Query on the name "Martinez"

[Alice Faber]

Gerald Cohen said:
>><< This is a bit off-topic, but maybe someone can help. The "-ez"
>>of Spanish surnames like "Martinez" supposedly means "son of," so
>>"Martinez" is "son of Martin," just as (for example) "Johnson" is
>>"son of John."
>>       But where did this "-ez" come from?  Would anyone know?
>>  >>
>>
>>Is this true? Then Gomez means "son of Gom" and Lopez means "son of Lop"?
>>These don't sound like Spanish given names.
>>
>>Steve Boatti
>
>    Elsdon C. Smith, _American Surnames_  (Baltimore: Genealogical
>Publishing Co.), 1986, says on p.33: "GOMEZ 'son of Gomo,' LOPEZ 'son
>of Lope,' MENDEZ  'son of Mendel',..." ---On p. 27: "LOPEZ 'wolf'..."
>---There was a Spanish dramatist and poet named Lope Felix de Vega
>Carpio (1562-1635).
>
>    But I still don't have a clue about how "-ez" got here.

Years ago, a friend who had studied Romance Linguistics told me that it's a
Late Latin case ending (genitive plural???), and that the general class of
names is a calque on Arabic names like Ibn X 'son of X'.
--
Alice Faber                                       tel. (203) 865-6163
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