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to clarify
in reply to a message by Cat
Thanks for all the info Profe Esteban, it helps a lot. Just to clarify, then "chiara" is both the female adjective for "light", and can mean the white of an egg. But are you also saying that Chiara is not actually used as a name? You mentioned Spanish, but do you (or does anyone else) know whether Chiara is actually used as a female name in Italy (or anywhere?) Thanks again!
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I see you've understand perfectly the first part, but may be I wasn't clear enough in the rest. Of course, Chiara is still used as a name in many languages: Clara (Spanish), Clare (English), Claire (French), Klara (German).. and Chiara (Italian). Curiosly, there is no male form to this name (never heard of a boy named "Claro or Chiaro").
The origin of the name is the latin "clarus", applied originally to voice and sounds (compare "de-clare, de-clara-tion"). Then, the name had the mean of "brilliant, illustrious". Thanks for writing.
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Only a thing:Claro (Spanish), Chiaro (Italian), Clar (Catalan), Clair (French)... has been used as masculine first names. Perhaps nowadays the masculine form is very unusual (not in French), but it exists.
Lumia
http://onomastica.mailcatala.com
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