# Yiddish: Löw, Lœw (surname)



## stam-adam

Hi, how do you write Löw / Lœw  in Yiddish? Or better: does anyone know how was it usually written in registers in 19-th century?
Thanks a lot!


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## Demiurg

"Löw" is derived from German "Löwe" (_lion_) and refers to the Lion of Judah. It's also related to Russian "Lev" (Лев).
The yiddish spelling is  לייב ("leyb").


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## fdb

Demiurg said:


> The yiddish spelling is  לייב ("leyb").



Hence not from NHG Löwe, but from MHG leb(e).


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## stam-adam

Demiurg said:


> "Löw" is derived from German "Löwe" (_lion_) and refers to the Lion of Judah. It's also related to Russian "Lev" (Лев).
> The yiddish spelling is לייב ("leyb").


Thanks a lot.
By the way, are you sure it's related to Russian Jewish surname Lev (Лев)? This was usually put as לעוו or ליעוו, while the given name Leyb was spelled as you wrote:  לייב .


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## Demiurg

fdb said:


> Hence not from NHG Löwe, but from MHG leb(e).


The dominant spelling in Latin script is  "Lö*w*" or "Loe*w*".


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## Demiurg

stam-adam said:


> By the way, are you sure it's related to Russian Jewish surname Lev (Лев)? This was usually put as לעוו or ליעוו .


In the end, these are all variants of "lion": Leon, Leo, Lev, Leib, ... (Лев Бронштейн = Leib Bronstein).


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## stam-adam

Demiurg said:


> (Лев Бронштейн = Leib Bronstein)


Are we talking the same thing?
Russian Jewish surname Lev (Лев) was usually put as לעוו or ליעוו, while the given name Leyb was spelled as you wrote: לייב .


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## Demiurg

stam-adam said:


> Russian Jewish surname Lev (Лев) was usually put as לעוו or ליעוו, while the given name Leyb was spelled as you wrote: לייב


לעוו is also a transliteration for "Loew".  I guess it's similar to German where the last consonant is written as 'w' /v/ but pronounced as /b/ and sometimes also written as 'b': "Loeb" (or with a different spelling: "Leib").

"Leib Bronstein" is the traditional way to write the original name of Leon Trotsky (Лев Троцкий) in German.   "Leib" is the transliteration of yiddish  לייב and corresponds to Лев.


			
				Wikipedia said:
			
		

> Löw (or Loew) is a surname of German and Yiddish origin. Another romanization of the Yiddisch name לייב is Leib.


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## berndf

fdb said:


> Hence not from NHG Löwe, but from MHG leb(e).


*לייב* can mean _loaf _(German _Laib_) or lion (German _Löwe_) but not _life _(German _Leben_). That has *ע* as a vowel (*לעבן*) and not *יי.*


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## fdb

berndf said:


> *לייב* can mean _loaf _(German _Laib_) or lion (German _Löwe_) but not _life _(German _Leben_). That has *ע* as a vowel (*לעבן*) and not *יי.*



No, I do not mean "Leben". I mean MHG leb(e) "lion".

DWDS – Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache


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## JoMe

berndf said:


> *לייב* can mean _loaf _(German _Laib_) or lion (German _Löwe_) but not _life _(German _Leben_). That has *ע* as a vowel (*לעבן*) and not *יי.*


לייבן for _life_ exists and is not too uncommon Yiddish spelling.


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