Sarfati

Sarfati (Hebrew: צרפתי, Israeli pronunciation: [tsaʁfaˈti]), variously transliterated and spelled Sarfatti, Sarphati, Serfaty, Serfati, Sarfate, Sarfaty, Sarfity, Zarfati, Tsarfati, Tsarfaty, Tzarfati, or as the noun tzarfatit (Hebrew: צרפתית), is a Sephardic Jewish surname and a geographical demonym.

The surname literally means "Gallic" or "French", and is derived from Tzarfat, the Biblical placename for Gaul, which in later times was identified in Jewish tradition as France. The Hebrew adjective tzarfati was frequently applied in rabbinical literature to Jews of French birth or descent.

Origin

One account places the origin of the surname as being linked to Rashi by way of his grandson Rabbeinu Tam, but the connection, although anchored in the Ketubot traditions, has never been fully proven due to a gap of seven generations in the genealogy after Jews were expelled from France by Philippe le Bel in the year 1306. After imprisoning many Jews and confiscating their properties, the French crown then used the wealth it seized from Jews to solve its fiscal and monetary problems, which had become chronic since the time of the Crusades.

In any case, numerous bearers of this name (whose ancestors came from France) lived in various parts of the Iberian Peninsula during the 14th-15th centuries, when they appeared in Spanish and Portuguese documents under the spellings Sarfati and Çarfati. During the 15th century and especially after the expulsion of Jews from these countries in the 1490s, some branches migrated from the Iberian Peninsula to North Africa, while others moved to Rome, Livorno and the Ottoman Empire.

List

Notable people with the surname include:

See also

All pages with titles containing Sarfati All pages with titles containing Sarfatti All pages with titles containing Sarfaty All pages with titles containing Serfaty

• Olry Terquem (1782–1862), who wrote under the pseudonym "Tsarphati"
• Tzarfati (surname)

References

Surname list

This page lists people with the surname Sarfati.
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