Mendoza
Mendoza is a surname o Basque oreegin, occurrin as a place name an aw.
It means 'cauld muntain', frae the wirds in the Basque leid mendi (muntain) a (h)otz (cauld) + definite airticle '-a' (Mendoza bein mendi+(h)otza). The oreeginal Basque leid form wi a affricate sibilant (/ts/, Basque spellin /tz/) evolvit in Spainyie tae the current form Mendoza.
Oreeginally the noble faimily line bearin the surname wis based in the castle o the same name, no far frae Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque Kintra (Spain), whaur it still staunds oot. Housomeivver, ane o the faimily branches comes frae Llodio, 50 km awa tae the northwast frae Vitoria-Gasteiz. The faimily got involvit in the medieval bloody War o the Clans. Not anerly that, the hoose o Mendoza set up close tees wi Castile syne the Heich Middle Ages, wi its members pairticipatin in their ceevil wars an the Castilian expansion sooth. They got wider renoun efter their involvement in the conquest o Americae efter 1492.
Thare exists a early Portuguese branch o the Mendozas, whose faimily tees tae the oreeginal Basque branches are no vera well attestit.
In Erandio, a baserri exists wi the same name. Its oreeginal name "mendotza" developit tae "mendontze" in the 1890s, "mendoche" in the 1920s, "mendotxe" in the 1980s tae the restored oreeginal o "mendotza" bein the current.[1]