Search Etymological origin of Italian surnames

ERRANTE | ERRANTI

Errante is decidedly Sicilian, from Castelvetrano, Trapani, Paceco, Marsala, Campobello di Mazara and Mazara del Vallo in the Trapani area and from Palermo and Menfi in the Agrigento region, Erranti, very rare, would seem Tuscan. additions provided by Stefano Ferrazzi The origin of these surnames is to be found in the medieval name Errante, which, in ancient onomastics, was born as a variant of the more common Ferrante or Ferrando - through the Spanish or Portuguese Herrando (archaic form of Ferrando), which, ultimately, consists of a contraction of the original Fernando (for a more detailed explanation, see Ferranda and Ferranta). Now, for the sake of clarity, it should be noted that the name Fernando / Ferrando often takes the initial pitch in Iberian onomastics (replacing F-), as is also noted in the surnames Fernando / Hernando, Fernàn / Hernàn, Ferrando / Herrando, Ferràn / Herràn, etc. From a geographical point of view, moreover, it can be observed that the Sicilian lineage of the Errante has a distribution very similar to that of the surnames Ernandes and Ernandez, of clear Iberian origin (see Ernandes) - in this sense, we must specify that the same Ferrante it is a very common surname in Sicily. To this hypothesis, however, must be added a second interpretation concerning the surnames in question, which, although unlikely, cannot be completely excluded: in some cases, in fact, a derivation from the wandering adjective is not impossible, to be understood or in the sense literal of one who errs, who wanders here and there aimlessly or in the figurative sense of one who makes a mistake, who moves away from the truth (with a moral or religious value). In conclusion, therefore, we are dealing with the surnames of personal names of the founders, whose origins, in fact, could be precisely Spanish or Portuguese (perhaps even Jewish-Sephardic) - in theory, however, we cannot exclude a derivation from the adjective wandering, maybe even partial or in any case a minority.

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