Re: Donato-Scerbo 1867 Marcellinara Italy
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In reply to:
Re: Donato-Scerbo 1867 Marcellinara Italy
7/09/99
Dear Rosa, I had heard & read about two different meanings for the name Scerbo. One was in a book on surnames & it explained Scerbo as being from the word for bitter or asberbic.The other explaination I hear was that the name meant Serb ergo from the slavic east(maybe your Russian connection). It is very possible that some of the polulation of Marcellinara were actually Albanians that entered Italy around 1490.There people were also refered to as "I Greci". I know that my greatgrandmother, Anna Caoila, was refered to as "A Greca".I would be very interested in finding some historian that has done reserach on the origins of our village.
By the way a priest by the name of Scerbo,Franceso, had written a book on the liguistic features of Marcelinara. In particular the interchanging of "f" with "h"
such as hija for figlia. He explains this as some Spanish influence. So you see our people are a true blend. I also will be going to Marcellinara in March/April of next year to do more research.I still have some cousins of my mother in the village and also
cousins in Cosenza. Good Bye for now, Alfredo de Bonis