[Avodah] Yehoshua's Falcon

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Tue, Feb 07, 2017 at 06:37:06PM -0500, Zev Sero via Avodah wrote:
: Does anyone know whether the name "Yehoshua Falk"  is still used
: today, and, if not, when it fell out of fashion?  (I know that an
: alternative spelling, "Yehoshua Falik", is still used; I'm asking
: about the version without the I.)   Also, does anyone know *why*
: Yehoshua is associated with a falcon?

Wikipedia on the Sma (R' Yoehushua b Alexander hakohen) Falk
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Falk> mentions (without
attribution):
    Note on the name "Joshua Falk"
    
    Until the early 19th century, the names of most Central European Jews
    consisted of a Hebrew first name, a German second name, the patronymic
    "ben ... " (son of ...) and, if an upper one, the class - HaCohen (or
    "Katz") or HaLevy. The German name was chosen to fit the Hebrew one:
    thus "Zvi" or "Naftali" went with "Hirsch", and "Zev" or "Binjamin"
    with "Wolf". Those whose given name was Yehoshua, Josua, or Joshua
    had the second name of Falk, Valk, Walk, Wallik or Wallich. (One
    theory is that "Falk", here, derives from the German for falcon:
    just as a falcon circles its prey, so Joshua circled and explored
    the Holy Land before swooping down on it. Some derive "Valk" from
    an acronym of Leviticus 19:18: "ve'ahavta lere'akha kamokha" - "Love
    thy neighbor as thyself"). The name Falk was thus not a family name
    until the 19th century, when it was adopted by those whose immediate
    ancestors had "Falk" as a second name. Encyclopedias will therefore
    have several entries under "Falk", where "Falk", strictly, is not a
    surname. References to Rabbi Falk are therefore often via "Yehoshua
    Falk ben Alexander HaCohen" or "Joshua Falk ben Alexander Katz" or
    "Joshua Falk Katz".

But it doesn't explain why communities that stil have Dov Ber or
Yitzchaq Aizik dropped this pair. Assuming it is a falcon. The
notriqon theory sounds like a poetic stretch. (Like Shneur = shenei
or. Of course the truth -- Sheneur = Signor / Sen~or -- can also seem
a stretch.)

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             One doesn't learn mussar to be a tzaddik,
micha at aishdas.org        but to become a tzaddik.
http://www.aishdas.org                         - Rav Yisrael Salanter
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