Documented variant · 1858
Zmud
The oldest form of the surname in a document of this research: the census of the Jewish farming colony of Novy Zlatopol, taken on 26 May 1858, records “David Falikov Zmud”. It is also the surname of Leon Moises Zmud, whom family tradition makes Felix's brother.
In a document of this research
David Falikov Zmud
Where it appears
In the census of the Jewish farming colony of Novy Zlatopol, taken on 26 May 1858, household 47/92 is headed by “David Falikov Zmud”, aged 40, an agricultural colonist in Ekaterinoslav province. That is the form on the original census sheet. The same household lists his sons —among them Koppel, aged 20— and Koppel’s wife, Dvorka.
The previous revision list, of 1853, writes the same David as Zhmuyd: the surname changes from one document to the next depending on the year and on who wrote it (see Freedman’s 2020 report).
What the word says
It comes from Žemaitija, Samogitia, a region of western Lithuania that the Slavic languages called Żmudź (in Russian, Жмудь). Zmud meant roughly “the one from Samogitia”: a common way of identifying someone by where they came from.
The family did not live in Samogitia but in Ludza, in present-day Latvia, which David left in 1846. The surname points to an earlier origin, not to the town where the family is found.
In family tradition
For generations the family said that Felix and a certain Leon Moises Zmud were brothers, and that Ana Zmud —Leon Moises’s daughter— was Alejandro’s first cousin. To this day no document confirms or refutes it: it is among the open questions.
Do not confuse
Among Koppel’s sons there is one named Moshe. He is not the same person as Leon Moises Zmud. Names repeat constantly in this family, and confusing two of them is the easiest mistake to make.
There are similar forms of other origins —the Polish Żmuda or Zmuda, for example— that are unrelated to this family. They are explained in other Smud families.