Giovanni Santostasi wrote:
Rossi doesn't mean Smith. It is translated sometime by Google as Smith
because Smith is such common name in the anglophone world and Rossi is
an extremely common (if not the most common) Italian last names.
Rossi means "red one", probably the ancestors of this family were red
headed.
Wow! That gives us an interesting look at how Google translation works.
The computer picks a word that is functionally similar. One that has
similar uses, distribution or frequency.
Or maybe it is a database error.
The word "roth" also means red, in Middle English. Hence the placename
and family name "Rothwell" means red well. That is, a well with reddish
water from iron minerals in the water. See:
http://www.rothwelltown.co.uk/historyofrothwel.html
- Jed
