Etymology of the name Cagnano Varano

The small town is situated on a hill which, according to tradition, was the seat of the Italic town of Uria, mentioned by Pliny (23-79 AD) and Strabo (58-25 BC). A. Zaccagni Orlandini so tells some stories of the city: "[...] Cagnano is situated on a hill about one mile from Lake Varano. They say that its origin is ancient, but Giustiniani found no documents proving this. Certainly, under the dominion of the Norman kings was given in fief to famous people, with other lands of the Gargano, and it was then granted to the family Cernitore, then to the Della Marra de Barulo. In the early seventeenth century it belonged to the family of De Vargas; King Alfonso ceded its rights about the town to his mother-in-law, the Marquise de Arpaia, who ruled it as a duchy. Later it came to Marra, to Vargas Caravaglio and then to the Roman family of the Pallavicino [...]" (See Zaccagni A. Orlandini, " Natural, Historical and Statistical Chorography of  Italy”, Florence, 1845:  107-108).

About the antiquity of the city, studies have certainly more contemporary data than Zaccagni Orlandini. We know that Cagnano Varano "developed especially since the third century AD, following the immigration of people of one or more coastal centers abandoned for reasons still not too clear (...) Cagnano Varano consists of an old centre, located at some distance from the lake in an elevated position, which is leaning, sloping, a more recent and more extended "(see L. Pedreschi," The Lagoon Centers of the Italian Peninsula," in " Culture and School " , 1991, No. 117: 137 and 140). Indeed, as regard to the ancient site, it seems to be the ancient settlement of Uria, and " it should be recalled that the discovery of a Roman necropolis under Cagnano Varano, which is to be related with the town of Uria. In the area thus circumscribed, as early as 1878, during the construction of a road were found graves, coins and ornaments "(See “Greek and Roman Miscellaneous”, 1965, Vol. 21: 215). More explicit  is E. Rossi (“Uria Garganica” "in" Third Greek and Roman Miscellanea”, Rome, 1971: 211 ff.), who affirms that the town, which may have been destroyed by an earthquake, is located by most scholars at the bottom of Lake Varano, between Cagnano and 'Fornaro Tower', in accordance with  Strabo.

According to the major linguistic studies of G.B. Pellegrini, "Cagnano" is a "praedial place-name": "[...] The anthroponymical category (i.e. derived from proper names) is undoubtedly formed by the so-called  praedial place-names; they are very common and often allow us to draw inferences of the anthropo-geographical and historical  character  about the process and the intensity (or lack) of the Romanization. These names, readily identifiable generally are accompanied with traces of centuriation (the Roman practice of formally dividing up the countryside); by the topographic and archaeological study, we can derive important clues or evidence, even in the absence of direct historical sources (...) The praedial place-name is normally consisting of an anthroponym, almost always a noble Roman name (...) accompanied by a suffix. One of the most common suffixes is ‘-anum,-a,-ani.’ In this sense "Cagnano" comes by the anthroponym  "Cannius", which gave rise to various place names, like "Cagnano" in Vicenza, Cagnano Amiterno (Aquila), Cagnano Varano (Foggia), Pontecagnano Faiano (Sassari), and many in France 'Chagny', 'Chigny', 'Cagny', 'Caniac', 'Chignac' [...]" (See G.B. Pellegrini, "Italian toponymy" Hoepli, 1990: 305-311).

The historical significance of praedial-place names  was also highlighted by R. Ruta, who, in an article about the Romanization of the Italian regions, wrote that the use of the praedial place names it is need to connect to "[...] the use, prevailed from the early Imperial Age, to identify the 'Fundi' (agricultural lands) or 'Praedia' with names derived from those of the former landowners; the place names serve to shed new light on agricultural structures in the area of Bari and Puglia in the Roman age. Moreover, the territory of Apulia was particularly pleasing to the Romans, since it, according to the geographer Strabo, 'could produce large quantities of everything (...) and you see beautiful pastures and tree plantations.’ Here some colonies of veterans were founded, and the land confiscated from conquered local peoples were divided with the system of 'centuriatio' and assigned to soldiers as a reward for military fatigues' "(See R. Ruta," The Land as an Archive, a Research of Historical Geography ", in" Culture and School ", 1991, No. 117: 134). In perfect agreement with the idea of a noble praedial place-name is also the great linguist G. Rohlfs, who observes the presence of some praedial anthroponyms (showing ancient Romans landowners) in Sicily: "[...] In the province of Messina, we have four names formed with the names of ancient  Latins landowners, but with the Greek form of the Latin suffix  (i.e. the names are accented on the last syllable), that are ‘Cagnan-ò’ (Cagnano),' Frezzan-ò', ‘Magnan-ò’ and ‘Simiglian-ò’. In fact we are in an area where the Greek had the strength to resist from the ancient times until the twelfth century [...]". Rohlfs also note that in the names as "Cagnan-ò' and ‘Frezzan-ò’ are contained the Latin names of landowners, i.e. “Canius” (or “Cannius”) and “Flaccius” (See G. Rohlfs," The place names in Romance languages”, Gunter Narr Verlag, 1985:  14 and note 8).

In conclusion, in basis on these important studies, "Cagnano" means "land belonging to Canius”. Among other things, the excavations have also unearthed some stones with the name "Canius" precisely in an Italian place called  "Cagnano" near "Amiternum" (an ancient city founded by the Sabines, near L'Aquila): "The family name 'Canius' which is the origin of the Cagnano name  near “Amiternum”, was found engraved on a stone tomb dedicated to" “Quintus Canius C.F. Labeo” and his wife, apparently resident in the area "( see P. Bonacini "Garfagnana by the Lombards at the End of the ‘Marca Canossana’", Aedes Muratoriana, 1996: 10). Near by this hypothesis, which certainly has a good chance of grasping the truth, there is another, very attractive and also, ultimately, relevant. According to this hypothesis, the etymology of Cagnano derives from a ‘Ca-Janus’  (“house of Janus”), with reference to the fact that in the Gargano was particularly widespread the worship of the God Janus-faced. Michele Vocino, in a study of the early twentieth century, recalled that the tradition tells us that "Gargano" comes from "Janus": "[...] The tradition derives ‘Gargano’ from the Hebrew-Phoenician word 'charchar' which means 'heat', 'fire'. But most critics found the word "Gargano" a corruption of the Phoenician-Latin phrase 'Argo Iani', i.e. 'Ship of Janus' "(See M. Vocino," The Spur of Italy ", Scotti, 1914: 75).

Among other things, to further strengthen this hypothesis,  there is that, right next to Cagnano Varano, some coins were found  with the effigy of Janus: "[...] In the North, towards the road Cagnano-Carpino  a large building was found (...) Here, there are some bones, iron nails, a bone awl worked, and a coin (an 'axis librarius') imprinted with above Janus-Faced "(See A. D'Amicis, "Excavations in the 1953 in  Carpino Plain”, Scorpio, 1958: 59). Despite the ample evidences in favour of the cult of Janus in the Gargano, it is quite hard to believe that "only" the place of Carcano in Puglia has this etymology, while the word "Carcano", widespread in Italy, refers, in "all" Italian regions, to the praedial place-name "Canius”. We observe only that the statistic is certainly "against" the possible hypothesis that Cagnano comes from "Janus".

In the nineteenth century, next to the word "Carcano" was added  "Varano", for its proximity to Lake Varano, a source of income for fishermen and for local tourism. Indeed,  for the character of the place, they can profit from fishing, because the lake Varano produces good fish. At its mouth, many eels  are caught, while they trying to pass from the sea salt water to fresh lake water and, among their variety, the so-called “capitoni” (big-headed eels).