by Jim Young (guest)
8/13/2007, 7:08 AM
This name doesn't appear to exist in present-day Italy, though Mattera does and is well represented in Naples.
Explanations of the word Mattero I have found;
i) Club or cudgel
ii) (historic) small javelin
iii)"Ramo di orniello usato per intrecciare ceste." I think this means a type of wood (mountain-ash?) used in basket-making.
So perhaps a maker or carrier of cudgels, or someone involved in basket-weaving, or supplying the materials for it. I wouldn't bother with the javelin.
Mattera is another name without a satisfactory explanation; it may be from the Southern Italian town of Matera, or it may be from a dialect word for kneading dough (denoting a baker?).