Anyone know what "Il Meneghello" means in English?

Ross G Caldwell

Sources explaining various suffixes for Italian nouns - diminutives, augmentatives, pet names or terms of endearment, pejoratives - say that "-ello" is a diminutive, and "-azzo" is a pejorative.

So perhaps the name "Menegazzi" originated as something like "(that) damned Domenico".

Perhaps Osvaldo didn't like that, and chose a humble or cute form, "The Little Domenico" (Il Meneg-(h)ello)

(the /h/ after the /g/ is just the way Italian orthography indicates that the /g/ remains hard, rather than turning to a /j/ sound before i or e (same for a /h/ after a /c/ before i or e))

See, e.g. here -
http://bradentonsoi.org/ClassPages/Suffixes.pdf
 

Ross G Caldwell

**It might be named after Luigi Meneghello (February 16, 1922 – June 26, 2007). The Wikipedia article is brief but informative. He was a writer and teacher on aspects of the Italian Renaissance. He was also active in anti-fascism during WWII. He could represent something to Menegazzi and maybe he wanted his shop to reflect his Spirit. Again, purely specualtive.

Interesting, and plausible.

It would be nice to hear from Cristina or Osvaldo himself, whatever the case.
 

Abrac

I did a little more digging at the IM website and found some articles by Arnell Ando of Arnell's Art, who created and maintains the site. In two of the articles she says the name of the shop is Il Meneghello Tarocchi. There's a short bio of Osvaldo, but nowhere can I find anything that explains the name.

Definitely will require a direct inquiry. I don't think I'm up for it at the present though. I already have one inquiry to them and still waiting for a reply on that. Don't want to be a pest. ;)
 

blue_fusion

I just asked Arnell about it. She also doesn't know. :D
 

blue_fusion

Since it has piqued my interest, I asked Osvaldo's daughter. Here's what she said: "The name IL MENEGHELLO was a nickname which had been given to Master Menegazzi,
relative to the fact of being Milanese. Even today many people call he Il Meneghello.
This is a strange curiosity!" :D
 

gregory

Are you so certain? It may be the case that the names in question were originally in a language other than that which you speak today.

Also, this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative_determinism
I am certain sure about my maiden name (no contest English stuff) except in terms of "son of" (which fits into almost anything !) but am not saying what it was here, so.... I imagine my married name might.

As for Osvaldo - so, Milanese - like the Meneghino I referenced earlier then.
 

Abrac

Nice work blue_fusion. :thumbsup:
 

Dercetius

This source explains that Menghello is a dialetic variation of the name Menego.
(http://www.heraldrysinstitute.com/cognomi/Meneghello/idc/24683)

Furthemore, Menego is itself already a variation of Domenico.

In Romance languages, it is common to change names in multiple manners, to indicate closeness, affection, etc. Think of it as what "Johnny" is to "John", except on a large scale.