Sicilian surname of dialectal origin, linked to a domestic trade. It comes from the dialectal word dispinsèri, meaning "steward of the pantry". The term designated the person responsible for the pantry in the great noble houses and Sicilian convents, a figure of trust who administered the provisions, controlled the supplies and recorded entries and departures in the books of the house. As a surname it could have originated in the very trade of an ancestor employed in the service of a seigneurial family or of a religious community of the island, according to F. Miranda and V. Blunda.