Onomastica e «officina verista». Le scelte di Capuana tra fiaba, novella e romanzo

Abstract

Some of Capuana and Verga’s letters bring to light a sort of «onomastic question», as a part of the more complex «linguistic question» discussed by the authors through the years. Choosing the names of their characters was a kind of non-religious baptism, enacted following four main ways: generic nomen/omen mode (Capuana’s fairy tales), regional nickname mode (Paesane, Scurpiddu), metaphoric mode with evocative onomastic choices (Profili di donna), ironic/ludic onomastic choices in Once upon a time... and Il Raccontafiabe with the character of Mago Tre-Pì (the anagram of the folklorist and popular tales writer’s name Pitrè).