9 replies to this topic

[Nanni Dietrich]

During an extraordinary career spanning over about three decades, Ferdinando Minoia, “Nando” Minoia as he was known, specialized in harrowing road races. Among his successes was the 1907 Coppa Florio held at Brescia, and the first edition of the Mille Miglia, held in 1927. He achieved two second places in the gruelling Targa Florio and took part four times in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with a best finish of fourth, in 1926. In 1931 he was crowned the European Driver Champion in a works Alfa Romeo 6C-1750, but without winning a single event.

 

The original family name was spelled Minoja, but in the 1930s it was modified into Minoia.

Since then this spelling was spread to other sources, books, newspapers all over the world, and thereafter the name Ferdinando Minoia was propagated to almost any other account, until today. But, on his gravestone in the Cimitero Monumentale in Milan, Italy, his name is showed to be Ferdinando Minoja.

Edited by Nanni Dietrich, 28 May 2023 - 09:55.

[marksixman]

Not exactly a wrong righted, but close, and good to have the records straight.

 

I wonder how the change in the 1930's came about - poor handwriting, or sloppy print setting ?

[ensign14]

I don't think it's either.  He was Italian and (pace Juventus) the letter j does not exist in standard Italian.  I would submit it's the same sort of orthographical flourish that has some Roman numerals printed in post-mediaeval texts as e.g. viij. 

[Michael Ferner]

Yeah, exactly. We have that in German, also - some times a capital "I" will become a "J", presumably in order to not confuse it with a small "l". You'll probably find that his name on the tombstone is in capitals.

[marksixman]

Ahhh.

 

International linguistics was never my strong point !!

[Nanni Dietrich]

The original family name was Minoja and the name of the driver is reported to be Ferdinando Minoja in many Italian, French or British newspapers article available on-line, until the late 1920s.

 

Now, the Minoia form has been adopted by the family: his grandson Ferdinando, Jr. has published recently a book dedicated to his granddad, written with our Alessandro Silva. And the book is signed Ferdinando Minoia

(book "Ferdinando Minoia: L'Arte della guida/Driving is an Art", by Alessandro Silva and Ferdinando Minoia, Fondazione Negri ONLUS, Brescia, Italy, 2017, ISBN 8889108376).

 

Don't forget that in the early 1930s the Fascist Italian Government officially banned the use of foreign words in Italy. The aim was to “Italianize” the culture and purge it from anglicisms and pseudo-anglicisms. Following this (ridiculous?) law, many new words were created (clown = pagliaccio; sandwich = tramezzino; basket-ball = pallacanestro; cross = traversone, etc.) and many family names and place names were "Italianized" (Rusovic = Russo; Sauze d'Oulx = Salice d'Ulzio, etc. it is believed that the original name of the Andretti family was Andretic from Croatia). I do not exclude that the use of the form Minoia instead of Minoja (erasing the non-Italian letter J) came from this prohibition.

 

Edited by Nanni Dietrich, 29 May 2023 - 18:30.

[Michael Ferner]

That is just wrong. I have seen many period articles in Italian newspapers and sports magazines, and I don't recall seeing Minoja EVER. It is ALWAYS Minoia, irrespective of date, look for example here:

 

Search results | Byterfly

 

Searching for Minoja will get you some stray hits, like you often get when using spelling variants (newspaper spelling is not very consistent, which is understandable when you know how it was done at the time).

 

 

I checked the Minoia book, and the first two facsimile period articles I find show "Minoia", NOT "Minoja". I'm sure you could repeat this a hundred times, and it will always be the same. "Minoja" is just a typo.

Edited by Michael Ferner, 29 May 2023 - 16:06.

[Nanni Dietrich]

Enjoy the reading and the pictures  

https://www.retronew...23/37/1202779/4

http://www.archiviol..._0004_24860800/

http://www.motorspor...LWF&db=ct&n=691

 

[a_tifoosi]

The birth certificate, as Ferdinando Minoja.

 

 

Edited by a_tifoosi, 30 May 2023 - 07:00.

[Michael Ferner]

That looks more convincing, thank you!