> As was pointed out already by someone else, the prefix Fi occurs
> quite often in tuscan names: Figiovanni, Fighineldi, Firidolfi,
> Fifanti, etc. Boncompagni showed convincingly that it comes from
> de filiis (Boncompagni, Della vita e delle opere di Leonardo
> Pisano matematico del secolo decimoterzo. Atti dell'Accademia
> pontificia de'nuovi lincei. V, Part 1: 5--91, Part 2: 208--246
> (1852). Her pages 9--16). Thus Fibonacci does not mean filius
> bonacci but something like from the Bonacci family.
>
And referring to Leonardo of Pisa, Victor J. Katz writes (p 299 of
his A HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS: AN INTRODUCTION, second edition):
"Leonardo, often known today by the name Fibonacci (son
of Bonaccio) given to him by Baldassarre Boncompagni,
the nineteenth-century editor of his works, was born
around 1170.
.....
Leonardo's importance was recognized both at the court of
Frederick II, as noted in the opening story, and also in
the city of Pisa, which in 1240 granted him a yearly
stipend in thanks for his teaching and other services to
the community."
I have two questions.
First, does anybody know whether Leonardo was actually christened
as Fibonacci by Baldassarre Boncompagni, as Katz seems to imply?
Second, Victor Katz also suggests that Leonardo died in 1240 (by the
way, according to Katz, the same year that the court of Frederick II
granted him a yearly stipend). Is this date a misprint? Otherwise I
would appreciate any reference.
Thank you very much,
Alfred Ross