Meaning of Granaglie in Mazzaschi

[mikenhm]

My surname is Mazzaschi which is a fairly uncommon name.

I had always assumed it was a placename, especially since there's such a frazione in the Province of Parma. However, I just came accross a reference to 'Granaglie in Mazzaschi' in a book from 1863. The author is Tuscan and is listing all the new terms the government is using, some of which are apparently Piemontese. The way it's used it sounds like a unit of measure or a container for corn or grain.

Anyone know how I can research this?

Thanks. Mike

[PeterTimber]

Granaglie is a dictionary word for Cereal (wheat, corn) and the verb Granulare means to granulate, Granaglia on the other hand refers to granulated gold or silver.

You surname Mazzaschi is not listed inthe italian surname dicitonary and is most likely liocal in origin and based upon a nickname or occupational activity or operhaps and local anecdote.
=Peter=

[liviomoreno]

My surname is Mazzaschi which is a fairly uncommon name.

I had always assumed it was a placename, especially since there's such a frazione in the Province of Parma. However, I just came accross a reference to 'Granaglie in Mazzaschi' in a book from 1863. The author is Tuscan and is listing all the new terms the government is using, some of which are apparently Piemontese. The way it's used it sounds like a unit of measure or a container for corn or grain.

Anyone know how I can research this?

Thanks. Mike

There are 187 entries for Mazzeschi in the Italian White Pages.

Is this the book you are referring to: La civiltà cattolica?

[johnnyonthespot]

My surname is Mazzaschi which is a fairly uncommon name.

I had always assumed it was a placename, especially since there's such a frazione in the Province of Parma. However, I just came accross a reference to 'Granaglie in Mazzaschi' in a book from 1863. The author is Tuscan and is listing all the new terms the government is using, some of which are apparently Piemontese. The way it's used it sounds like a unit of measure or a container for corn or grain.

Anyone know how I can research this?

Thanks. Mike

This google map may provide some insight into your surname; it does seem to represent a frazione within the comune of Pellegrino Parmense in the Parma province.

As to the book Livio linked to, if that is your source then you left out the very important comma in the text. With my limited Italian skills, the text seems to be a listing of the varios commodities that the frazione (farms? families?) are most known for: Lingotti - grain, Mazzaschi - manure (?), Pondrette - book publishing (?), etc.

[edited to add]

Very limited Italian skills. In looking again at the full paragraph from the book, it is difficult for me to estimate what the writer is talking about. Is this a commentary on the local language/dialect? Either way, the writer seems to be associating commodities with terms as I indicated above.

[PeterTimber]

I believe Mike is looking for the origin of the name Mazzaschi and its possible meaning which was furnished above. All the rest is what the inquirer latched onto because he saw the word Granaglie as a possible source for his surname andf nothing more. =Peter=

[johnnyonthespot]

I believe Mike is looking for the origin of the name Mazzaschi and its possible meaning which was furnished above. All the rest is what the inquirer latched onto because he saw the word Granaglie as a possible source for his surname andf nothing more. =Peter=

Yes, Peter, and as I explained, Mike mis-read or mis-understood the source he used to associate 'Granaglie' with 'Mazzaschi' because, in fact, the words are used in two separte phrases the one having nothing to do with the other.

If anything, my interpretation of the book cited by Livio indicates that 'Mazzaschi' (the place or the person) seems to have been a producer of manure.

[mikenhm]

Actually, the source I used is a compilation by Piero Fanfani called Il Borghini subtitled "Giornale di Filologia e di Lettere Italiane" from 1863. Apparently it formed part of 'La Civilta Cattolica'. The version of La Civilta that appears on Archive.org is dated 1865 and perhaps came through an optical character reader because it's quite different.
Reading the Fanfani version - which on Google books is a photocopy (link pasted below) - is actually pretty interesting. The author is Tuscan and is ranting about the new terms being introduced by the new government which are -God help us - Piemontese. (With this attitude, no wonder Tuscan won out). In the section that includes 'Granaglie in mazzaschi', he has gotten into a sing-song of Tuscan and new-government terms. While I don't think they are placenames, the meaning does get cloudy through all the unfamiliar words. I'd like to hear other opinions. Thanks.

http://books.google.com/books?id=RFaw2x ... 22&f=false

[johnnyonthespot]

Actually, the source I used is a compilation by Piero Fanfani called Il Borghini subtitled "Giornale di Filologia e di Lettere Italiane" from 1863. Apparently it formed part of 'La Civilta Cattolica'. The version of La Civilta that appears on Archive.org is dated 1865 and perhaps came through an optical character reader because it's quite different.
Reading the Fanfani version - which on Google books is a photocopy (link pasted below) - is actually pretty interesting. The author is Tuscan and is ranting about the new terms being introduced by the new government which are -God help us - Piemontese. (With this attitude, no wonder Tuscan won out). In the section that includes 'Granaglie in mazzaschi', he has gotten into a sing-song of Tuscan and new-government terms. While I don't think they are placenames, the meaning does get cloudy through all the unfamiliar words. I'd like to hear other opinions. Thanks.

http://books.google.com/books?id=RFaw2x ... 22&f=false

This reminds me of an episode of the popular "Law & Order SVU" TV series. In it, a young woman who is being beaten is overheard screaming repeatedly, "Stop, don't! Stop, don't!" Only later in the episode do we learn that she was actually proclaiming, "Don't stop! Don't stop!"

Livio's booklink, through the placement of the commas, associates granaglie with lingotti and manure with mazzachi ("in lingotti le granaglie, in mazzaschi il concime o sugo,..."), whereas the letters linked by Mike would have it quite differently, "i pani o masse di metallo in lingotti -- le grangalie in mazzaschi -- il concime o sugo in pondrette..."

Just goes to show the power of the lowly comma (as any first-year law student can attest...