Hi, Tobiah and all.
Yes, officially you're right Tobiah, but Francesco lived at a time when
Europe was transitioning to the use of established family names, so
many names that we use today would seem ridiculous if interpreted in
their original meaning.
Basically, European surnames are either place names like Shapiro (from
Speyer), or Covington, for example; occupation names like Cartier or
Wainwright, or names from the patronymic tradition like Fitzhugh ("fils
de Hugh"), or my own, Stetson (son of Stith), which were standardized
at a certain time. Probably no one in my family has been named Stith
in 600 years, but we're still all "sons" of great(9) grandpa Stith,
even the women.
Families of great socio-politico-economic status (Sforza, Hapsburg,
Tudor) were solidified earlier than lower class families for obvious
reasons, and of course there are anomalies. A couple of my favorites
are an Italian tradition of having an insulting nickname of an
ancestor, like Testagrossa (Fat Head) for a surname, and people of
Northern and Central European Jewish heritage, being forced to choose
family names late in the game, are possessed of beautifully fanciful
ones like Goldberg (Golden Mountain) or Blumenthal (Valley of Flowers).
So, in short, if you're writing historical fiction, no one should refer
to him as "da Milano" (unless they're speaking Italian and the question
is "Where is he from?"), but he can properly be called that in a modern
context.
My 2 cents, anyway.
Best to all,
Chris.
On Tue, May 7, 2013 at 10:43 PM, Tobiah <[1]t...@tobiah.org> wrote:
Ok, my last college class was 20 year ago now. I thought
that I was told that "Francesco Canova da Milano" basically
meant "Francesco Canova from Milan (Italy)". I was reading the
surprisingly brief wikipedia article about the aforementioned
individual, and I came across this:
A composition called "Canzona by Francesco da Milano" (better known
as the song "The City of Gold") is commonly misattributed to da
Milano.
So, if I am not grossly mistaken about my interpretation of the
entire handle with which we refer to the beloved 'Frank', then
I wonder if it can at all be correct to refer to him as
"da Milano". Wouldn't that be like one of you referencing
this letter and remarking that it was written by "From California"?
I expect much from the ever flowing fount of knowledge and wisdom
that is this list!
Thanks,
Tobiah
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