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Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!
You asked for information on the origin of the surname "Matera". Here is what we have found.
It is very hard to trace a modern surname to its ultimate roots without considerable research. Names can derive from a multitude of sources and can undergo strange spelling changes over the centuries. We do not have any good references on modern Spanish surnames, so we haven't been able to find a good answer to your question. We did find some similar names and we have some theories on the origin of your surname.
We found a few examples of a feminine given name "Mater", recorded in Leon in the 10th and 11th centuries [1]. It is probably derived directly from the Latin word "mater" (mother). A second source records "Matre" as a byname at the same time [2]. In Spanish, the Latin "mater" became the modern "madre", not "matera", which leaves this derivation of your surname open to question.
There was a Roman family called "Materius". It was the root of a French place name recorded in 977 as "Maidera" [3] and possibly of the Spanish byname "Materia". But the internal 't' in Latin words usually became a 'd' in modern Spanish and Catalan derivatives, so we would expect the modern form of these names to be "Madera" rather than "Matera".
The 11th century given name "Maternus" or "Matermus" is a remote possibility. It is recorded in the patronymic "Materniz" [4].
It is also possible that the name derives from a place name, either in Catalonia or elsewhere. For example, there is a city called "Matera" in Italy. It is the capital of the region of Basilicata in Lucania.
I hope this letter has been useful. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek.
For the Academy,
Arval Benicoeur
References
[1] Pascual Martinez Sopena, editor, Antroponimia y Sociedad (Universidade de
Santiago de Compostela and Universidad de Valladolid, 1995)
[2] Solin & Salomies [full citation, please]
[3] Morlet, Marie-Therese, Les Noms de Personne sur le Territoire de
l'Ancienne Gaule du VIe au XIIe Siecle, v.III (Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1972)
[4] R. P. Gonzalo Diez Melcon, Appellidos Castellano-Leoneses (Granada:
Universidad de Granada, 1957).