indicate the level to which a name has been verified.
Gender Feminine
Other Forms FormsZerline
Meaning & History
The name of a character in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera 'Don Giovanni' (1787), to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, which was based on the legend of Don Juan.It is not entirely clear where Mozart found this name: either he (thought he) invented it (possibly based on the Italian surname Zerla) or he adopted and adapted the old Yiddish name Zerline and Zerlina.
Zerline and Zerlina themselves are elaborated forms and diminutives of the Yiddish names Zerle and Zaerle, all of which have first been recorded, in the German-speaking world, between the late 1300s and early 1500s. They have been occasionally used up until the late 1800s and early 1900s, although their later uses might have been inspired by the opera.
Zerline and Zerlina themselves are elaborated forms and diminutives of the Yiddish names Zerle and Zaerle, all of which have first been recorded, in the German-speaking world, between the late 1300s and early 1500s. They have been occasionally used up until the late 1800s and early 1900s, although their later uses might have been inspired by the opera.