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Re: COURIC and GARAGIORA's origin and meaning
in reply to a message by hj
Couric is derived from Middle Breton corr (now korr) 'dwarf, midget' so it's probably equivalent to the nickname Shorty. You can situate it at tinyurl.com/yaplex2v. I don't know the meaning of Garagiola.
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Just a thought -
I wonder if Garagiola might derive from a regional pronunciation of the surname Caracciolo? I've seen two explanations of this latter name:
1. That it is from a forename base on the word Caro, 'dear'.
2. That it is from a word meaning 'snail', and possibly a nickname for a slow moving person.
The distribution of the surname Garagiola is limited to Northern Italy, particularly the Milan district.
http://www.gens.info/italia/it/turismo-viaggi-e-tradizioni-italia?cognome=Garagiola&x=25&y=15#.WlY9lcsV_OE
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Garagiola and Caracciolo are not the same surname, because the stress is different: Garagiòla and Caràcciolo. Caracciolo is from Southern Italy, Garagiola is from Lombardy exactly from the area South and West of Milan. There's a place called Cascina (old big rural rural bulding) Garagiola near the town of Inveruno, dating back to XIV century and still open as a restaurant and farm. The name of this place may be celtic, like most of the places in Northern Italy.
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In my experience North Italian words and names (Gallo-Italic or the Gallo-Italic versions of Germanic names) with "G" are altered in spelling and pronunciation to "C" outside Gallic Italy (the former Cisalpine Gaul). Thus Daghipert becomes Tachipert etc.. As far as I know it doesn't happen the other way around, as North Itatians have no problem with the southern Italian c or ch, so Caracciolo would have to be a southern form of Garagiola, ruling out an origin from "Caro".
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Thanks.
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