This surname of ZINGLER is of two-fold origin. It was a German and Ashkenazic Jewish topographic name for someone who lived by the outermost defensive wall of a town or city. The name was derived from the Old German word ZINGEL, and rendered in ancient documents in the Latin form CINGULA. Other spellings of the name include ZINKE, ZINGG, ZINGEL, ZINGELMAN, ZINGELMANN and ZINGELL. It was also an occupational name 'one who played the medieval cornet, the zinke'. The name was derived from the Old German 'zinke'. The same word was used to denote a cornet, although the semantic development is not clear, and the surname may sometimes have been metonymic for a player of this instrument. It was not until the 16th century that the metal 'zinc' was discovered, so this is unlikely to lie behind the surname. Most of the occupations or professions reflected in family names are those known in the small villages in Europe, or those followed in a kings, or an important noble's household, or in some large religious house or monastery. During the Middle Ages much of Europe was composed of small villages, and many families surnames sprang from the occupation of the owner, and to describe a man by his occupation or profession was the most natural way to address a man, and set him apart from others in the neighbourhood. Surnames which were derived from ancient Germanic personal names have the same meaning in many languages. The court of Charlemagne (Charles the Great, king of the Franks (742-814) was Christian and Latin speaking). The vernacular was the Frankish dialect of Old High German, and the personal names in use were Germanic and vernacular. These names were adopted in many parts of northwest Europe, particularly among the noble ruling classes. Hereditary surnames were found in Germany in the second half of the 12th century - a little later than in England and France. It was about the 16th century that they became stabilized. In the Middle Ages heraldry came into use as a practical matter. It originated in the devices used to distinguish the armoured warriors in tournament and war, and was also placed on seals as marks of identity. As far as records show, true heraldry began in the middle of the 12th century, and appeared almost simultaneously in several countries of Western Europe. |
