Some parallels between Khazar Hebrew names and ancestral names in contemporary Jewish communities

Some parallels between Khazar Hebrew names and ancestral names in contemporary Jewish communities,

עברית	Hebrew	Khazar	‘Ivri	Ebraeli	Ashkenazim	Crymchak	Spharadim	Iraqi	Kurdish	Bukhara	Comments
פסח	Pesakh	Pesakh	Pisakh (m) Pisakhov (s)	Pesakh	Peysekh (m/s) *4 Pesakhovich (s) Pesakhover (s) [12]	Peysakh (s) *5	Pessah *6,7				“Khag Pesakh” - Pesah holiday, Khazarian general Pesakh
חנוקה	Khanuka	Khanuka	Khanuko (m), Khanukaev (s)	Khanuka (m), Khanukashvili (s) [12]	Khanukovich (s) [12]						“Khag Khanuka” – holiday of Hanukkah. Male name “Khanuka” appears 4 times in Khazaria, and only twice outside Khazaria: once in Jerusalem X century and once in Byzantium XII century.
פורים	Purim		Purim (f)		Purimski (s) [12]	Purim (s) *5	Purim *8				"Khag Purim" - holiday of Purim
מזל טוב	Mazal-tov		Mazaltu, Mazantu (f)	Mazaltov (f)		Mazultu, Mazulta (f)	Mazaltov (f/s) *6,7,9,10 Mezeltob	Muzli Toba (f) Mazaltov (f/s) [11]			Blessing "mazal tov" - good luck
סימן טוב	Siman-tov		Simandu (m), Simanduev(s)	Samintov	Semantovski (s) [12]	Saminto	Semantov *15		Simantov *11	Simantov	Blessing "siman tov" - good sign
יום טוב	Yom-tov		Yumtu	Yomtov	Yom-tov		Yomtob Yomtov				"yom tov" – holiday (lit. “good day”)
שם טוב	Shem-tov		Shumtu	Shemtov	Shem-tov		Shem Tov Ibn Shemtob Shemtov Sem Tob Semtob Ibn	Shemtob (s) [11]	Shemtu [7]		"shem tov" - good reputation (lit. “good name”)
סיני	Sinai	Sinai *1	Sinai *2		Sinai (m/f/s)		Sinai, Sinay (m/f)				Biblical mount Sinai
שרח	Serakh (f) *12	Serakh (f)	Serakh (f)	Serakh (f)							Israelite wife of first Khazarian king
סבריאל	Savriel	Savriel	Savriil			Savvariy	Sabriel *14				First Khazarian king
ניסי	Nissi	Nisi, Nissi	Nisu, Nusu *3			Nason *3	Niso *3				My G-d - my flag

בכור	Bekhor	Bihor, Biheros, Bihar, Virhor	Biror *13				Bekhor				Firstborn
		Bagatyr	Bogatyrev (s)								Turkic for “brave warrior”
		Katun (f)						Katun, Khatoun, Khatoon (f) [11]			Khazar princess “Katun” (also title)

Notes:

m - male name (not shown by default)

f - female name

s - surname

Name "Sinai" frequently used by Hungarians (Madyars). As we know Khabar tribes from Khazaria, which had Judaic religion, formed a union with Madyars and was their leading military force. It's possible that Khazarian and Hungarian name "Sinai" have Turkic or Finno-Ugrian origin and have no relation to biblical mount Sinai.

There are only one documented case of "Sinai" name among East-Caucasian Jews: in "Family lists of inhabitants of a country part of city of Derbent" for 1873 among inhabitants of settlement Hosh-Manzil found "Sinai son of Aharun", 1876 of the birth, moved from village Maraga. [3, pg. 11]

Instead more likely that "Nisu" is a short form of "Nison"/"Nisan" or "Nitzan".

Pesah - rather new Jewish name, which has received especial distribution among Jews in Germany [15, pg. 47]. It is certified, however, by documents already for the end XIII century. See in [16, pg. 19], where in the list of victims in Mainz in 1298 some persons with name "Pesah" appear.

In 1913 census, 153 Crymchaks had surname "Peysakh" (2.8% of total), and 158 had surname "Purim" (2.9% of total) [9].

List of (mostly) Sephardic brides from the publication, "List of 7300 Names of Jewish Brides and Grooms who married in Izmir Between the Years 1883-1901 & 1918-1933." [10].

List of (mostly) Sephardic grooms from the publication listed above (Izmir lists provided by Dov Cohen, Shimshon Israel). Email address dkcohen@bezeqint.net [10].

From the burial register of Bethahaim Velho Cemetery, Published by the Jewish Historical Society of England. [10].

There are 16 women named “Mazaltov” in 1839 Jerusalem census [13]. From them 6 was born in Jerusalem, 1 from North Africa and the rest came from Turkey (Constantinople, Izmir), Greece (Salonica), Bulgaria (Burgas) or Macedonia (Monastir).

Name “Mazaltov” found frequently on tombstones located in the Jewish cemetery of Rhodes. The tombstones are dated from the 1840’s to the 1940’s. [14].

In 1839 Jerusalem census [13] found record “Simantov Gurji , birthplace – Kurdistan”. But according to his surname “Gurji” (Georgian), it’s possible that he is from Georgia or Caucasus in general.

Serakh - the extremely rare Jewish female name, which, alongside with other old biblical names, was kept in the use by Caucasian Jews [17, pg. 13].

“Biror” means “brother” in Juwuri language – rather strange name to call your son! It’s unclear if it’s etymologically related to Khazarian name “Bihor” or to Hebrew “Bekhor” (firstborn).

From Genealogy.com: “Sabriel Medina (son of Samuel Medina and Sarah R. Maysonet)”.

“The ceremony, held in front of the Thanksgiving Monument, was opened by chairman of the Shalom Jewish organization in Plovdiv [Bulgaria] Semantov Madjar”, from http://www.aba.government.bg/JewsMem/Jews.html

REFERENCES:

1. О РАННИХ КОНТАКТАХ ВОСТОЧНОКАВКАЗСКИХ ЕВРЕЕВ И ХАЗАР, Игорь Семенов

(About early contacts between East-Caucasian Jews and Khazars, by Igor Semenov)

2. РЕЕСТР ТРАДИЦИОННЫХ ИМЕН ГОРСКИХ ЕВРЕЕВ КУБИНСКОЙ ОБЩИНЫ, Яков Абрамов

(Registry of traditional names of Mountain Jewish community of Kuba, by Yakov Abramov)

3. Посемейный список жителей загородной части гор. Дербента/

Дагестанский областной статистический комитет.Темир-Хан-Шура, 1873//

Центральный Государственный архив Республики Дагестан.- Ф.21. Оп.5. Д.5.

(Family lists of inhabitants of a country part of city of Derbent/

Daghestani Regional Committee of Statistics. Temir-Khan-Shura, 1873//

Central State archive of Republic of Daghestan)

4. Khazarian Names, by Christian Settipani and Kevin Alan Brook