Italian surnames and Easter

We have already discussed the influence of Christianity on the formation of Italian surnames, and in an earlier post we dealt with some Italian surnames whose origin is considered to lie in the commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ.

Here we will refer to those surnames whose origin is related to Easter, that is, to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the genesis of surnames, these events influenced some families to the point that they became a name and then a patronymic.

What is remembered / celebrated during Easter?

Chocolate eggs, rabbits, baskets and so many other traditions of different origins characterise this time of year. During this week Easter was celebrated — Pasqua in Italian, the most important feast of the Christian calendar. The word comes from the term pésaj, from ancient Hebrew, and means “passage” or “transformation,” referring to the biblical episode that tells how the Hebrews crossed the Red Sea fleeing slavery in Egypt, the Christian feast coinciding with the Jewish one. In the Old Testament we have the most remote antecedents of the Jewish Passover that Jesus himself so often celebrated, while in the New Testament there is the testimony of the “new” Passover instituted by the Lord.

Easter commemorates the death and resurrection of Jesus, the son of God, an event that represents the central axis of Christianity. Christ dies on the very day of Passover on which the lambs are slaughtered. In countries with a strong Catholic tradition such as Italy, this celebration is extremely important.

Etymology

Surnames originating in the word Pasqua

There is well-documented information on the origin of the surname Pasquale, present throughout the Italian peninsula; the surname is found in Italy with different variants. Let us look at a list of these surnames drawn up on the basis of authors such as P. Degli Uberti, Alinei and Benozzo, E. Rossoni and Joseph Fucilla.

• Pascale, Pascali, Pasqual, Pasquale, Pasqualetti, Pasqualetto, Pasquali, Pasqualin, Pasqualini, Pasqualino, Pasqualinotto, Pasqualis, Pasqualon, Pasqualone, Pasqualoni, Pasqualotto
• Pascalis, Pascarella, De Pascal, De Pascale, De Pascali, De Pascalis, De Pasqual, De Pasquale, De Pasquali, De Pasqualin, De Pasqualis, Di Pascale, Di Pascali, Di Pasquale, Dipasquale, Di Pasquali, De Pasqua, Di Pasqua, Pasqua, Pasquarella, Pasquarelli, Pasquarello, Quarelli (derived from Pasquarello), Pasquarossa (Red Easter, from the custom in some towns of giving red/pink coloured gifts), Pasquariello
• Pasquazzi, Pasquazzo, Pasque’, Pasquelli, Pasquet, Pasquetti, Pasquettin, Pasquetto, Pasqui, Pasquillo, Pasquoni, Pasquot, Pasquotti, Pasquotto
• Pasqui, Dalla Pasqua, Della Pasqua, Del Pasqua, Di Pasqua, De Pasqua, De Pasca, Pasca, Paschi, Pasco
• Pasquelli, Pasquetti, Pasquettaz, Pasquini, Pasquino, Pasquinucci, Pascucci, Pascuzzi, Pascon, Pasquon, Pascot, Pascut, Pascotti, Pascolini, Pascoli, Pascolo, Pascolato, Pascolat
• Pasquin, Pasquina, Pasquinelli, Pasquinetti, Pasquini, Pasquino, Pasquinucci, Pasqualigo, Pasquandrea, Pasquato, Pasquesi, Pasqualato, Pasqualatto, Pasquadibisceglie (a person or family with the surname Pasqua who came from Bisceglie).

All these variants are patronymics that derive from the name Pasquale, itself generated from the Late Latin Christian name Paschalis, later vulgarised to Paschale, and which then became Pasqualis.

The personal name Pasquale (the old form is Pascale), historically widespread throughout Italy, derives etymologically from Pascha, or Easter = from the Hebrew pesach-pésah-pesakh = from the Aramaic pascha, with the meaning “related to Easter.” As a personal name it was traditionally given to children born on Easter day, or close to Easter.

Variants of the surname

This name (later turned into a surname) is spread throughout Italy. We will look at the distribution of these variants, bearing in mind that:

• • pan-Italian = refers to everything concerning Italy as a whole (e.g. a pan-Italian phenomenon).
  • Ceppo = refers to the origin of a family in a given area, a stock, a lineage with a shared family tree.
• Dalla Pasqua is a Venetian surname, from Treviso
• De Pascal, rare, is found in Friuli
• De Pascalis, with a large ceppo in Apulia
• De Pasqua is also a rare surname
• De Pasqual, also typically Venetian, from the Belluno area
• De Pasquale, concentrated in southern Italy
• De Pasquali, a rare surname
• De Pasqualis, very rare, spread in Lazio and the Marche
• Del Pasqua is Tuscan, from Arezzo and Siena
• Della Pasqua is from Emilia-Romagna
• Di Pasqua is very rare
• Di Pasquale is found throughout Italy, though more centred in the Centre-South, with clusters in Abruzzo, Sicily and Lazio
• Di Pasquali is found in Piedmont, Lombardy, Lazio and Sicily
• Dipasquale is found in Sicily and Apulia
• Pasca is typically Apulian
• Pascal, typical of Piedmont and the Aosta Valley
• Pascale, pan-Italian, closer to the old form Paschalis, though mostly found in Campania with original ceppi in Piedmont
• Pascali is concentrated in Apulia, as is the surname De Pascali
• Pascalis has a small ceppo in Sardinia
• Paschi is extremely rare
• Pasco has ceppi here and there in Veneto, Tuscany and elsewhere
• Pasqua is pan-Italian
• Pasqual, typically Venetian, with ceppi also in Lombardy and Piedmont
• Pasquale, also pan-Italian, is spread across the whole national territory, with the largest ceppi in Piedmont, Molise, Apulia, Veneto and Campania
• Pasqualetti is typically Tuscan
• Pasquali is pan-Italian, also mostly present in Centre-North Italy with clusters in Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, Lazio and Veneto, and significant ceppi also in Tuscany, the Marche and Piedmont
• Pasqualini is mostly spread in the Marche, in Veneto, in Lazio, in Lombardy and in Emilia-Romagna
• Pasqualis is typical of the Trieste area
• Pasqualucci is typically from Lazio
• Pasqui is Tuscan and Romagnol
• Typically Venetian are the surnames Pasqualin, De Pasqualin, Pasqualon, Pasqualotto, Pasqualetto, Pasquati, Pasquato, Pasqualato and Pasqualigo