Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 348

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 348

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/348

Some of the Academy's early reports contain errors that we haven't yet corrected. Please use it with caution.

Greetings,

Here's the information we found on the name "Filizzi" as a Sicilian name from the middle of our period.

We didn't find "Filizzi" in any of the sources we checked. We suspect that it's a form of "Felici," which means "of Felice" ("Felice" is an Italian first name--"Felici" or "de Felici" would be used by members of Felice's household or familiy.

One name which sounds like "Filizzi," but isn't related to it, is the surname "Fileccia," which one source says comes from a Sicilian word meaning "arrow." (1) We mention it because it is described as a Sicilian name. Unfortunately the name has no date or source, so we can't be sure that it's a medieval Sicilian name. But since our sources for Italian names are limited, this is the best source we have.

If you did take the name "Fileccia," we would suggest using arms with an arrow or arrowhead--the practice of using arms which refer to a person's name is called "canting" and is fairly common throughout Europe.

Arval D'Espas Nord, Evan da Collaureo, and Pedro de Alcazar contributed to this letter.

We'd be happy to help you find or document a given name as well. If we can be of assistance, please let us know.

In service,
Alan Fairfax
Academy of S. Gabriel