Barqūq, Mišmiš. Itinerari onomastici dell’albicocca e una nuova etimologia del cognome

Abstract

(Barqūq, Mišmiš. Onomastic wandering of apricot and a new etymology for the surname Musumeci) The present paper suggests a new hypothesis on the origin of the surname Musumeci, widespread in Sicily and also extant in Malta. The current assumptions on its etymology are complex in nature but generally ignore the possible link with mišmiš, the Arabic word for ‘apricot’. The original Arabic word for ‘apricot’ was, however, al-barqūq, of Latin origin, which subsequently came to designate the prune. The Arabs introduced both words in the Magreb and in Southern Europe, where they were adopted in various forms. Whereas Spain accepted the word al-barqūq (albaricoque in Spanish), Liguria, Sicily and Calabria seem to have been influenced, in addition to albarqūq, by the form mišmiš and by the cognate form, typical of the Magreb, namely mišmāš. The latter reached Sicily during the conquest of the island by the Tunisian Arabs which, at present, still employ the term as a surname, especially in the cities on the oriental coast from Nabeul to Sfax. The variety of Arabic spoken in Sfax shows, moreover, other differences from Classical Arabic. Since similar differences may be detected in Maltese words of Arabic origin as well as in the dialect of Pantelleria, one may suggest that the word mišmāš arrived in Sicily with the Sfaxians. Moreover, it can be hypothesized that the Sfaxians were ultimately responsible, directly or indirectly, for the introduction of the surname Musumeci as suggested by the presence of the word mišmāš in Lampedusa’s lexicon. With respect to its graphical and prosodic structure, Musumeci agrees totally with Caracausi’s rules of transformation of Arabic words passed in Latin, Sicilian and Italian.