Of New Testament origin: from a post-classical Latin personal
name, a feminine diminutive of the Roman family name Priscus
‘ancient’. Priscilla was the name of a woman with whom St Paul
stayed at Corinth (Acts 18:3), referred to elsewhere as Prisca.
The name was in regular use in the late 16th century and enjoyed
a modest vogue in the 19th century. German and Jewish
(Ashkenazic): occupational name for a tiler, from an agent
derivative of Middle High German ziegel ‘roof tile’ (Old High
German ziagal, from Latin tegula), German Ziegel. In the Middle
Ages the term came to denote bricks as well as tiles, and so in
some cases the term may have denoted a brickmaker or bricklayer
rather than a tiler.