In this study the authors examine the Jewish surname Mantovani, sporadically attributed to Jews in various documents, as Ketubbot and other community registers, and most significantly in the Jewish population registers compiled by the Municipality of Modena from the second half of the 17th century. Several other surnames originated from individuals’ places of birth, and this surname is also not exclusively Jewish, being well attested for Christians as well. At first glance, it was hypothesized that a possible relation might exist between the origin of the surname Mantovani for Jewish people in Modena and the expulsion from Mantua of 1.600 Jews, ordered by the Austrian power immediately after the conquest of the city with the famous conquest and plundering of Mantua in July 1630. As many as 1,000 of them escaped by boat sailing from the lakes of the city and then on the rivers Mincio and Po, and landing in Carbonarola, near Sermide, hoping to arrive in Mirandola and in Modena. Nevertheless, thanks to a more careful analysis, this hypothesis still remains to be verified, because it seems that, while up to 15th century surnames of Jews were easily exchangeable, on the contrary, this was no longer true in the 17th century. Consequently it is more likely that the Jews who arrived in Modena from Mantua have maintained the same surname they had in Mantua. In order to verify the frequency of the surname Mantovani among the Modenese Jewish Community, the authors examined all the occurrences of this surname, in comparison with the two other most common surnames among Jews of the city, namely Sanguinetti and Sacerdoti, in all the Communitarian registers compiled by the Municipality of Modena starting from the second half the 17th century until the 19th century Napoleonic census. However, despite the significant presence of the surname in these registers, in the second half of the 19th and especially in the 20th century, Mantovani became a very rare surname, and it even almost disappeared among the Italian Jews, perhaps because of a massive assimilation of this household into the Christian world.
Mantovani: un cognome ebraico attestato dal Seicento a Modena e oggi quasi scomparso con una nota sui cognomi Sacerdoti e Sanguinetti
PERANI, MAURO;
2015
Abstract
In this study the authors examine the Jewish surname Mantovani, sporadically attributed to Jews in various documents, as Ketubbot and other community registers, and most significantly in the Jewish population registers compiled by the Municipality of Modena from the second half of the 17th century. Several other surnames originated from individuals’ places of birth, and this surname is also not exclusively Jewish, being well attested for Christians as well. At first glance, it was hypothesized that a possible relation might exist between the origin of the surname Mantovani for Jewish people in Modena and the expulsion from Mantua of 1.600 Jews, ordered by the Austrian power immediately after the conquest of the city with the famous conquest and plundering of Mantua in July 1630. As many as 1,000 of them escaped by boat sailing from the lakes of the city and then on the rivers Mincio and Po, and landing in Carbonarola, near Sermide, hoping to arrive in Mirandola and in Modena. Nevertheless, thanks to a more careful analysis, this hypothesis still remains to be verified, because it seems that, while up to 15th century surnames of Jews were easily exchangeable, on the contrary, this was no longer true in the 17th century. Consequently it is more likely that the Jews who arrived in Modena from Mantua have maintained the same surname they had in Mantua. In order to verify the frequency of the surname Mantovani among the Modenese Jewish Community, the authors examined all the occurrences of this surname, in comparison with the two other most common surnames among Jews of the city, namely Sanguinetti and Sacerdoti, in all the Communitarian registers compiled by the Municipality of Modena starting from the second half the 17th century until the 19th century Napoleonic census. However, despite the significant presence of the surname in these registers, in the second half of the 19th and especially in the 20th century, Mantovani became a very rare surname, and it even almost disappeared among the Italian Jews, perhaps because of a massive assimilation of this household into the Christian world.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
