# Lessing

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'''Lessing''' is a German surname of Slavic origin. The original Sorbian form, ''Lěsnik'', means either "forest dweller" or "woodman", ''lěs'' meaning "wood forest".<ref>{{cite web | title=Lessing Family History: Lessing Name Meaning| website=Ancestry | date=15 June 2021 | url=https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=lessing | access-date=16 December 2023}}</ref>

People with the surname Lessing include a German family of writers, artists, musicians and politicians who can be traced back to a Michil Lessigk, mentioned in 1518 as being a linen weaver in [Jahnsdorf](/source/Jahnsdorf), near [Chemnitz](/source/Chemnitz).<ref>Binnow, "Die Familie Lessing"; Arend Buchholtz: ''Die Geschichte der Familie Lessing''. Berlin: C.R. Lessing, 1909. 2 volumes; Wolfgang Drews: ''Lessing'', Reinbek bei Hamburg, Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag GmbH, 1962, pp. 13–38; Dr Gerhard Stephan: "Die Familie Lessing", ''Kamenzer Heimatbuch'' 5, pp. 28–36.)</ref>
The family includes:
* {{Ill|Johann Gottfried Lessing|de}} (1693–1770) pastor primarus in [Kamenz](/source/Kamenz), well respected, published theologian, translator and father of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781) and Karl Gotthelf Lessing (1740–1812). Johann Gottfried's father Theophilus Lessing (1647–1735) was mayor of Kamenz and [Robert Schumann](/source/Robert_Schumann)'s (the composer and pianist, 1810–1856) great-great-great-great-uncle, Johanne Sophie Susanna Lessing (1745–1818, daughter of Carl Heinrich Lessing 1713, a trumpeter) his grandmother.
* [Gotthold Ephraim Lessing](/source/Gotthold_Ephraim_Lessing) (1729–1781), one of the most prominent philosophers of the Enlightenment era, recognised as the world's first dramaturg, Germany's first dramatist and comedy playwright, champion for [religious tolerance](/source/religious_tolerance), friend of [Moses Mendelssohn](/source/Moses_Mendelssohn), critic for the ''[Vossische Zeitung](/source/Vossische_Zeitung)'', translator and Shakespearean scholar. Today his own works appear as prototypes of the later developed bourgeois German drama. Scholars generally see ''[Miss Sara Sampson](/source/Miss_Sara_Sampson)'' and ''[Emilia Galotti](/source/Emilia_Galotti)'' as the first bourgeois tragedies, ''[Minna von Barnhelm](/source/Minna_von_Barnhelm)'' as the model for many classic German comedies, ''[Nathan the Wise](/source/Nathan_the_Wise)'' as the first German drama of ideas ("Ideendrama") and his theoretical writings ''Laokoon'' and ''[Hamburg Dramaturgy](/source/Hamburg_Dramaturgy)'' set the standards for the discussion of aesthetic and literary theoretical principles.
* [Karl Gotthelf Lessing](/source/Karl_Gotthelf_Lessing) (1740–1812), Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's (1729–1781) younger brother and his first biographer, comedy playwright, translator, mint director, and owner (through marriage to Marie Friederike Voß, the daughter of {{Ill|Christian Friedrich Voß|de}}) of the ''Vossische Zeitung''.
* Carl Friedrich Lessing (1778–1848), son of Karl Gotthelf Lessing (1740–1812),<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=4hcQAAAAYAAJ&dq=carl+friedrich+lessing+kanzler&pg=PA502 Review] of ''Die Lehre vom Menschen'' by Carl Friedrich Lessing, in ''Berliner Literarische Zeitung'', volume 2, no. 4, 21 January 1835, column 58</ref> published philosopher, chancellor under Prince [Biron von Curland](/source/Peter_von_Biron) in [Polnisch Wartenberg](/source/Syc%C3%B3w).
* [Karl Friedrich Lessing](/source/Karl_Friedrich_Lessing) (1808–1880), German painter; son of Carl Friedrich Lessing (1778–1848) and great-nephew of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781), married to Ida Heuser, niece of painter [Henriette Jügel](/source/Henriette_J%C3%BCgel) and whose niece Malwine Schroedter (1847–1901) married painter and then director of the [Academy of Arts, Berlin](/source/Academy_of_Arts%2C_Berlin), [Anton von Werner](/source/Anton_von_Werner).
* [Christian Friedrich Lessing](/source/Christian_Friedrich_Lessing) (1809–1862, died and buried in [Krasnoyarsk](/source/Krasnoyarsk), Siberia), physician, botanist and writer; son of Carl Friedrich Lessing (1778–1848) and great-nephew of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781)
* Carl Louis Gotthold Ludwig Lessing (1817–1897), modelmaker/designer, wine grower and lecturer; son of Carl Friedrich Lessing (1778–1848) and great-nephew of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781), married to Marie von Ammon (1833–1928), granddaughter of {{ill|Daniel Heinrich Delius|de}}, a lawyer in Brussels and later president of the region of Trier, also sister of Clara von Ammon who married {{ill|Johannes Rösing (1833–1909)|de}}, a diplomat between the States and Germany and son of controversial politician {{Ill|Johannes Rösing (politician)|de|3=Johannes Rösing (Politiker)|lt=Johannes Rösing}} (1793–1862) who had been imprisoned for left-wing ideas.
* Franziska 'Fanny' Maria Lessing (1818–1901), daughter of Carl Friedrich Lessing and great-niece of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781), married to German painter {{Interlanguage link|Emil Ebers|de}} (1807–1884).
* {{Ill|Carl Robert Lessing|de}} (1827–1895), publicist, owner of the ''Vossische Zeitung'' and [Schloss Meseberg](/source/Schloss_Meseberg); son of Carl Friedrich Lessing (1778–1848) and great-nephew of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781).
* {{Ill|Gotthold Lessing (politician)|de|3=Gotthold Lessing (Politiker)|lt=Gotthold Ephraim Lessing the Younger}} (1861–1919), son of Carl Robert Lessing (1827–1895), landowner and liberal politician.
* [Otto Lessing (sculptor)](/source/Otto_Lessing_(sculptor)) (1846–1912), German sculptor, photographer and writer, gifted pianist, son of Karl Friedrich Lessing (1808–1880), married to Sigrid Gude, daughter of Norwegian painter [Hans Gude](/source/Hans_Gude).
* Bertha Lessing (1844–1914) daughter of Karl Friedrich Lessing (1808–1880), married to royal court actor and dramatist [Karl Koberstein](/source/Karl_Koberstein); their son Hans Koberstein became a painter.
* {{ill|Konrad Lessing|de}} (1852–1916) landscape painter; son of Karl Friedrich Lessing (1808–1880).
* {{Ill|Heinrich Lessing|de}} (1856–1930), painter; son of Karl Friedrich Lessing (1808–1880).
* [Kolja Lessing](/source/Kolja_Lessing) (born 1961), German pianist, violinist, composer and music professor at the Stuttgart Musik Hochschule; great-great-great-great-great-nephew of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781). 

Lessing is also the surname of:
*[Ada Lessing](/source/Ada_Lessing) (1883-1953), German journalist and politician
* [Doris Lessing](/source/Doris_Lessing) (1919–2013), British novelist and the 2007 Nobel Prize laureate in literature; once married to Gottfried Lessing
* [Gottfried Lessing](/source/Gottfried_Lessing) (1914–1979), German diplomat
* [Erich Lessing](/source/Erich_Lessing) (1923–2018), Austrian ''Magnum'' photographer
* [Feodor Yulievich Levinson-Lessing](/source/Feodor_Yulievich_Levinson-Lessing) (1861–1939), Russian geologist
* [Lawrence Lessing](/source/Lawrence_Lessing), American journalist
* [Madge Lessing](/source/Madge_Lessing) (1862–1935), English actress
* [Roland Lessing](/source/Roland_Lessing) (born 1978), Estonian biathlete
* [Simon Lessing](/source/Simon_Lessing) (born 1971), British athlete
* [Theodor Lessing](/source/Theodor_Lessing) (1872–1933), German-Jewish philosopher

==Similar names==
* [Lessig](/source/Lessig)

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Surname}}

Category:German-language surnames

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Lessing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lessing) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lessing?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.