Cassar is a

Maltese Maltese may refer to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta * Maltese alphabet * Maltese cuisine * Maltese culture * Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people * Maltese people, people from Malta or of Malte ...

surname. According to Maltese linguist Mario Cassar, the surname is of Arabic origin, and derives from the Muslim period of Malta. there are also various other proposed origins of the surname.: * It may be traced back to the

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ( it, Regno delle Due Sicilie) was a kingdom in Southern Italy from 1816 to 1860. The kingdom was the largest sovereign state by population and size in Italy before Italian unification, comprising Sicily and a ...

, incorporating the island of Sicily itself, the area around Naples, and the southern part of the Italian peninsula. The surname Cassar may have derived from the given name "Cesare," and further back from the Roman family name "Caesar." In Classical antiquity, the name "Caesar" was associated by folk etymology with the Latin word "caesaries" (meaning head of hair). The Maltese Cassar coat of arms has the Latin word "SPES" (meaning "hope") inscribed on it. * It may also derive from a fairly common surname in Italy and Sicily: Cassara, or Cassarino, possibly from a nickname "cassaio" meaning "producer of cases". However these surnames may also be derived from the given name "Cesare" or "Caesar". The most important representatives of the family are the Cassar Desain, marchese de Sain in Malta and the Cassar Torregiani, one of the richest family in the 19th century in Malta.

References

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Bibliography

*https://web.archive.org/web/20100521194935/http://www.searchmalta.com/surnames/cassarde-sain/index.shtml *https://web.archive.org/web/20100107034828/http://user.orbit.net.mt/fournier/cassar_torregiani.htm Surnames Maltese-language surnames