Baso
This form is an altered form of the surname Basone.
Origin and meaning
Surname that should be an augmentative of Baso. Caracausi proposes that it is an abbreviated form of the surname Basile, derived in this case from the Greek Basíleios ("regal"); the founding ancestor probably belonged to the court of a basíleus, that is, of a Byzantine king, or to the environment of his court. It could also derive —always according to Caracausi— from Vasi, an aphaeretic form of Gervasi: Vasi > Vasone > Basone. Gervasi is a name of Germanic, Lombard origin, composed of gair ("spear", Frankish gêr) and vasu, from vasjan ("to be powerful, to be worth").
Note: Caracausi, G. (1993). Dizionario onomastico della Sicilia: Repertorio storico-etimologico di nomi di famiglia e di luogo (2 vols.). Centro di Studi Filologici e Linguistici Siciliani.
Altered forms and derivatives
Geographic distribution: Sicilian surname present in Mazara del Vallo, Castelvetrano, Pantelleria and Trapani (in the Trapani area), Adrano (in the Catania area), Nicosia and Regalbuto (in the Enna area), Ficarazzi (in the Palermo area). Spread across around 35 comuni in some Italian regions: eight comuni in Sicily, the rest scattered in Piedmont, Liguria, Lazio, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Tuscany, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna
📍 You can view how this surname is distributed in Italy: View distribution in Italy (Cognomix)
Sources
This entry of the Italian Surname Meanings dictionary is based on the following specialized onomastic sources:
- Miranda, F. (2013). I cognomi di Regalbuto, Catenanuova e Centuripe. Ginevra Bentivoglio EditoriA.