Greek personal names in Southern Italy: aspects of continuity and differentiation (original) (raw)
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L’onomastica di Malta è multistrato e multilingue. In modo particolare i cognomi sono penetrati nell’isola lungo alcuni secoli, conformemente alla complessità delle vicende storiche e linguistiche. alcuni dei cognomi più antichi sono di origine etimologica araba ma la deportazione dei musulmani nel Duecento ruppe i legami dell’isola con il mondo arabo-berbero. Da quei tempi, a parte il recente influsso inglese, le maggiori fonti culturali sono state la Sicilia, l’Italia e altre nazioni europee, in ispecie del mediterraneo. La lunga presenza dei Cavalieri di San Giovanni (1530-1798) moltiplicò la popolazione e il conseguente influsso di cognomi neolatini e continentali. Il presente studio esamina tre documenti rappresentativi che forniscono un quadro affidabile dei loro tempi: (a) l’elenco della Militia del 1419-20, che è il vero punto di partenza per lo studio demografico dell’isola nel periodo tardo-medievale; (b) lo Status Animarum, cioè il censimento diocesano del 1687, che illustra i cognomi del periodo dei Cavalieri; e (c) il censimento nazionale del 2005, che ritrae il profilo sociodemografico della popolazione isolana nel primo decennio del secolo XXI. Maltese onomastics is polystratal and polyglot. Family names, in particular, have reached the island over many centuries in complicated historical and linguistic conditions. Some of the oldest Maltese surnames are of Arabic origin; however, the expulsion of the Muslims in the thirteenth century brought about the final rupture of the powerful cultural ties which had bound Malta to the Arabo-Berber world. Since then, barring latter-day English influence, the dominant cultural driving force in Malta has come from Sicily, Italy and other European, mainly Mediterranean, countries. The prolonged presence of the Knights of St John (1530-1798) produced, in a more pronounced manner, an influx of neo-Latin and continental surnames. The present paper discusses three representative documents which serve as reliable snapshots of their times: (a) the militia List of c. 1419/20, which is truly a starting point for the study of Malta’s demographic make-up in the Late middle ages; (b) the Status Animarum or diocesan census of 1687, which throws significant light on Malta’s cognominal pool in the Hospitaller era; and (c) the national Census of 2005, which provides a socio-demographic profile of the local population in the early years of the twenty-first century.