CASSAR

Also common in the Levant, the surname in this form was first recorded in the Militia Roster of 1419.

From the Siculo-Arabic al-kassâr, meaning "stone-cutter" or "fuller of cloth or newly shorn wool". It may also relate to the Arabic qasr and kassâr (from which we get the Spanish Alcazar) or the Latin castrum, all of which refer to "castles" or "a castellan".

It is not fully understood why we find the Latin word SPES, meaning "hope", on this coat of arms.