The authors agree that this surname is of Sicilian origin and derives from the name of the trade of the maniscalco, that is, the person in charge of the care and shoeing of horses. E. Rossoni notes that it is characteristic of western Sicily and points to two possible motivations for its adoption as a surname: the practice of the trade of shoeing horses, or responsibility for the seigneurial stables.

V. Blunda goes deeper into the etymology and specifies that the term has a Germanic root, coming from the compound marh skalk, formed by marh ("horse") and skalk ("servant" or "specialized attendant"). Blunda stresses that the office evolved from the function of keeper of the royal stables into the high office of Marshal of the Kingdom, supreme military commander in the medieval European courts. The same etymon gave rise to the French maréchal and the Spanish mariscal, words that to this day preserve the sense of a senior military rank.