Help with reading/translating death record for Scipiani Samperi

[VotM]

Yet another bit of help requested.

Here is the death record for Scipiani Samperi of Acireale, Sicily. I am looking for help in deciphering some of the words; help with the translation would be a plus as well.

As far as I can tell, the original text (from 1615) reads

die 24 iulii

estato morto sipioni samperi d'anni 35 in circa fu cesi lio nella occia di sancto sebastiano inpresentia d. antonino rasusa e d'[???]nimi muscinechi

I've divided "estato" into "e stato' and "inpresentia" into "in presentia" when running this through Google Translate. After tidying up the translation, the text reads something like this: "On July 24th, from the time of death of Scipiani Samperi, aproximately 35 years old [...] San Sebastian in the presence of Don Antonino Rasusa and [...]"

Again, thanks in advance for any help you may be able to give!

[erudita74]

I believe Antonino's surname is Ragusa. The other witness Geronimo; his surname looks like Musunechi, but I believe it is Musumeci.

Erudita

[erudita74]

fu sepulto- was buried nella (cresia?) di Santo Sebastiano. I also don't believe either witness had a title. I think in front of Antonino is just d' or di and in front of Geronimo is di.

BTW, I think the word "cresia" is a dialectal word which means "church."

Erudita

[VotM]

Belated thanks, Erudita! I forgot to check the box for E-mail notification when replies are posted.

As far as I've been able to determine, Scipiani Samperi appears to be the Samperi (Sampere in his marriage record; baptismal record not located yet [not in the index]) to whom all Samperi lines in Acireale lead back to... which makes the lack of a father's name in his marriage and death records a particular curiosity.

[AngelaGrace56]

BTW, I think the word "cresia" is a dialectal word which means "church."

Erudita

Yes it is. It actually ties in really well with the words "cresima" - confirmation. I always wondered where that word came from. It's finally clicked.

Angela

[erudita74]

Belated thanks, Erudita! I forgot to check the box for E-mail notification when replies are posted.

As far as I've been able to determine, Scipiani Samperi appears to be the Samperi (Sampere in his marriage record; baptismal record not located yet [not in the index]) to whom all Samperi lines in Acireale lead back to... which makes the lack of a father's name in his marriage and death records a particular curiosity.

No problem. You're very welcome.

Also, for some reason I've been thinking that the husband of one of the sisters of my husband's one great grandmother had come from Acireale, and that I had previously viewed some of that town's records, but he was a Raiti from Linguaglossa. So I've never had reason to go through Acireale records.

Erudita

[erudita74]

BTW, I think the word "cresia" is a dialectal word which means "church."

Erudita

Yes it is. It actually ties in really well with the words "cresima" - confirmation. I always wondered where that word came from. It's finally clicked.

Angela

Hi Angela
I have a background in Linguistics, among other things. Thus my interest in such things. Glad it clicked for you.
Erudita

[AngelaGrace56]

You are a woman of many talents, Erudita, and as I've said before a huge asset to IG.

We didn't actually refer to church as cresia, we just called it Chiesa or 'a massa' if that's what we going to. But maybe I'd heard the word Cresia amongst the older immigrants? I know it's there somewhere in my memory. We always referred to Confirmation as Cresima though, and I actualy thought that was dialect but it isn't. Anyway, glad I've finally made the connection.

Angela

[PippoM]

Hello to all!
I think the root of "cresia" is the latin word "ecclesia" ("church"), though "cresima" has a similar sound.

[erudita74]

Hello to all!
I think the root of "cresia" is the latin word "ecclesia" ("church"), though "cresima" has a similar sound.

Pippo is correct in saying that the word "cresia" derived from the Latin word "ecclesia." What is interesting though is that the Latin word derived from a Greek word which did not have a religious connotation. Instead it referred to a civil assembly or coming together for government or political reasons.

Erudita

[VotM]

I believe Antonino's surname is Ragusa. The other witness Geronimo; his surname looks like Musunechi, but I believe it is Musumeci.

I think in front of Antonino is just d' or di and in front of Geronimo is di.

I've come across references to Don Antonino Ragusa in later records (mid-1600's) involving the Samperi family, so I'm not yet ready to rule out the "d" and its trailing mark in front of both names being "d." -- the abbreviation for "Don".

[erudita74]

Personally, I think that if the letter d was an abbreviation for the title Don, it would be capitalized.

Erudita

[VotM]

Normally, I'd agree. But in the 1615 records, there seem to be a number of people who avoided use of capital letters when recording entries. The author of the Samperi entry seemed especially dedicated to the "e e cummings" style of writing (i.e., no capital letters) . A link to the original page is given below:

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1 ... 76X?mode=g

You can see several different writing styles in the entries. I believe the bottom two on the left were written by the same person. The bottom entry does support your view that the writer simply used "d" for "di". But it's an interesting coincidence that there is a "Don Antonino Ragusa" who appears in other entries for that family.

[erudita74]

I just went through an entire section of these records. As far as I can tell, after the words "in presentia," you have "di". If there is an abbreviated title-the abbreviated title follows the word "di." I also see the witness Geronimo in a number of the records. He doesn't have a title. His surname also appears to vary in spelling as Musamegi and Musumechi. I didn't see Ragusa in any of the other records in this section, but maybe I just missed him.
Erudita

[VotM]

The "Ragusa" name was in one of the marriages several years later. Definitely a different section. I'll try to relocate the reference.