What is "carusu"

Carusu (plural carusi) is the Sicilian word for "boy" and is derived from the Latin carus which means "dear" In the mid-1800s through the early 1900s in Sicily, carusu was used to denote a "mine-boy", a labourer in a sulfur, salt or potash mine who worked next to a picuneri or pick-man, and carried raw ore from deep in the mine to the surface.