Origin of The Name
Historians believe that the name of the village originated from the Aramaic, "Deir Ohmor’" which means "Monastery of the Brother." Since the word deir means monastery and the Arabic word for the color red is ahmar, some historians believe that the origin of Deir el Ahmar's name can be attributed to the large monastery in the area that was built with red stones, thus the name of the town can be literary translated to "Red Monastery.".
While the people who have lived in that period tell a different story which state that after the baptism of the pagan tribes living in the village the monks built a monastery on Jupiter's Temple(a present historical ruin in the village) which the pagans used for the worship of their gods, so villagers used to came every morning to the Mass before going to their work. The villagers got surprised one morning because they did not hear the Church bell toll and hurried to the monastery. They found the monks slaughtered like sheep, by the pagan tribes that fled away and came back to avenge their gods. The people were terrified to see blood all around the place, so they run back shouting: "The monastery is red...." in Arabic: " Al Deir Ahmar " the "Al" was cancelled and the village as called "Deir El Ahmar".
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