Etymology
The city derives its name from the patron saint San Severino, the owner of the church around which the castellum was formed. The original "Sanctus Severinus" appeared in seven papers written between 1116 and 1266. "Sanctus Severus", however, is first attested in a document dated 1134, also known only in dubious modern transcription. In some documents, the header is read in Latin with the original spelling and the one derived in the text in the vernacular; this suggests that the change is due to ancient agiotoponimo syncope, withdrawal common in the transition from Latin to Italian: Sanctus Severinus> Sanseverinus> Sansevero, especially since no saint named Severus was revered in the city before the end of the seventeenth century. Uncoincidentally, the official name "Sansevero" - acknowledging the uncommon variants San Severo and S. Severo - was always in the univerbata form.
In 1931 the municipality, at the request of the Ministry of Interior, officially adopted the spelling "San Severo", having been taken from the dictionary compiled by the United Town's Central Institute of Statistics (The situation is analogous to that of Sanremo). The change of the name was accepted with little to no resistance, so that today it is used almost universally. An exception is made by Trenitalia and the Autostrade, which represents the city by writing "S. Severe".
Read more about this topic: San Severo
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)