According to Palmer, the old name Asiret el Hatab means The difficult place of timber.[1]
According to the local municipality, in Arabic, the word Asira means "firewood" and refers to the town's (and nearby Asira al-Qibliya's) abundance of forests which was used by residents to sell firewood.[4]
South east of the village centre (at grid no. 175/183) is a site where a quantity of pottery from Iron Age I has been found.[7]
In 1166, a Crusader estate called Asine was located here.[5]
Ottoman era
In 1517, the village was included in the Ottoman empire with the rest of Palestine, and in the 1596 tax-records it appeared as 'Asirah, located in the Nahiya of Jabal Sami, part of Nablus Sanjak. The population was 19 households and 5 bachelors, all Muslim. They paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues and a fixed tax for people of Nablus area; a total of 3,335 akçe.[8]
In 1838 Robinson placed 'Asiret el Hatab in the Wady esh-Sha'ir district, west of Nablus.[9]
In 1870, Victor Guérin noted about the village, which he called A'sireh, that it was: "a considerable village, whose inhabitants are considered industrious. Their houses are better built than in many other places in Palestine. Around the village, there are some gardens planted with figs, olive trees and vegetables."[10]
In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Asira ash-Shamaliya, which they called 'Asiret el Hatab as: "a large village on a round knoll, with olive groves on every side."[11]
In the 1945 statistics the population was 2,060, all Muslims,[15] with 30,496 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[16] Of this, 4,850 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 11,765 were for cereals,[17] while 101 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[18]
In 1961, the population of Asira Shamaliya was 3,232.[19]
Post-1967
Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Asira ash-Shamaliya has been under Israeli occupation. The population of 'Asira Shamaliya in the 1967 census conducted by the Israeli authorities was 3,217, of whom 53 originated from Israeli territory.[20]
According to Zertal (2004), Asira is one of the candidates for the place Haserot, which was mentioned in the Samaria Ostraca.[22] Another candidate for Haserot is the ruin el-Kebarrah (grid 1793/1967), located SW of Sir.[23]
^Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 128. NB: typo: wrong gridno. in Hütteroth and Abdulfattah tables, on Hutteroth.png z1 is in correct position at (175/184)
^Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 128
Perlmann, Joel: The 1967 Census of the West Bank and Gaza Strip: A Digitized Version. Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.: Levy Economics Institute of Bard College. November 2011 – February 2012. [Digitized from: Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing, 1967 Conducted in the Areas Administered by the IDF, Vols. 1–5 (1967–70), and Census of Population and Housing: East Jerusalem, Parts 1 and 2 (1968–70).]
