Does someone know where the family name Lichfett comes from? I met this name in Brazil. Is it perhaps only a modified version of Lichtfett?
asked Nov 4, 2014 at 15:31
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1This is a wild guess (and probably wrong) but perhaps it has to do with embalming? "Lich" + "fett"?– CTKleinNov 4, 2014 at 15:36
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3Probably related to English "lich", "like" and German "Leiche" in the old sense of "body". German has the name as "Lickfett" as well.– EmanuelNov 4, 2014 at 15:36
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@CTKlein That could be a good idea - thinking about the word Leiche.– Martin PetersNov 4, 2014 at 15:37
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1I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it should be asked on genealogy.stackexchange. It asks for the origin of a name.– JanApr 16, 2015 at 22:17
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1@Jan: I opened a Meta discussion on the on-topicness of such questions.– Wrzlprmft ♦Apr 17, 2015 at 6:30
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1 Answer
I’m going to answer this in German first:
Abhängig von den in verschiedenen Regionen Deutschlands gebräuchlichen Mundarten (Dialekten) haben sich verschiedene Schreibweisen für Namen ergeben. Zum Beispiel gibt es den häufigen Name „Schultze“ auch als „Schulze“.
Viele Nachnamen in Deutschland wurden im frühen Mittelalter in der Feudalgesellschaft aus den damaligen Berufen abgeleitet: „Meier“, „Müller“, „Bauer“ und „Schmied“ bzw. „Schmidt“ sind am häufigsten.
„Lichtfett“ ist ein sehr altes Synonym für „Lampenöl“, was insbesondere im frühen Bergbau unentbehrlich war, um Licht in die dunklen Stollen zu bringen.
Ich vermute deshalb, dass dieser Name seinen Ursprung auch in einem Beruf hat. Aber wie Jan oben in einem Kommentar schon schrieb, hat diese Frage nur am Rande mit der deutschen Sprache und mehr mit Genealogie zu tun.
In English:
Depending on the German dialects spoken in different regions of Germany, the way names are spelled is different. For example the name Schultze is also very often seen written as Schulze.
In the early Middle Age, many surnames in Germany were deviated from the professions of the time: Meier, Müller and Schmidt are the most common.
Lichtfett is an old-fashioned word for the oil needed to fuel lamps used in mining, which were very important at the time.
I therefore assume that the name Lichfett also originates from a profession. As Jan suggested above, this question should have been asked in a forum about genealogy.
