Zezolla, the Italian Cinderella

Thomas_Sully_XX__Cinderella_at_the_Kitchen_Fire_1843

Thomas Sully - Cinderella at the Kitchen Fire

Continuing with Giambattista Basile's Il Pentamerone fairy tale collection, I present to you the Italian Cinderella, "The Cat Cinderella," whose main character is named Zezolla. Zezolla is not a name that has been used in the U.S. (and pretty much everywhere else). This Cinderella story, one of the first - if not the first recorded on paper, is about a child who is miserable and abused by her stepmother. Zezolla's governess, who is kind and nurturing, urges her to kill her spiteful and mean stepmother, which Zezolla does, and then the governess marries Zezolla's father (an unnamed prince), bringing along her six cruel daughters. (In the story, it is more to the discredit of the governess, and she is mainly considered "tempted by Satan," rather than the murder being Zezolla's fault.) Her father is made to believe these new daughters are gracious girls and begins focusing so much on them that Zezolla is made to work like a servant, and her new mother's treatment becomes neglectful and superior. They all begin calling Zezolla the "Cat Cinderella." There are many differences between Basile's story and the Cinderella story we know today - Zezolla's father does not die, and the fairy who dresses Zezolla for the ball actually lives in a date tree her father brought back from Sardinia. At the ball, the one who falls in love with her is actually a king, and although she escapes him twice, he finally finds out who she is on their third meeting, when her fairy-given slipper jumps from his hand back to her foot, where it belonged. The king declares her his queen, the governess and her daughters and Zezolla's father are shamed. Happily ever after.

FYI: the other daughters are named Mperia (from the name Imperia), Calamita (which could be from the word calamity or the plant Calamint, but Calamita is Italian for magnet), Sciorella, Diamante (meaning "indomitable" and given as a name meaning diamond, Colommina (probably from Columba), and Pascarella (from Pascal). All of these names are similar to Italian word/location names as well - the Sciora di Dentro mountain, the provence of Imperia, a hill called the Calamita, Diamante in Calabria and Diamante citron is a type of fruit in Italy, and possibly the province of Pescare. There might be something I'm missing, but I'm sure in the time Basile was compiling these stories it was probably not a coincidence the sisters were given these names. I cannot find the meaning of Zezolla. In other/later versions Cinderella is equivalent to Cenerentola in Italian, meaning "little ashes/cinders."

There was a TV movie called Cinderella in 2000 in which the main character was named Zezolla, undoubtedly due to the Zezolla from Basile's story.

Galician Baby Names

I grew up on a street that was named an Italian variant of Roger. When I got married and we bought our first house, it turned out to be on Roger Street. Once noting that coincidence, I started searching for other variants of the name. However, female variants turned out to be pretty nonexistent. Save for Roxeria, which I later discovered was the Galician female form, possibly pronounced rohz-AIR-ee-uh. That led me to a few lists of female Galician names, ranging from common to rare. Here is a sampling of names not often heard here in the states... Albina Alda Alma Alodia Aloia Amada Amadora Amalia Amparo Anisia Antia Araceli Aranzazu Artemisa Avelina Azucena Baia Balbina Baltasara Beatriz Benvida Berenice Bieita Branca Braulia Caetana Carola Casilda Casimira Ceferina Celsa Cipriana Cira Clorinda Coralia Cornelia Cosima Davinia Delfina Desideria Dionisia Dominga Dorinda Dorotea Dositea Edelmira Edenia Elba Elvira Emiliana Etelvina ...

Elowen

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Ancient Germanic Female Deities

Loki and Idun by John Bauer Here is a list of ancient Germanic goddess and personifications. There is some overlap with the goddesses of the Norse pantheon, and I've limited it to those names that I think would wear well today on modern babies. Of the following names, only the following were used in 2016. Sol was given to 91 girls, Ran to 5 girls, Saga to 9 girls, and Beyla to 6 girls. Beyla - as a possible agricultural personification, her name could mean "cow," "bean," or "bee," but she has been associated with bees and mead, so my guess is "bee." However, there's been a proposed connection to the reconstructed Proto-Norse name Baunila, which means "little bean." This is also a Spanish and Italian girls name. Fulla - possibly means "bountiful." Her other name is Volla, which I think is equally accessible as a name. She is a virgin goddess in Old Norse mythology. Gersemi - means "treasure." Sh...

Once Upon a Time Baby Names

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