Günzburg is a surname of Bavarian origin. Ginsberg, Ginsburg, Gensburg, Ginsburgh, Ginzberg, Ginzborg, and Ginzburg are variants of the surname.

History

The Günzburg (Cyrillic: Гинзбург Ginzburg, Гинцбург Gintsburg; Yiddish: גינזבורג Ginzburg, גינצבורג Gintsburg) family originated in the town of Günzburg, Bavaria. It is believed that the family went there from the city of Ulm, Württemberg, and that for this reason the best-known progenitor of the family and some of his immediate descendants, as well as certain others, called themselves "Ulma-Günzburg".[1]

It is also an Ashkenazi Jewish surname. When, early in the emancipation period, the Jews of Russia and of Austria were ordered by their governments to adopt family names, it was natural that many of them should choose a name so respected and pleasing as that of Günzburg. There is on record a lawsuit instituted by Baer Günzburg of Grodno against a Jewish family of that city who had adopted the same name under the decree of 1804.[2] The court sustained the right of Jewish families to adopt any name they chose, and the number of Günzburg families accordingly increased.

The name is composed of two German elements. Burg means "castle" or "citadel". This commonly was also used to describe a walled settlement or town, hence common usage in town names such as Hamburg (from Old German: Hammaburg, lit. "castle above the river bend").[3] The river name Günz is ultimately derived from the Indo-European root *gheu-, meaning "to pour". Thus, Günzburg refers to a "fortified town by the river Günz".[4]

Gunzburg, Günzburg

Gunzbourg

  • Baron Philippe de Gunzbourg (1904–1986). French aristocrat and Special Operations Executive agent during the Second World War.

Ginsberg

Ginsburg

Ginzburg

Other spellings

Gainsbourg

Gensburg

Ginsborg

Ginsbourg

  • Mark Ginsbourg, birth name of Mark Gayn (1902–1981), Russian-born American and Canadian left-wing journalist

Ginsburgh

Gintsburg

Ginzberg

  • Rabbi Louis Ginzberg (1873–1953), one of the outstanding Talmud scholars of the twentieth century.

Ginzburg

Ginsparg

  • Paul Ginsparg (born 1955), American theoretical physicist and creator of the ArXiv e-print archive

See also

  • Günsberg, municipality in the district of Lebern, canton of Solothurn, Switzerland

References

  1. Rabbi Jair Chajim Bacharach und Seine Ahnen, p. 45, Treves, 1894) proves that "Gunz" and "Gaunz" are simply variants of "Günzburg.
  2. Maggid, "Toledot Mishpechoth Gintzburg," p. 239, St. Petersburg, 1899.
  3. Duden, Geographische Namen in Deutschland. Mannheim, 1999. p. 134.
  4. Duden, Geographische Namen in Deutschland. Mannheim, 1999. p. 130.
  • Eisenstadt-Wiener, Da‘at (Czech: Qedošim), pp. 198–212, St. Petersburg, 1897–98;
  • Belinsohn, Shillume Emune Yisrael, Odessa, 1898;
  • Belinsohn, Ein Wort über die Familie Guenzburg, St. Petersburg, 1858. The chief source is Maggid's work, quoted above.
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Günzburg". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
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