New Post
Search
Help
ArchivesBuethe, Tricamo, Sclafani, Kemler
Looking for the origins or meanings of these surnames in my family tree. I haven't found Buethe (German), Tricamo (Italian), or Sclafani (Italian) in any reference works I've checked, though one source says that Kemler (German) means either "maker of combs" or "comber of wool." (On the sheep or off?)
1
Replies
From Oxford University Press "American Family Name Origins"
Sclafani
Italian (Sicily): habitational name from a place so called in the Palermo region, probably from Latin scaphula ‘little boat’, ‘skiff’.
Kemler
Altered spelling of German Kemmler or Kämmler, occupational name for a comb maker or a wool comber, from Middle High German kamb(e) ‘comb’ + the agent suffix -(l)er.
Combing of wool is done after shearing the wool off the sheep.
Sclafani
Italian (Sicily): habitational name from a place so called in the Palermo region, probably from Latin scaphula ‘little boat’, ‘skiff’.
Kemler
Altered spelling of German Kemmler or Kämmler, occupational name for a comb maker or a wool comber, from Middle High German kamb(e) ‘comb’ + the agent suffix -(l)er.
Combing of wool is done after shearing the wool off the sheep.
This message was edited 9/2/2007, 2:11 AM
1
Buethe may be an old spelling of buette (bütte), meaning "tub, vat". It could then be a metonymic for a maker of such vessels. Büttner is a German surname from that occupation.
Tricamo looks like a place name, though I can't find anywhere of that name.
Tricamo looks like a place name, though I can't find anywhere of that name.
1