The surname presents two independent lines of origin (ceppi): one Ligurian, centred on the Imperia area with a secondary nucleus in Genoa, and another in Sicily, probably in the Palermo area.

On the origin, the authors propose different hypotheses. E. Rossoni notes as most probable a derivation from the Hebrew name Shemer, which means "guardian"; he also contemplates the possibility that it is an Italianization of the French surname Semler, linked to the Germanic term semmel, with the sense of "baker." A. Bongioanni, on the other hand, mentions that there exists a biblical given name of similar form —recorded in Austrian Hebrew documents—, although he considers it a doubtful origin for this surname. Bongioanni highlights its great frequency in western Liguria and notes that the Provencal lexicographer Mistral records related forms: Séméria, Sémérie, Samary, Saramia, Sarramia, among others, without it being possible to determine with certainty whether the surname passed from Provence to Liguria or in the opposite direction.

Bongioanni further relates the form Sarramit —the last of the Provencal surnames cited by Mistral— with the Piedmontese Saramitto and Salamitto, derived not from a personal name but from the term saramit or saramitáire, which designated in Piedmont the collectors of saltpetre on behalf of the royal treasury. From this same semantic field would come the Venetan surnames Salinitri and Salmistrari.