The Laskaris or Lascaris () family was a Byzantine Greek noble family whose members formed the ruling dynasty of the Empire of Nicaea from 1204 to 1261 and remained among the senior nobility up to the dissolution of the Byzantine Empire, whereupon many emigrated to Italy and then to Smyrna (much later). According to George Pachymeres, they were also called Tzamantouros (Tζαμάντουρος). The feminine form of the name is Laskarina (Λασκαρίνα). Etymology The origin of the name is unclear. In 1928, the Greek scholar Phaedon Koukoules proposed an origin from δάσκαρης, a Cappadocian variant for "teacher", but the δ>λ shift in Cappadocian is attested only in the late 19th century, so that its application to the mid-11th century or earlier is dubious. A year later, G. Stamnopoulos proposed an alternative etymology from the name Λάσκας or Λάσκος and the -άρις ending borrowed from the Latin -arius, but the Greek linguist K. Menas considered such an etymological evolution as unlikely. According to the Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, the "most probable" etymology is the one proposed by B. Hemmerdinger in 1969, according to which the name derives from the Persian word Lashkarī (, also , ʿaskarī), meaning "warrior, soldier". However, this interpretation is open to question since "the first known members of the Laskaris family [...] were simple peasants". The Greek historian D. Theodoridis instead suggested a derivation from the Arabic al-ʿashqar, "ruddy, blond", or also "sorrel". History The first occurrence of the name is in 1059, in a will by Eustathios Boilas, but the people mentioned there were simple peasants. Another family surnamed Laskaris appears in Thessalonica from c. 1180 on, but the relation with the imperial dynasty, if any, is unclear. The first Laskaris of note were Constantine and Theodore, the sons of Manuel Laskaris and Ioanna Phokaina Karatzaina (Ἰωάννα Φώκαινα Καράτζαινα), who became prominent in Constantinople during the latter years of the Angeloi dynasty, when Theodore had married Anna Komnene Angelina, a daughter of Alexios III Angelos. According to Niketas Choniates, immediately prior to the sack of the city by the Fourth Crusade, Constantine was elected emperor by the people, but had to flee before the Latins. Together with Theodore, he led the anti-Latin resistance of the native Byzantine Greek population in Asia Minor, but it was Theodore who established a new empire in exile, the Empire of Nicaea. There were also three older brothers, Manuel, Michael and George,