Sardinian surnames

[1] Witnesses of this exchange carried out with good and mutual agreement: donno Trogodori Corsu de facto curator of Bonarcado, and Torbini de Piras head of the circumscription, and Goantine de Baniu cleric and Petru Marki cleric of Solarussa, and Petru d'Ardaule cleric, and Petru Contu and Goantine de Rue and Tericu Maiu and Taniel Kerssa and Petru Coco and Benzivenni and Petru Manis.Among the most valuable sources for the study of ancient Sardinian onomastics are the condaghes, administrative registers of the Sardinian Judicates dating back to the 11th-13th centuries, as well as the Ultima Pax Sardiniae, a 1388 peace treaty between John I of Aragon and Eleanor of Arborea, in which most of today's Sardinian surnames can be found, often written with a slightly different spelling (e.g. De Thori, today Dettori).

Most of the Sardinian-specific surnames derive from the Sardinian language, denoting toponyms (e.g. Bitti, from Bitti or Onnis/Onni and Fonnesu, from Fonni[4]), in particular of ancient villages (e.g. Kerki, a village in the curatoria of Nurra, and resulting in today's Cherchi, or Sogus, in the curatoria of Gippi, from which derive today's Sogus and Desogus[4]) now largely disappeared (it is well known, as recorded by the historian John Day, the abandonment of hundreds of Sardinian villages during the 14th century because of the Black Death and the Sardinian-Catalan war[5]), animal names (e.g. Porcu "pig", Piga "magpie", Cadeddu "puppy dog" etc.

), plant names (e.g. Meloni "melon", Floris "flower"), color names (e.g. Biancu "white", Nieddu "black"), nicknames (e.g. Pittau "Sebastian"[6]), sometimes indicative of a personal trait (e.g. Mannu "big") or of a filial relationship (e.g. Corbeddu, "son/daughter of Mr. Corbu"[6]), and to a lesser extent anthroponyms (e.g. Catte, Marche "Marc" etc.)

A considerable migratory flow coming from the other side of the Strait of Bonifacio occurred, in fact, since the Middle Ages and ended only in the first decades of the 19th century.

There are also cases of surnames that indicate an Iberian origin, even illustrious ones, already attested in records pertaining to the Judicates, such as Iohanne Cadalanu[13] ("John the Catalan") or Gosantine de Maiorica ("Constantine from Mallorca"),[4] or the same royal family of the Arborean Judicate, the De Serra Bas, who partly descended from the Cervera's line, Visconts of Bas; they brought a large following to Arborea,[14] including perhaps the progenitors of the Garau families, from the Catalan Guerau "Gerard".