WEIL Origin of surname
Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name may be 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. This surname however can also be an anagram.
Weil is the name of German towns and villages in Wuerttemberg, and of the village Weil am Rhein in Baden, a region where Jews were living since the 13th century. The presence of Jews in Weil der Stadt (Wuerttemberg), also called Wiel, Wila, Wiele, is documented since the 13th century. This town was the place of origin (or residence) of the 14th/15th century German Talmud scholar, Jakob aus Weil der Stadt ("Jacob from the town of Weil"). In certain cases Weil could be an abbreviation of Weiler (the German for "hamlet"), which is a frequent place name in German-speaking countries and regions, derived from the Latin Villare/Villa, that is "farmstead", it is found as such in the Vosges, in eastern France, with a village called Ville in French, and near the Swiss city of Basle (Basel) with the town Rheinweiler (in German "Weiler on the Rhine"). The family name Weil could also come from Weilheim near Munich in Bavaria (where a Jewish presence is documented since the 14th century), or Weilheim near Kirchheim in Wuerttemberg. Jews are known to have lived in Bavaria in the 10th century and in Wuerttemberg in the 11th century.
The constant endeavor to maintain a Jewish identity whilst adjusting to the foreign environment of the Dispersion has also produced family names apparently surnames that are based on place names, but which actually are anagrams of Hebrew names.
Thus, Weil, as well as Weiler, is often an anagram of Levi, documented in the 18th century with Baruch Levi Weil of Hannover in north Germany; Jonas Levi of Hatten in Oldenburg, north western Germany, who changed his name to Jonas Weil in 1808,and Julien Levy of Besancon, France, who became Weyler in 1919. Weil is recorded as a Jewish family name in 1525; Weiler in 1608; Weill in 1680; Veil in the 17th century; Weyl in 1698; Weyler in 1784; Veille in 1786; Weyhel in the 18th century; Waille in 1793. The 20th century saw the appearance of a great number of variants of Weil, particularly in France, where it assumed forms ranging from from Weel, Vielle and Vay to Vieuville and Vallier to Veltet and Warin. In 1953, a man called Gustave Weil made an anagram of his personal and family name, and became known as Gevel. A Hungarian variant of Weil is Vali, documented in the 19th century. Weil is recorded as a Jewish family name with the German Rabbi Yaakov ben Yehuda Weil (died before 1456), the 17th century German rabbi, Nathanel Ben Naphtali Zevi Weil (1687-1769), and in the 19th century with the German orientalist and author, Gustav Weil (1808-1889), who translated 'The Arabian Nights' into German. Distinguished 20th century bearers of this name include the Bohemian-born Austrian epidemiologist, Edmund Weil (1879-1922), the American nuclear physicist, George Leon Weil and the French philosopher, Simone Weil (1909-1943).
Lucio Jose Felix Weil
(Personality)Lucio Jose Felix Weil (1898-1975), social philosopher born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Weil was a founder of the Frankfurt School which in 1924 was renamed the Institute of Social Research at the University of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He was later a member of the Argentine German/Jewish intellectual group.
Weil's parents had come from Germany and their business was one of the world's largest distributors of cereals. They moved back to Germany in the early years of the twentieth century. Their son attended the Goethe school in Frankfurt am Main and went on to study at the universities of Frankfurt am Main and Tuebingen. He was awarded a doctorate in political science at Frankfurt where he had become attracted to socialism and Marxism. In particular he wished to research the functional problems which had to be overcome in order to successfully implement socialism. In 1923 Weil organized the First Marxist Work Week which was attended by a number of well known socialist theoreticians. The following year he founded the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research in order to research society from a Marxist point of view. Forced to leave Germany when the Nazi regime came to power, he fled to the USA, although he continued to finance the institute in Frankfurt. The relationship of the "Frankfurt School" with Argentina was paradoxical. Its founder had been born in Argentina and for decades its main funds came from there, but the institute's main theorists showed no interest in Latin America.
The Frankfurt School in Argentina, headed by the “German-Jewish”intellectual group, therefore developed independently and in the 1950s became an important centre for the formulation of social thinking in Argentina. Only in the 1970s, when the Economic situation of the Argentine deteriorated, did Weil cease to offer financial backing to the school in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Weil died in Dover, Delaware, USA.
Yaakov Ben Yehuda Weil
(Personality)Rabbi Yaakov Ben Yehuda Weil (? - 1456). His main teacher was Yaakov Moellin (the Maharil) who ordained him and appointed him rabbi of Nuremberg, Germany. He was then in Augsburg and in Bamberg for a short period before becoming rabbi of Erfurt in 1444. Weil was noted for his responsa which were published. Many distinguished scholars directed their queries to him. His rulings on the laws of ritual slaughter became standard. His responsa are also a valuable source for the social history of German Jewry in his time.
Georges Weil
(Personality)Georges Weil (b.1938), sculptor and goldsmith, born in Vienna, Austria. His family managed to immigrated to London, England, in 1939. He studied at the Central School of Art & Craft, and at St. Martin's School of Art in London. In 1956 he opened a workshop for Jewelry design and manufacture, while continuing his artistic career as a sculptor and painter. His sculptures include bronze portrait busts of Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, David Ben-Gurion and others. His sculptures have been exhibited among other places in London, Tokyo, San Francisco, and Geneva. In late 1970s he sold his Jewelry company and dedicated himself to art. A collector of netsukes - Japanese ornamental miniature sculptures used as pieces of traditional men’s clothing – since the 1960s, Weill started producing his own netsukes during late 1970s. In 1989 Weil immigrated to Israel. His works are displayed in a number of museums worldwide including the British Museum and Israel Museum.
Simone Weil
(Personality)Simone Adolphine Weil (1909-1943), social revolutionary, philosopher and mystic, born in Paris, France. Already in her early years she displayed remarkable aptitude and by the age of 12, she possessed a knowledge of ancient Greek. She continued her studies at Laval 12 girls' high school and during 1924-1925, she attended the lectures of the philosopher René Le Senne at the Lycée Victor-Duruy in Paris. At the age of sixteen, in June 1925, she earned her baccalaureate in philosophy. Notably, she secured the top position in her class at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, surpassing Simone de Beauvoir, who came in second.
In 1931, she began a teaching career at the Lycée in Puy-en-Velay in central France, subsequently holding positions at various provincial lycées. During this time, she undertook challenging employment in the automobile industry at Alsthom and Renault, as well as in agriculture, driven by her strong identification with the working class. Weil also contributed to the revolutionary syndicalist journals L'École émancipée and La Révolution prolétarienne. Her opposition to Stalin's regime led her to critique communism and even confront Leon Trotsky.
Returning to her position as a philosophy teacher at a high school in Bourges in the fall of 1935, she donated a significant portion of her income to those in need. Weil actively participated in the labor strikes of 1936. While identifying herself as a pacifist, she joined the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War in 1936 in a non-military capacity. Having suffered severe burns, she left Spain and traveled to various places to recover, including to Assisi, Italy. It was during her time in Assisi that she underwent mystical experiences related to Jesus, fostering her interest in Catholic Christianity. She was, however, hesitant to undergo baptism due to her reservations about Christianity's acceptance of the Bible. After the German occupation of France in 1940, she fled to Marseille, where she received spiritual guidance from Father Joseph-Marie Perrin, a Dominican monk during her stay in Marseille from 1940 to 1942. Her exploration of faith extended beyond Christianity, as she delved into the Bhagavad-Gita and showed interest in other religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and the ancient belief systems of Egypt and Greece.
In 1942, she managed to reach the United States, but she left soon after as she believed that she should not live in the abundance and relative tranquility of New York while in Europe people suffer because of the war. She eventually moved to Great Britain in November 1942. In London, she aligned herself with the Free France movement and became associated with Les Cahiers du Sud, a prominent literary magazine in Free France, using the pseudonym Émile Novis, an anagram of her name. In her capacity as an editor in the Free France services, she contributed to a report on the moral state of France. Throughout her life, Weil's fragile health remained a constant concern. Her unwavering commitment to her ideals compelled her to limit her diet to what she believed her friends were enduring under occupation in France. In 1943, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis and ordered to prioritize rest and proper nourishment. Simone Weil passed away at a sanatorium in Ashford, Kent, England.
Weil's written work gained recognition and publication after her death, although several of her articles, studies, and reports written between 1933 and 1942 were published during her lifetime. Her works include La Pesanteur et la grâce (1947), Attente de Dieu (1950), La connaissance surnaturelle (1950), La Condition ouvrière (1951), Oppression et Liberté (1955), Écrits de Londres et dernières lettres (1957), Écrits historiques et politiques (1960), Pensées sans ordre concernant l'amour de Dieu (1962), and Sur la science (1966).