Maria Guerra

(female) Latin form of Mary. It arose as a back-formation from the early Christian female name Mariam, which was taken as a Latin accusative case. In fact, however, it is an indeclinable Aramaic alternative form of the Hebrew name Miriam. In the English-speaking world Maria is a learned revival dating from the 18th century, pronounced both ‘ma-ree-a’ and, more traditionally, ‘ma-rye-a’. This form of the name is also in common use in most European languages, either as the main local form of the name, as in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Dutch, Scandinavian, Polish, and Czech, or as a learned doublet of a vernacular form. In Spain not only is the name María itself enormously common, but a large number of Marian epithets and words associated with the cult of the Virgin are also used as female given names. Maria is also used as a male name in combinations such as Gianmaria (Italian) and José María (Spanish).

1. Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian: nickname for a belligerent person or for a soldier, from guerra ‘war’. In some cases the Italian name may represent a short form of various compound personal names containing this element, for example Vinciguèrra. The Iberian name may in some cases reflect a misinterpretation of the Basque base ezquerra, esquerra, from esker ‘left-handed’.