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ArchivesRe: Vidal?
in reply to a message by Mino Sagani
I agree with you about the italian origin of Vidal (pronounced Vee-DAL). It is a typical venetan and friulan last name and it usually comes from a dialect pronunciation of italian Vitale - much more common throughout the whole country.
In some cases, however, Vidal and Vidali seem to come from an italianization of slavic Vidaliæ, most of all in Friuli Venezia Giulia: as it frequently happened in this area of Italy, a lot of slavic last names (slovenian and istrian for example) got italianized and dropped the suffix -iæ, resulting in a much more italian-sounding family name - a similar example is Pauli, that in the area of Trieste is an italianization of slavic Pavliæ (from which also Pavlich and Paulich). Anyway, Vidaliæ itself does most likely come from the name Vidal, corresponding to italian Vitale.
In some cases, however, Vidal and Vidali seem to come from an italianization of slavic Vidaliæ, most of all in Friuli Venezia Giulia: as it frequently happened in this area of Italy, a lot of slavic last names (slovenian and istrian for example) got italianized and dropped the suffix -iæ, resulting in a much more italian-sounding family name - a similar example is Pauli, that in the area of Trieste is an italianization of slavic Pavliæ (from which also Pavlich and Paulich). Anyway, Vidaliæ itself does most likely come from the name Vidal, corresponding to italian Vitale.
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