Testaverde = Green Head. Hunh?

Factual Questions
1

Tried searching SDMB and Google and couldn’t find anything, although if you do, you are welcome to mock my search abilities.

Okay, so “Testarossa” and “Barbarossa” mean “Red Head” and “Red Beard” respectively in Italian. This intuitively seems like a last name that would be given to someone with (duh) red hair or a red beard.

So “Testaverde” means “Green Head” - what could that mean? It’s not like they could have green hair (insert jokes about hygien here - yuk yuk).

Could it mean they were farmers and thought about plants?

Are there other well-known “testa” names in Italian? What do they denote?

2

I have a friend named Malatesta, literally “bad head”, but the general meaning is “crazy”. There was a dynastic family by that name in 15th century Italy, as well as the infamous anarchist Errico Malatesta in the early part of the 20th century.

3

I know a Flavio Testaverde. Blonde Greenhead.

Understand that the last name doesn’t necessarily refer to characterics of the person/family.

Montenegro black mountain

Leone - Lion

Monteleone - mountain lion

4

Philster - I’m with you re: names aren’t necessarily referring to physical charateristics. But since Testarossa could very likely refer to a red-headed ancester, I am just checking that angle for Testeverde.

As for the other last names - who knows? The first Montenegro might’ve lived near a Black Mountain, the first Leone might’ve fought like a lion in war or hunted a lion or something.

All I am asking is: since Testaverde means a specific thing in Italian, what might’ve lead to someone being given that appelation? And is there a specific fact for it - a cite, if you will, rather than just conjecture, like my query about maybe being a farmer or something…

5

Is it possible that “green head” is a euphemism for a geographic feature? Like a prominent green hill, etc.? (Think of places like “Great Neck”, “Little Neck”, and a quick web search turns up a “Green Head” in Australia.)

6

Just a WAG, but perhaps “Green Head” could have referred to a commonly-worn hat, hood, or hooded cloak?

7

Good conjectures - absent a cite, I am sure it is something like this…

8

Another thought – “Green Head” could perhaps have been a mildly perjorative (or not) name for someone descended from Roman aristocracy. It may be a reference to the wearing of laurels.

9

While we’re on the subject, what about Bevilacqua? A surname that’s an imperative - “Drink the water!” Acquafredda I can understand - maybe they lived next to an extraorinarily cold spring or something. Bevilacqua I just don’t get.

10

This site translates it as “that who drinks water”, but it’s not very helpful in terms of origin, just saying “possibly originally a nickname”…and the site doesn’t include Testeverde

http://www.italyworldclub.com/genealogy/surnames/b.htm

11

Nitpick: Actually, Lion Mountain (or Mount Lion). Remember that w/ romance languages the adjective/noun order is the reverse of English - hence “testaverde” instead of “verdetesta”

“mountain lion”, as in the North American great cat, is (oddly enough) “il puma”

12

Perhaps the fellow was a teetotaller. Maybe even a temperence crusader…

And I always though “testa-” referred to a part of the anatomy far south of the head…

13

No, testa means head.

What you’re thinking of is “testa di cazzo”, which is the little head.

14

I’m not sure if it’s slang or dialect, but I remember “testa” also meaning a particular type of pot.

15

Not really odd, considering that mountain lion = puma in English too. “Puma” comes from Quechua (the Inca language).

16

Maybe “Testaverde” was the surname given to people who raised Mallard ducks.

And then there’s also Dean Stockwell, years before he was constantly asking Gooshie for help.

17

Heh…my first thought here was "How ironic. Testaverde = Green Head, and Vinnie Testaverde spent many years as the head of Gang Green. :slight_smile:

18

“Neck” is a geographic term for a peninsula. Great Neck and Little Neck on the North Shore of Long Island (Little Neck is in Queens and Great Neck is in Nassau County) are both peninsulas projecting into Long Island Sound.

“Head” is a geographic term for a peninsula or projection from a shoreline that has highlands, cliffs or bluffs. Gay Head on Martha’s Vinyard is one example of this.

19

. . . and since there are no mountain lions in Europe, that name would not have come from the usual sources (greek/latin) - I was being ironic, albiet in a pretty obscure manner . . . :stuck_out_tongue:

20

Funny, I always thought “Testaverde” roughly translated to “fragile pocket passer.”