According to E. H. Palmer, the name means "the convent of Amis."[1]
History
In 1243, during the Crusader era, Deir Aames (called Derreme, or Dairrhamos) belonged to Venice.[2]
Ottoman era
In the early 1860s, Ernest Renan noted: "'At Deir Amis there is a large basin of great stones, and a portion of wall which seems
of Crusading times. At the church there is a drawing like the stone of Aitit. As the stone of Deir Amis is certainly Christian, so must also be that of Aitit."[3]
In 1875, Victor Guérin found the village to be inhabited by Metuali families.[4] He further noted: "numerous ruined houses, a fragment of a column in the interior of a small mosque, cut stones scattered over the ground, cisterns cut in the rock, a tank partly built and partly rock-cut. On an ancient lintel is carved a double cross in a circle."[5]
