10. mafi, mafio, or mafiun = in Piedmontese little, badly shaped, disfigured, but also rude, rough, stubbornly silent, careless (C. Zalli, Disionari Piedmonteis Italian, 2d ed., Carmagnola, 1830); according to Traina's Vocabolario del dialetto Siciliano (1868, quoted in Leonardo Sciascia's introduction to Calvi 1986), and also to Vincenzo Mortillaro's Dizionario Italiano-Siciliano (1876, quoted in Novacco), mafia originated from the Piedmontese term meaning camorra.

DEFINE: Clarifies the etymology of 'mafia,' tracing it to a Piedmontese term rather than a Sicilian one. XREF: Connects to the broader etymological origin of 'camorra' and the northern-to-southern Italian linguistic transfer.

Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Busi…, loc. 690