Jewish surname Amsel include the 19th/20th century Hungarian Rabbi Jicchok Amsel and the 20th century Canadian psychologist and educator Abram Amsel.