All that Jasz

While following my Patriarchal line, I noticed that my last name evolved over time - the last change I can't yet find but I found some hints. As I explained in my last blog seemed that around 1100 AD we may have been named after a river. Or the river may have been named after us. All I know is that we were both there with the name Jossa around that time. I can't trace the name beyond that point. They were obviously wealthy because they built castles and had "von" in front of the name which indicated Lordship. 

I read also that German last names can mean their original occupation but it can also indicate the place where they are from. Several times while reading about the von Jossa's, they also called them "von Jasza" and this confused me. 

I also learned that they used to name rivers after their Gods. Was the Jossa river named after an old Pagan God? Probably not. I see no evidence of this.

Then I ran across a old map of Europe that had a place named Jasz (see above). The map was created to show the migration of a people called the Alans. I researched that and quickly discovered that Jasz was the historic capital of Romania - a very powerful city.  (More info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ia%C8%99i) 

The etymology of the cities name "Jasz" can be traced back to a Pannonian (Illyrian)-Celtic tribe called the Iasi. 

The Celtic's appearing again in the research caught my eye. When researching Jossa in Germany, I learned that there were Pagan Celtic tribes living there in ancient times. That area of Germany also has 7 World Heritage Sites within about 100 miles from each other. Also it was interesting to learn that the Grimm Brothers traveled through the tribes in this area in search of the folk tales that most people in America are very familiar with. These ancient folk tales contain much of what we know of magic and fairies in modern times. 

I also found this:

"Early in the 20th century, a link to the ancient Iazyges has been proposed, the Roman name of an ancient Sarmatian tribe that once lived in the area, or from a tribe of Alans known as the Jassi." SOURCE: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Ia%C8%99i

So maybe they were from Sarmatia? 

Wiktionary says: From Latin, Sarmatia, from Ancient Greek ... According to some classical Greek authors, Sarmatia owes its name to the characteristic red hair of the Sarmatians. (historical) An ancient territory corresponding to the western part of greater Scythia (modern Ukraine, southern Russia, and the eastern Balkans).

See also: https://culture.pl/en/article/the-original-sarmatians-the-men-who-fought-attila-the-hun
(totally worth the read BTW - marijuana, feminism, witchcraft, red hair, King Arthur, etc)

About the Alans: 

Wikipedia says: "Upon the Hunnic defeat of the Goths on the Pontic Steppe around 375 CE, many of the Alans migrated westwards along with various Germanic tribes. ... The name Alan represents an Iranian dialectal form of Aryan." and also "The Alans were also known over the course of their history by another group of related names including the variations Asi, As, and Os (Romanian Iasi or Olani Bulgarian Uzi, Hungarian Jász, Russian Jasy, Georgian Osi). It is this name at the root of the modern Ossetian."

So my current theory is that my Patriarchal ancestors were known by a last name that indicated where they came from. What last name they were called before that is still unknown. 

* Note the neighboring Basques and Berbers who are known for their larger than average number people with RH Negative bloodtype.