DREIFUSS (DREYFUS and other spellings)

 

An abbreviated explanation published in the Los Angeles Herald, Number 345, 10 September 1899  (shown at right)summarizes the origin of the name Dreifuss and its alternate spellings accurately and consistent with historical published accounts and other sources (such as Beth Hatefutsoth at the Museum of the Jewish Diaspora, Tel Aviv Israel).  later page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The headline that day on the front page of the Herald (shown above left) dealt with the conviction of Captain Alfred Dreyfus (below) of the French army.The author of the article o

 

Many Jewish family names are derived from the names of towns of origin. "Dreifuss" in German literally means three feet, but all of the various spellings are based on the name of several towns in Germany, France and Italy.

 

For example, many Jews lived in Trier in Western Germany since the 10th century The Jewish community itself was first documented in 1066. The old French spelling of this town was Trieves. Other Jewish communities lending to the name Dreifuss include:

• Treves, a town in the French department of Gard

• Troyes, the birthplace of Rashi which is a town in the French department of Aube, where the Jewish community was first recorded in the early part of the 11th century
• Treviso, near Venice Italy where Jews lived since the 10th century, and

• Trevou(x), a town in the French department of Ain in Burgandy, where Jews lived since the 14th century.

 

The name Dreifuss gradually developed historically:

• Von Treves documented as a Jewish family name in 1135

• Treves in the 13th century

• Trevo and Trevoux in 1380

• Trabot and Trabotto in the 14th century
• De Trevos in 1400
• Treviess in 1442
• Trvis in 1499
• Treve in 1627
• Von Trier in 1644
• Trier in 1675
• Dreifous in 1680
• Trifus in 1694
• Dreifus in 1697
• Dreifuss in 1698
• Trefus in 1719
• Drayfous and Drayfus in 1755
• Trefous, Tresouse, Trefousse and Treff in 1800
• Triefus, Treifous, Treyfous, Dreifous and Dreyfousse in 1908
• Dryfoos (20th century)

 

Dreifuss is recorded as a Jewish family name with Abraham Dreifuss of Hamburg, North Germany in 1698.

The information above was obtained from Beth Hatefutsoth at the Museum of the Jewish Diaspora, Tel Aviv Israel.

 

A consistent spelling of Dreifuss, or for that matter, any surname is "a 20th century invention" and names were almost never spelled in a standard manner before. Therefore one might expect that those Jews living in German speaking areas adopted or were referred to as Dreifuss and those in French speaking areas were Dreyfus or Dreyfuss.

 

Note that a common misconception among even experienced genealogists is that many people with a common surname must be related. For example a group of DREIFUSS surnamed researchers studying TREVES y-DNA who expect their DNA and only their DNA contains the remnants of a common chain of Jews from Treves. Of course this assumes that all the Jews in Treves in the 13th century were related. Most likely this assumption is very unlikely.

 

The tombstone shown just below is very interesting. This grave is of Jakob (Yakov) Dreyfuss who died 24 December 1833 and was photographed at the Schmieheim cemetery where many of our DREIFUSS ancestors were buried. Yakov was born in Altdorf around 1757. It demonstrates the Hebrew spelling shown on the stone 'tet,fey' used in the late 18th  and early 19th century, for which the English pronunciation is closer to Treve than it is Dreyfuss or Dreifuss. We believe it to be typical of the derivation of DREIFUSS, DREYFUS, etc. Hence, the origin of the name believed to be Jews expelled from the Prussian City of Treves (in English now is Trier), which is the oldest city in Germany.  For this reason most of the various spellings of Dreifuss today most probably are derived from a family or group of families from the same place.