ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1422 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1422 ************************************ 8 Dec 1998 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for information about the surname . This letter is a brief answer to your question. We found two independent origins for the modern surname , one Italian and one French. In Italian, the surname or derives from a given name, originally a pet form of [1]. The famous American Cabot family descends from an Italian navigator and explorer, Giovanni Caboto, who lived in the second half of the 15th century and settled in Bristol by 1495 [2]. In French, the surname was originally a nickname derived from the Old French word "head". The suffix <-ot> is diminutive, so the nickname may have been used for someone with a small head. The word is also a northwestern dialectical variant of , the name of a type of fish. This meaning could also have given rise to a surname, possibly for a fisherman or fishmonger, most likely in Normandy, Norman England, or Picardy [3, 4]. We hope this brief letter has been useful. Please write us again if you have any questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Craig Levin, Brian M. Scott, and Leslie Schweitzer. For the Academy, Josh Mittleman 8 Dec 1998 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Fucilla, Joseph G., _Our Italian Surnames_ (Evanston, IL: Chandlers' Inc., 1949), p.45. [2] "Cabot, John", Britannica Online. [Accessed 27 November 1998]. http://www.eb.com:180/cgi-bin/g?DocF=micro/96/37.html [3] Dauzat, Albert, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Famille et Prenoms de France_ (Paris: Libraire Larousse, 1987), s.n. Cabet. [4] Einhorn, E., _Old French: A Concise Handbook_ (London & New York: Cambridge University Press, 1974).