Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 555

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 555

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/555

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

Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked for our opinion of "Antony Corvus" as a 16th century Italian name. Here's what we've found.

The most common Italian form of "Antony" was "Antonio". It was popular throughout Italy for much of our period [1]. For example, is was the second most common masculine name in a census of Florence in 1427 [2].

By the 16th century, true bynames were probably rare in Italy. Certainly among the urban and upper classes, inherited surnames were most common. There are quite a few Italian surnames which derived from the Latin word "corvus", either through its use as a byname or a given name. However, the Latin word itself would not have been used as a name in your period.

The surnames Corvo, Corvi, Corbo, Corbi are common throughout modern Italy. Our references suggest that the forms spelled with a 'b' originated in southern Italy [3]. Other such forms include Corbelli, Corbello, Corbellini, Corbetti, Corbetto, Corbini, Corbino, Corbucci, Corboli, Corbascio, Corbari, Corbato, Corbatti, Corbatto. Any of these surnames would probably be appropriate for your persona, e.g. Antonio Corbi.

Your modern surname "Corsaro" does indeed appear to derive from the word meaning "pirate" or "corsair". Our reference notes that the surname was often figurative rather than literal: It does not necessarily mean that the original bearer of the name was actually a pirate [4].

I hope this letter has been helpful.

For the Academy,

Arval Benicoeur


References

[1] De Felice, Emidio. Dizionario dei Nomi Italiani. Arnoldo Mondadori

Editore, Milan, 1992.

[2] Ferrante LaVolpe, Italian Names from Florence, 1427,

http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/ferrante/catasto, 1996.

[3] De Felice, Emidio, Dizionario dei Cognomi Italiani (Arnoldo Mondadori

Editore, 1978)

[4] Joseph G. Fucilla, Our Italian Surnames (Evanston, IL: Chandlers' Inc.,

1949).