Scotland's Jews

[John_Carrick]

Wasn't there a respectably-sized Jewish community in Britain before the expulsion in the Middle Ages and repeal of expulsion in 1290 under Edward I? I know that Jews have been in England (yes, I know, the discussion is about Scotland) since the time of William I.
I remember reading something about a repeal of expulsion in te 1700s...just in time for Scotland to stretch it's economic muscles.

Perhaps my history is cloudy there. Please do correct if so.

Good thread!

It was in the reign of Cromwell that Jewish people were officially allowed to return to Britain in 1656.
John

[TheOfficialBren]

It was in the reign of Cromwell that Jewish people were officially allowed to return to Britain in 1656.
John

Right! Thank you, John, for the correction. I knew it was quite a long while after their expulsion.

Very true about Gordons. I know a 'Gordon' who was unaware of any Scottish connection with his family name. He is a Jew of Eastern European stock. I was actually shocked when he said that his family was Eastern European since I've always heard the name associated with Scotland.

[MacSpadger]

The Jewish Gordon name has been researched by myself here in Glasgow and discussed in this thread.
Gordon was a Jewish name in use Vilna, Lithuania, and Bialystok, Northern Poland. The Hebrew is גורדון and the Russian is Гордон. The name is associated with Litvak Jews and is well documentated in the areas formerly covered by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
These Jewish Gordons had no connection with the Scottish Gordons, obviously, as the Scottish Gordons were seen as radical Catholics and we are discussing a time where there was not much toleration between religions.

[TheOfficialBren]

The Jewish Gordon name has been researched by myself here in Glasgow and discussed in this thread.
Gordon was a Jewish name in use Vilna, Lithuania, and Bialystok, Northern Poland. The Hebrew is גורדון and the Russian is Гордон. The name is associated with Litvak Jews and is well documentated in the areas formerly covered by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
These Jewish Gordons had no connection with the Scottish Gordons, obviously, as the Scottish Gordons were seen as radical Catholics and we are discussing a time where there was not much toleration between religions.

It must be one of those phonetic anomolies then.

[neloon]

It must be one of those phonetic anomolies then.

I think it's just that, over the centuries in the UK, Jews have generally changed their surnames to blend in with the local community.

[ThistleDown]

An easy conversion. Many Davidsons were in earlier generations Davidov or Davidovich, particularly in Glasgow.

[David]

Fascinating stuff Southeastern Scot, welcome to the forum. We are indeed all Jock Tamsons bairns.

[Nathan]

I am a big fan of the recent Jewish Tartan. Quite smart looking. In addition to Gordon, there are also Jews with the name Paton and I believe it's coincidence there as well.

The Welsh and Jews have some names in common like Lewis, Davies and Cowan, for the Jewish people it referes to Lewis = Levite, Davies, Davis, David = of David and Cowan = Cohen or High Priest descendant of Aaron, brother of Moses.

As far as coincidental names go, what about the MacIsaacs and MacJacobs, or the Hebrides (similar to Hebrew?), the Jacobite rebellion and the fact the the father of the Hebrews was named "Eber" as was the father of the Irish, hence "Hibernia"...

I'm not drawing any wild conclusions from these coincidences, although some less rigorous "academics" have....

[neloon]

"Benzie" is a not uncommon Aberdeenshire surname generally said to be derived from "Benjamin" (?via "Benjie").
Jacobite is just from James . Why Jacobus is Latin for James I know not.
Hebrides in original Greek was something like "Ebudae" so I doubt that there is any connection with "Hebrew".
Alan

[Nathan]

"Benzie" is a not uncommon Aberdeenshire surname generally said to be derived from "Benjamin" (?via "Benjie").
Jacobite is just from James . Why Jacobus is Latin for James I know not.
Alan

Indeed, they went with the Latin to underline the Catholic element of their protest. Imagine if they had gone with the Gaelic... would it have been the "Hamishite Uprising"?

But I wonder where "James" comes from really. The New Testament figure, James was an Aramaic speaking Judean Hebrew whose name would be Yacov, from which we derive Jacob. This has the Greek cognate of Iakobos and thus the latin Jacobus. How this became "James" and Seamus and Hamish is still a mystery to me.