n northern England and in Scotland BISSETT might become the name for the brown or dark-complexioned man
BISSETT = Scottish (of Norman origin): nickname from Old French biset ‘dark’, a diminutive of bis (see Biss )—Altered form of French Bizet: nickname for someone with a dark complexion…
“If the ancestor had a very dark complexion, the name was likely to become MOHR, SWARTZ, SWART, SCHWARTZ or SCHWARZ in Germany”
Mohr = a Moor, a Black, a Black - a Moor, a Negro, an Ethiopian.
SCHWARTZ
“If the ancestor had a very dark complexion, the name was likely to become MOHR, SWARTZ, SWART, SCHWARTZ or SCHWARZ in Germany”
SOURCE;
(Elsdon Cole Smith, ‘American Surnames’; 1986)
The word Swarthy or Swart derives from ‘Schwarz’ or ‘Schwartz’ which means “to be black”; black man, and negro
SOURCE;
(Flügel-Schmidt-Tanger, a Dictionary of the English and German Languages for Home and School; 1905)
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