Esposito (Italian pronunciation:[eˈspɔːzito]) is an
Italian surname. It ranks fourth among the most widespread surnames in
Italy.[1] It is mostly popular in the
Campania region, most specifically, in the
Naples area.[2][3] but it has presence even in the rest of Italy.
Etymology and history
Look up esposito in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Etymologically, this surname is thought to derive from
Latinexpositus (Italian esposto,
Old Italian or
dialectesposito), which is the
past participle of the Latin verb exponere ("to place outside", "to expose") and literally means "placed outside", "exposed".[4] In accordance with the original Latin form, the name is correctly pronounced stressing the antepenultimate syllable (i.e. [eˈspɔːzito]); however, it is common among English-speakers to mispronounce it as /ˌɛspəˈziːtoʊ/ESP-ə-ZEE-toh, placing the stress on the penultimate.
Italian tradition claims that the surname was given to
foundlings who were abandoned or placed for adoption and handed over to an
orphanage (an Ospizio degli esposti in Italian, literally a "home or hospice of the exposed").[5] They were called espositi because they would be abandoned and "exposed" in a public place. Some orphanages maintained a so-called
Ruota degli esposti (English: "Wheel of the exposed") where abandoned children could be placed. After the
unification of Italy, laws were introduced forbidding the practice of giving surnames that reflected a child's origins. A crude meaning is bastard or out of wedlock child.
As a surname, Esposito has produced a number of variants throughout modern Italy, such as D'Esposito, Degli Esposti, Esposti, Esposto, Sposito, etc. Other variants are also found in the
Spanish-speaking world, for example Expósito.
^"Esposito" (in Italian). Gens. Retrieved 5 April 2013.
^Ottorino Pianigiani, Vocabolario etimologico della lingua italiana, di Ottorino Pianigiani, Roma-Milano, Società editrice Dante Alighieri di Albrighi, Segati e c., 1907
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surnameEsposito. If an
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