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117-595: Acireale ( Italian: [ˌatʃireˈaːle] ; Sicilian : Jaciriali , locally shortened to Jaci or Aci ) is a coastal city and comune in the north-east of the Metropolitan City of Catania , Sicily, southern Italy, at the foot of Mount Etna , on the coast facing the Ionian Sea . It is home to numerous churches, including the Neo-Gothic St. Pietro's Basilica, St. Sebastiano's Basilica in

234-636: A Strategos , a catch all Hellenic term meaning general or commander; accordingly the term may also refer to a Carthaginian military governor and or an official authorized to sign treaties. In areas of conflict, we often find dual command and not all Carthaginian strategoi seem to be concerned with governing provinces. According to Roman sources, the Carthaginian office of Boetharch may have been linked closely with military command. While both states were fundamentally governed by an elected body of noble citizens or "Senate"; one major systemic difference between

351-476: A phalanx formation. The unit numbered around 2,500 soldiers according to Diodorus . According to the historian A. Heuss: "The central problem concerning Carthaginian political institutions is their relation to military aspects." ("Das zentrale Problem des karthagischen Staatslebens ist sein Verhältnis zum Militärwesen.") It has traditionally been argued that Carthage was a peaceful city of merchants or

468-706: A / , / ɔ / , / u / . The mid-vowels / ɛ / and / ɔ / do not occur in unstressed position in native words but may do so in modern borrowings from Italian, English, or other languages. Historically, Sicilian / i / and / u / each represent the confluence of three Latin vowels (or four in unstressed position), hence their high frequency. Unstressed / i / and / u / generally undergo reduction to [ ɪ ] and [ ʊ ] respectively, except in word-/phrase-final position, as in [pʊsˈsibbɪli] ‘possible’ and [kʊˈniɟɟu] ‘rabbit’. As in Italian, vowels are allophonically lengthened in stressed open syllables . In

585-471: A Carthaginian trap to exterminate them without payment and save their silver, after having crippled their army of the specialized supportive arms units. The conditions for the payment were rejected, although their former commander, Gisco , had provided them with his own person and 500 other nobles as hostages to reassure them of Carthage's sincere and honest intentions. The mercenaries and supporting native insurgents began attacking Carthaginian targets and urging

702-543: A Crown commune. In the late 16th century, the town had between 6,000 and 7,000 inhabitants. The most ancient document mentioning the Carnival of Acireale dates to 1594. The town expanded its role as a trade center (it was granted the right to hold a Free Market or Fiera Franca ) and received numerous new edifices. Acireale was nearly destroyed by the massive 1693 Sicily earthquake , which substantially halted its economic growth, and required near-complete reconstruction of all

819-589: A Greek origin (including some examples where it is unclear whether the word is derived directly from Greek, or via Latin): From 476 to 535, the Ostrogoths ruled Sicily, although their presence apparently did not affect the Sicilian language. The few Germanic influences to be found in Sicilian do not appear to originate from this period. One exception might be abbanniari or vanniari "to hawk goods, proclaim publicly", from Gothic bandwjan "to give

936-474: A body of at least 40,000 professional soldiers until sometime after the Second Punic War. Other sources can be interpreted to refer to a high degree of military professionalism in the small Punic population whose constitution Aristotle groups along with those of Sparta and Crete. So there is an ongoing debate among historians about the extent of Carthage's military spirit. It should be pointed out that

1053-532: A brioche. Lemon granita is also very common. Another typical food of the Acesis summer is seltzer with lemon and salt, sold at the numerous kiosks that are found in the streets of the city. In addition, the pastries are renowned, in which the zeppole of rice with honey (also called crispelle di San Giuseppe in other municipalities), the cannoli filled with chocolate cream, white cream or ricotta, small pastry products and artisan gelato are its crowned jewels and

1170-574: A brutal colonial power and both theories were rather dependent on modern perceptions. Almost all approaches towards Carthage have in common the fact that they do not look at Carthaginian policy-making as such, but rather its structure in a fundamental contrast to that of Rome. However, the polis Carthage was, over the course of several centuries, the dominant power in the Western Mediterranean and could establish its symmachy over large territories, which were also deeply influenced by

1287-406: A comprehensive Sicilian language dictionary intended to capture the language universally spoken across Sicily in a common orthography. Later in the century, Giuseppe Pitrè established a common grammar in his Grammatica Siciliana (1875). Although it presents a common grammar, it also provides detailed notes on how the sounds of Sicilian differ across dialects. In the 20th century, researchers at

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1404-518: A crushing defeat on a hastily raised Carthaginian army at the Battle of Adys near Carthage. Following these events, Carthage sued for peace, but the terms demanded by Regulus were too harsh, and the war continued. The Carthaginians began to quickly expand their military capabilities on land, conscripting their own citizens and recruiting more mercenaries, including Spartan captain Xanthippus , who

1521-714: A language, Sicilian has its own dialects in the following main groupings: First let us turn our attention to the language of Sicily, since the Sicilian vernacular seems to hold itself in higher regard than any other, because all the poetry written by the Italians is called "Sicilian"... Because Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and many peoples have passed through it ( Phoenicians , Ancient Greeks , Carthaginians , Romans , Vandals , Jews , Byzantine Greeks , Arabs , Normans , Swabians , Spaniards , Austrians , Italians ), Sicilian displays

1638-514: A language, not a dialect, in official communication. The language is officially recognized in the municipal statutes of some Sicilian towns, such as Caltagirone and Grammichele , in which the "inalienable historical and cultural value of the Sicilian language" is proclaimed. Furthermore, the Sicilian language would be protected and promoted under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML). Although Italy has signed

1755-423: A long history as a seafaring people. Additionally, while the navy was a permanently manned force, the army would be enlisted only for a particular campaign and then demobilized. Only when the city of Carthage itself was threatened would citizens be conscripted into infantry service. Ancient authors, such as Polybius and Livy, tend to stress Carthage's reliance on mercenary units. Notably, Polybius also states that

1872-536: A marble copy made on the pantograph on the model in patinated plaster displayed at the Zelantea Library, the work of Rosario Anastasi of 1846, which represents the epilogue of the myth, the last act, when Galatea, with her dramatic invocation to the gods, wants to resurrect her beloved Acis killed by a stone thrown by Polyphemus. The granita , an excellent refreshment from the summer mugginess, in Acireale

1989-513: A particular word has a prehistoric derivation, but it is not known whether the Sicilians inherited it directly from the indigenous populations, or whether it came via another route. Similarly, it might be known that a particular word has a Greek origin but it is not known from which Greek period the Sicilians first used it (ancient Magna Grecia or the Byzantine period ), or once again, whether

2106-535: A pike-armed phalanx. The Libyans, Carthaginian citizens and the Libyo-Phoenicians provided disciplined, well trained cavalry equipped with thrusting spears and aspis shields that were later replaced by a flat oval shield called the thyreos. Numidia provided superb light cavalry, highly skilled in skirmishing tactics, armed with bundles of javelins, a small round shield and riding without bridle or saddle. Iberians and Gauls also provided cavalry that relied on

2223-622: A practice quite common among marines at that age and according to Plutarch also successfully employed by the Romans. The claim of sarissa armed Carthaginian infantry is naturally disputed by experts capable of reading the Greek original, and Polybius himself is not clear, when he mentions Hannibal next to Pyrrhus in his famed comparison between the Roman manipular system and the Macedonian system. It

2340-407: A rebellion by the unpaid mercenaries. Afterwards, Carthage continued to fill its ranks with foreign conscripts, but never depended on hired mercenaries in the same way again. In 550 BC, Mago I of Carthage became king of Carthage and sought to establish Carthage as the dominant military power in the western Mediterranean . Though still economically dependent on its mother city of Tyre , Carthage

2457-404: A rich and varied influence from several languages in its lexical stock and grammar. These languages include Latin (as Sicilian is a Romance language itself), Ancient Greek , Byzantine Greek , Spanish , Norman , Lombard , Hebrew , Catalan , Occitan , Arabic and Germanic languages , and the languages of the island's aboriginal Indo-European and pre-Indo-European inhabitants, known as

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2574-460: A signal". Also possible is schimmenti "diagonal" from Gothic slimbs "slanting". Other sources of Germanic influences include the Hohenstaufen rule of the 13th century, words of Germanic origin contained within the speech of 11th-century Normans and Lombard settlers, and the short period of Austrian rule in the 18th century. Many Germanic influences date back to the time of

2691-691: A significant influence on the Sicilian vocabulary. The following words are of Spanish derivation: Since the Italian Unification (the Risorgimento of 1860–1861), the Sicilian language has been significantly influenced by (Tuscan) Italian. During the Fascist period it became obligatory that Italian be taught and spoken in all schools, whereas up to that point, Sicilian had been used extensively in schools. This process has quickened since World War II due to improving educational standards and

2808-485: A small shield, the same as Iberian light infantry. The Iberian infantry wore purple bordered white tunics and leather headgear. The Iberian heavy infantry fought in a dense phalanx, armed with broad headed spears called lonche that could be thrown, long body shields and short slashing swords called "falcata". Campanian, Sardinian and Gallic infantry fought in their native gear, but were often equipped by Carthage. Polybius does not suggest that Hannibal's heavy Libyan infantry

2925-590: A stable profession and financial security for its sailors. This helped to contribute to the city's political stability, since the unemployed, debt-ridden poor in other cities were frequently inclined to support revolutionary leaders in the hope of improving their own lot. In the Numidian War (114 BC – 104 BC) Punics and bearers of Punic names were among the Roman enemies. The former (the Romans - editor's note) bestow their whole attention upon this department (upon military service on land - editor's note): whereas

3042-510: Is considered almost a ritual. Probably born from the tradition of the «nevaroli» who transported the snow from the Etna up to the seashore when the refrigerator did not yet exist, in the city the invention of the granita is attributed to the ingenious Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli from Acitrezza that, with the café «le Procope», had much success in 17th-century Paris. Generally, it is served in its basic almond flavored recipe and accompanied by

3159-444: Is distinctive for most consonant phonemes, but a few can be geminated only after a vowel: / b / , / dʒ / , / ɖ / , / ɲ / , / ʃ / and / ts / . Rarely indicated in writing, spoken Sicilian also exhibits syntactic gemination (or dubbramentu ), which means that the first consonant of a word is lengthened when it is preceded by words like è, ma, e, a, di, pi, chi - meaning ‘it is, but, and, to, of, for, what’. For instance in

3276-476: Is introduced by Ovid in the Metamorphoses , by Theocritus , by Virgil , by Posidippus, by Philoxenus, by Callimachus, by Hermenenattes and by Euphorion. The beautiful nymph Galatea was in love with the shepherd Acis. Their love was thwarted by Polyphemus , a terrible cyclops who, enraged by jealousy, threw a stone at the shepherd boy, causing his death. The nymph, desperate for the loss of Acis, begged

3393-493: Is less clear is the extent to which a Latin-speaking population survived on the island. While a form of Vulgar Latin clearly survived in isolated communities during the Islamic epoch, there is much debate as to the influence it had (if any) on the development of the Sicilian language, following the re-Latinisation of Sicily (discussed in the next section). By AD 1000, the whole of what is today Southern Italy , including Sicily,

3510-470: Is not clear what the Macedonian system constitutes, pike blocks or combined arms tactics, although the variant of the Hellenistic empires was heavily reliant on their exclusive ethnic group forming the pike blocks, with others serving as numerous less relevant skirmishers. At that time, most Greek states fought with thureophoroi called scutarii by the Romans and it required wealth and manpower to field

3627-482: Is unknown. In Roman times, there existed another Greek town, Akis , which was involved in the Punic Wars . In Ovid 's Metamorphoses , there is a great love between Ā́cis, the spirit of the Ā́cis River, and Galatea the sea-nymph . According to mythology, the tears of Galatea after the death of Ā́cis gave birth to the Ā́cis River , Fiume di Jaci , flowing past Acireale (the ancient Akis or Acium). The Romans called

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3744-513: The Angevin army over the Sicilians at Benevento in 1266 not only marked the end of the 136-year Norman- Swabian reign in Sicily but also effectively ensured that the centre of literary influence would eventually move from Sicily to Tuscany. While Sicilian, as both an official and a literary language, would continue to exist for another two centuries, the language would soon follow the fortunes of

3861-616: The Carthaginian cavalry was predominantly provided by their Numidian allies, a people famous for their elite light cavalry units. In the aftermath of the First Punic War, Carthage was on the brink of bankruptcy and found itself unable to pay what they owed the true mercenaries who had served them in the war. This led to the Mercenary War with Carthage’s domestic forces and some of her remaining allies, forced to put down

3978-526: The Centro di studi filologici e linguistici siciliani developed an extensive descriptivist orthography which aims to represent every sound in the natural range of Sicilian accurately. This system is also used extensively in the Vocabolario siciliano and by Gaetano Cipolla in his Learn Sicilian series of textbooks and by Arba Sicula in its journal. In initially 2017, with an updated version in 2024

4095-483: The Corvus , or the crow , a spiked boarding bridge that could be impaled onto an enemy ship so that the Romans could send over marines to capture or sink the Carthaginian vessels. The sailors and marines of the fleets were recruited from the lower classes of Carthage itself, meaning that the navy was manned in the majority by actual Carthaginian citizens , in contrast to the largely mercenary army. The navy offered

4212-663: The Elymians arrived between the second and first millennia BC. These aboriginal populations in turn were followed by the Phoenicians (between the 10th and 8th centuries BC) and the Greeks . The heavy Greek-language influence remains strongly visible, while the influences from the other groups are smaller and less obvious. What can be stated with certainty is that in Sicilian remain pre-Indo-European words of an ancient Mediterranean origin, but one cannot be more precise than that: of

4329-472: The First Punic War against Rome, payment of the mercenaries was delayed for over a year. When finally arrangements for payment were made, the mistrust between the mercenaries and their employer helped to kindle the war. The native North African Libyans, the largest contingent of the 'mercenaries', objected to being paid last while their comrades had been shipped home. Fear had spread that this might be

4446-553: The Greek language to a position of prestige, at least on an official level. At this time the island could be considered a border zone with moderate levels of bilingualism : Latinisation was mostly concentrated in western Sicily, largely among the upper class, whereas Eastern Sicily remained predominantly Greek. As the power of the Byzantine Empire waned, Sicily was progressively conquered by Saracens from Ifriqiya , from

4563-973: The Italo-Romance languages . A version of the UNESCO Courier is also available in Sicilian. Sicilian is spoken by most inhabitants of Sicily and by emigrant populations around the world. The latter are found in the countries that attracted large numbers of Sicilian immigrants during the course of the past century or so, especially the United States (specifically in the Gravesend and Bensonhurst neighborhoods of Brooklyn , New York City , and in Buffalo and Western New York State), Canada (especially in Montreal , Toronto and Hamilton ), Australia , Venezuela and Argentina . During

4680-492: The Saracens introduced to Sicily their advanced irrigation and farming techniques and a new range of crops, nearly all of which remain endemic to the island to this day. Some words of Arabic origin : Throughout the Islamic epoch of Sicilian history, a significant Greek-speaking population remained on the island and continued to use the Greek language, or most certainly a variant of Greek influenced by Tunisian Arabic. What

4797-589: The Sicels , Sicanians and Elymians . The very earliest influences, visible in Sicilian to this day, exhibit both prehistoric Mediterranean elements and prehistoric Indo-European elements, and occasionally a blending of both. Before the Roman conquest (3rd century BC), Sicily was occupied by various populations. The earliest of these populations were the Sicanians , considered to be autochthonous. The Sicels and

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4914-528: The Sicilian Baroque style, and the 17th century Acireale Cathedral , and a seminary , for the training of priests. Acireale is also noted for its art and paintings: the oldest academy in Sicily, the Accademia di scienze, lettere e belle arti degli Zelanti e dei Dafnici , is located here. According to tradition, the city's origins trace back to Xiphonia , a mysterious Greek city whose location

5031-410: The caetra being a round buckler. They also wielded all iron soliferra javelins and falcata swords. Gallic and Ligurian footmen were armed with similar tall shields, chain mail, and bronze helmets, but carried heavier spears and longer, straighter swords. The Sacred Band was an elite unit of the Carthaginian army. Since its formation in the 4th century BC, the unit consisted exclusively of the sons of

5148-476: The phalanx formation. Though they ultimately prevailed over the Greeks in Sicily, shortly thereafter the Carthaginian war machine was confronted with the single greatest military challenge it would ever face from the military of the expanding Roman Republic . Carthage and Rome fought several major protracted conflicts known as the Punic Wars , the last of which resulted in the complete and total destruction of

5265-548: The "Molino di Miuccio", with crystal clear and freezing water, as well as north of the district of Santa Caterina (Acqu'e ferru) where it has a characteristic reddish effect, caused by the presence of Iron oxides , that in the popular belief, based on the Ovidian verses, is attributed to the blood of Acis ("u sangu di Jaci", in Sicilian dialect). In the Villa Belvedere is exhibited a sculptural group of Acis and Galatea,

5382-505: The 13th century. The Northern Italian influence is of particular interest. Even to the present day, Gallo-Italic of Sicily exists in the areas where the Northern Italian colonies were the strongest, namely Novara , Nicosia , Sperlinga , Aidone and Piazza Armerina . The Siculo-Gallic dialect did not survive in other major Italian colonies, such as Randazzo , Caltagirone , Bronte and Paternò (although they influenced

5499-514: The Carthaginian navy at the Battle of Cape Ecnomus , enabling him to land a Roman army in Africa. Prior to this point in the war, most ground fighting had been on Sicily, now the Roman armies threatened Carthage itself. After landing, Regulus' army immediately began scorched earth campaign, pillaging the Punic countryside and following a brief siege, sacking the city of Aspis . Regulus then inflicted

5616-676: The Carthaginians "wholly neglect their infantry" because of their reliance on mercenary units. The term "mercenary", however, is misleading when applied to the entire Carthaginian army. As often the wealthiest polity in the region, Carthage could and regularly did employ large numbers of mercenaries in the true sense of the term. However, many of their African and Iberian recruits were not true mercenaries as these peoples often came from states or territories subject to or allied with Carthage, who were bound by treaty to supply Carthage's army with soldiers furnished from their own ranks. For example,

5733-408: The Carthaginians wholly neglect their infantry, though they do take some slight interest in the cavalry. The reason of this is that they employ foreign mercenaries, the Romans native and citizen levies. It is in this point that the latter polity is preferable to the former. They have their hopes of freedom ever resting on the courage of mercenary troops: the Romans on the valour of their own citizens and

5850-737: The Libyan natives to rise. According to our sources, the war was conducted in a particularly brutal fashion and ended, after three years, with the total destruction of the mercenary and insurgent forces. It would be difficult to say precisely what a typical make-up of a Carthaginian army would be, but in the Punic wars , they are reported to have included Greeks, Iberians, Balearics, Gauls, Ligures , Italians (e.g. Samnites , Lucanians ), Sicilians, Numidians , Libyans , Lybo-Phoenicians (also called Africans), and Punics from Carthage and its allied or external settlements. Sources often broadly label recruits from

5967-618: The Libyans and Numidians in Africa. As a result, Hamilcar was given a fairly small army and the Carthaginian fleet was gradually withdrawn so that, by 242 BC, Carthage had no ships to speak of in Sicily. Though native Carthaginian hoplite infantry could be fielded and was, it had been largely replaced by allied and mercenary infantry by the time of the First Punic War. Carthaginian infantry was made up of Libyans armed with one or two short spears that could be thrown, linothorax armor, bronze helmets, Iberian-style swords, and an aspis shield that

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6084-676: The Mediterranean, attracting mercenaries and fugitive slaves. Gauls , Ligurians , Numidians , Libyans , Greeks , and especially Iberians . were extensively recruited by Carthage. Troops were recruited both by simple monetary contracts and through partnerships established through treaties with other states and tribes. In 256 BC, during the First Punic War with the Roman Republic , the Roman Consul Marcus Atilius Regulus decisively defeated

6201-684: The Punic culture. It played a very important role in the urbanization of Northern Africa, where the Punic language was to persist until the 5th century AD. The idea that mercantile business and warlike spirit are contradictory dates to the Age of Enlightenment and is generally not shared by ancient sources, such as Virgil, who writes in Aeneid 1,444f. on Carthage: for this reason shall the people be glorious in war and acquire food easily for centuries ( sic nam fore bello / egregiam et facilem victu per saecula gentem ). Livy already points out that Carthage did house

6318-764: The Punic defeats during the Sicilian Wars of the 5th and 4th centuries BC, in which large numbers of Carthaginian citizens had been killed, the Carthaginian Senate set about enlisting mercenary forces in order to replenish the ranks of the Carthaginian army, an extraordinary technique that Carthage had employed since the late 6th century BC. Beginning with the reign of King Hanno the Navigator in 480 BC, Carthage regularly began employing Iberian infantry and Balearic slingers to support Carthaginian spearmen in Sicily. Punic recruiters toured all corners of

6435-561: The Roman Republic and the Carthaginian oligarchy was that their chief executives did not by virtue of office hold any direct authority over the military. Carthage's nobles could afford, and were legally allowed, to sustain their own armies. This practice was established by Hamilcar Barca following the Mercenary War. The change in practice ensured that specific wealthy Carthaginians were now responsible for paying mercenaries, not

6552-441: The Roman threat in Africa for the time being. In 247 BC, after eighteen years of fighting in the First Punic War , the Carthaginian Senate appointed Hamilcar Barca to assume command of Carthage's land and naval forces in the struggle against the Roman Republic . Though Carthage dominated the sea following its victory in the Battle of Drepanum in 249 BC, Rome controlled most of Sicily. Until this point, Carthage had been led by

6669-406: The Sicilian language continues to adopt Italian vocabulary and grammatical forms to such an extent that many Sicilians themselves cannot distinguish between correct and incorrect Sicilian language usage. Sicilian has a number of consonant sounds that set it apart from the other major Romance languages, notably its retroflex consonants . Sicilian has five phonemic vowels: / i / , / ɛ / , /

6786-528: The Swabian kings (amongst whom Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor enjoyed the longest reign). Some of the words below are "reintroductions" of Latin words (also found in modern Italian) that had been Germanicized at some point (e.g. vastāre in Latin to guastare in modern Italian). Words that probably originate from this era include: In 535, Justinian I made Sicily a Byzantine province, which returned

6903-591: The all out charge. The Libyans provided the bulk of the heavy, four horse war chariots for Carthage, used before the Second Punic War. Allied cities of the Punic hegemony also contributed contingents for the army. The Carthaginian officer corps held overall command of the army, although many units may have fought under their chieftains. Carthaginian forces also employed war-elephants, both within Africa and during overseas operations, including campaigns in Iberia and most famously Hannibal's invasion of Italy. These beasts were

7020-566: The army. Polybius noted for the mercenary war that the mercenaries were told to ask their commanding officers for payment, which frustrated them to such an extent that they elected new ones. In the army, payment was done per unit with subordinates responsible for the further distribution. The Libyans supplied both heavy and light infantry and formed the most disciplined units of the army. The heavy infantry fought in close formation, armed with long spears and round shields, wearing helmets and linen cuirasses. The light Libyan infantry carried javelins and

7137-489: The broader Extreme Southern Italian language group (in Italian italiano meridionale estremo ). Ethnologue (see below for more detail) describes Sicilian as being "distinct enough from Standard Italian to be considered a separate language", and it is recognized as a minority language by UNESCO . It has been referred to as a language by the Sicilian Region. It has the oldest literary tradition of

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7254-694: The buildings. During the Expedition of the Thousand in 1861, led by Garibaldi and which liberated Sicily from the rule of the Bourbon Kingdom of Napoli , Acireale was the first town to rebel against the Neapolitan rule. In 1941, the town was bombed by the Allies, resulting in many civilian casualties. The city had grown in the second half of the 19th century as a "City of Studies" because there

7371-538: The bulk of Carthage's infantry units were generally made up of mercenaries, auxiliaries from allied communities (who might be Punic colonists), and conscripts from subject territories. With their elite status, members of the Sacred Band received the best equipment in the Carthaginian army. Their weapons and training were similar to those of the Greek hoplites : heavy spear, sword, aspis shield, and bronze greaves , helmet, and breastplate. The hoplites also fought in

7488-444: The capacity of the barracks located in the three rings of walls that protected the city, offering accommodation to 24,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry, and 300 elephants. In addition to their own conscripted forces, large contingents of mercenaries and auxiliaries would be employed. Appian mentions that in total 40,000 infantry, 1,000 cavalry, and 2,000 heavy chariots were recruited to oppose the invasion of Agathocles of Syracuse . After

7605-469: The city of Carthage in 146 BC, by which time the Carthaginian military was only a shadow of its former self. Carthage came close to victory on several occasions during the earlier Punic Wars, however, with its military achieving notable success under the command of Hamilcar Barca and his son Hannibal in the First and Second Punic Wars respectively. Hannibal Barca specifically, is widely regarded as one of

7722-563: The definite article: di lu = dû ("of the"), a lu = ô ("to the"), pi lu = pû ("for the"), nta lu = ntô ("in the"), etc. Most feminine nouns and adjectives end in -a in the singular: casa ('house'), porta ('door'), carta ('paper'). Exceptions include soru ('sister') and ficu ('fig'). The usual masculine singular ending is -u : omu ('man'), libbru ('book'), nomu ('name'). The singular ending -i can be either masculine or feminine. Unlike Standard Italian, Sicilian uses

7839-538: The diners with fresh baked goods (arancini, "cartocciate", "cipolline" etc.) as well as sweet breakfast products (croissants, panzerotti, "raviole" filled with ricotta cheese, "iris" filled with chocolate cream or white cream). In the fishing villages there are many restaurants that offer menus based only on fresh fish. Acireale, along with its district, is also known for the Etna Lemon, which in October 2020 obtained

7956-638: The education system have been slow. The CSFLS created a textbook "Dialektos" to comply with the law but does not provide an orthography to write the language. In Sicily, it is taught only as part of dialectology courses, but outside Italy, Sicilian has been taught at the University of Pennsylvania , Brooklyn College and Manouba University . Since 2009, it has been taught at the Italian Charities of America , in New York City (home to

8073-411: The elephants behind the central phalanx. Xanthippus also realized the mistakes that the Carthaginians were making by avoiding open ground battles against the Romans, instead seeking only uneven terrain. This was done out of fear of the Romans' superior infantry. Such a strategy, however, restricted Carthage's strongest elements: its cavalry and elephants. Uneven terrain also disrupts the phalanx in favor of

8190-568: The elite troops of their time. These consisted of infantry troops and cavalry units. The latter were formed by young nobles of the city devoting their life to military training. Ancient authors, such as Polybius , tend to stress Carthage's reliance on foreign mercenaries . However, the term 'mercenary' is misleading when applied to the North African and Iberian recruits, i.e. from areas controlled by Carthage. They were comparable to Roman Auxilia though Carthage did also employ mercenaries in

8307-566: The enemy line that could be exploited by Carthaginian cavalry and infantry. Modern scholars have disputed whether or not Carthaginian elephants were furnished with turrets in combat; despite frequent assertions to the contrary, the evidence indicates that African forest elephants could and did carry turrets in certain military contexts. Polybius wrote in the sixth book of his History that the Carthaginians were, "more exercised in maritime affairs than any other people". The Romans, unable to defeat them through conventional maritime tactics, developed

8424-541: The far south of Italy ( Apulia and Calabria ). It took Roger 30 years to complete the conquest of Sicily (Robert died in 1085). In the aftermath of the Norman conquest of Sicily, the reintroduction of Latin in Sicily had begun, and some Norman words would be absorbed, that would be accompanied with an additional wave of Parisian French loanwords during the rule of Charles I from the Capetian House of Anjou in

8541-435: The first of the modern Italic languages to be used as a literary language . The influence of the school and the use of Sicilian itself as a poetic language was acknowledged by the two great Tuscan writers of the early Renaissance period, Dante and Petrarch . The influence of the Sicilian language should not be underestimated in the eventual formulation of a lingua franca that was to become modern Italian . The victory of

8658-418: The gods to bring him back to life and they, accepting her prayers, transformed the shepherd into an eternal river, called Jaci (Akis). The river Jaci, which has an unknown underground path and is part of the rich Etnean drainage system, flows both in the locality Acque grandi ("acquaranni") between Acireale and Capomulini, under a massive lava bank, and in the village of Santa Maria la Scala (Testa di l’acqua), at

8775-527: The greatest military geniuses of all time. The most distinct feature of the Carthaginian army was its composition. Contrary to most other states in the Mediterranean at the time, the army was composed almost exclusively of foreign mercenary units while its navy was manned by citizens. Carthage lacked a history of citizen infantry forces, requiring its army to be composed mainly of foreign troops, particularly Libyans , Numidians , Iberians , Gauls , and Greeks . Its Phoenician origins, however, granted Carthage

8892-430: The impact of mass media, such that increasingly, even within the family home, Sicilian is not necessarily the language of choice. The Sicilian Regional Assembly voted to make the teaching of Sicilian a part of the school curriculum at primary school level, but as of 2007 only a fraction of schools teach Sicilian. There is also little in the way of mass media offered in Sicilian. The combination of these factors means that

9009-576: The kingdom itself in terms of prestige and influence. Following the Sicilian Vespers of 1282, the kingdom came under the influence of the Crown of Aragon , and the Catalan language (and the closely related Aragonese ) added a new layer of vocabulary in the succeeding century. For the whole of the 14th century, both Catalan and Sicilian were the official languages of the royal court. Sicilian

9126-410: The landed aristocracy and they preferred to expand into Africa instead of pursuing an aggressive policy against Rome in Sicily. Hanno "The Great" had been in charge of operations in Africa since 248 BC and had conquered considerable territory by 241 BC. Carthage at this time was feeling the strain of the prolonged conflict. In addition to maintaining a fleet and soldiers in Sicily, it was also fighting

9243-485: The language in Sicily itself: specifically, the term sìculu originally describes one of the larger prehistoric groups living in Sicily (the Italic Sicels or Siculi ) before the arrival of Greeks in the 8th century BC (see below ). It can also be used as a prefix to qualify or to elaborate further on the origins of a person, for example: Siculo-American ( sìculu-miricanu ) or Siculo-Australian. As

9360-444: The language via any of the major language groups normally associated with Sicilian, i.e. they have been independently derived from a very early Indo-European source. The Sicels are a possible source of such words, but there is also the possibility of a cross-over between ancient Mediterranean words and introduced Indo-European forms. Some examples of Sicilian words with an ancient Indo-European origin: The following Sicilian words are of

9477-401: The largest Sicilian speaking community outside of Sicily and Italy) and it is also preserved and taught by family association, church organisations and societies, social and ethnic historical clubs and even Internet social groups, mainly in Gravesend and Bensonhurst, Brooklyn . On 15 May 2018, the Sicilian Region once again mandated the teaching of Sicilian in schools and referred to it as

9594-558: The last four or five decades, large numbers of Sicilians were also attracted to the industrial zones of Northern Italy and areas of the European Union . Although the Sicilian language does not have official status (including in Sicily), in addition to the standard Sicilian of the medieval Sicilian school, academics have developed a standardized form. Such efforts began in the mid-19th century when Vincenzo Mortillaro published

9711-465: The latter three groups as "Africans." Very few Punic records survived the Roman Era and scholars have limited knowledge of the Punic language. As a result, it is unclear exactly what specific title the Carthaginians bestowed on their military commanders as the few accurate Roman and Greek sources we do have often confuse Carthaginian offices. Greek sources referred to the commander of Punic forces as

9828-479: The local Sicilian vernacular). The Gallo-Italic influence was also felt on the Sicilian language itself, as follows: The origins of another Romance influence, that of Occitan , had three reasons: Some examples of Sicilian words derived from Occitan: It was during the reign of Frederick II (or Frederick I of Sicily) between 1198 and 1250, with his patronage of the Sicilian School, that Sicilian became

9945-426: The mainland, divided between the numerous boroughs of Aci. Another town, Aquilia Nova ("New Aquilia"), was founded in the late 14th century further north, creating the nucleus of what is now Acireale. The only extant architectural remnant of this medieval town is Gothic-Lombard-style portal of the church of Sant'Antonio di Padova . In the 16th century, Emperor Charles V freed the city from feudal ties, creating it as

10062-544: The mid 9th to mid 10th centuries. The Emirate of Sicily persisted long enough to develop a distinctive local variety of Arabic, Siculo-Arabic (at present extinct in Sicily but surviving as the Maltese language ). Its influence is noticeable in around 300 Sicilian words, most of which relate to agriculture and related activities. This is understandable because of the Arab Agricultural Revolution ;

10179-483: The military was initially held by the civilian Suffetes until the third century BC. Thereafter, professional military generals were appointed directly by the Carthaginian Senate. Carthage's military battled the Greeks over control of the island of Sicily . These encounters influenced the development of the Carthaginians' weapons and tactics, causing Carthage to adopt the Greek-style hoplite soldier fighting in

10296-407: The more flexible legion . By seeking battles on open plains, Xanthippus was able to make the fullest use of Carthage's strengths, where Roman formations broke under attack from the elephant and cavalry charges. Under the leadership of Xanthippus, the reformed Carthaginian army completely destroyed the Roman army at the Battle of Bagradas River in 255 BC, capturing Regulus in the process and ending

10413-490: The myth of its foundation. Among the legends Acis and Galatea, the adventure of Odysseus against the cyclops Polyphemus, a forest born from the revenge of Zeus against the giants , and a legend related to the flight of the Carthaginian army before a lava flow of the Mount Etna . The paronymal legend, from which the name of the city and of the hamlets would originate, was the idyll of love between Acis and Galatea , and

10530-430: The noble Carthaginian citizens. The unit usually did not fight outside of Africa . As a unit of heavy spearmen, the unit was placed in the center of the army formation immediately behind the row of elephants and protected by auxiliary wings of mercenaries and cavalry. The presence of Carthaginian citizens fighting as infantry in the army is unusual as Carthaginian citizens usually served only as officers or cavalry, while

10647-493: The nonprofit organisation Cademia Siciliana created an orthographic proposal to help to normalise the language's written form. This orthography was used by the organisation in their collaboration with Google to bring the Sicilian Language to Google Translate. The autonomous regional parliament of Sicily has legislated Regional Law No. 9/2011 to encourage the teaching of Sicilian at all schools, but inroads into

10764-601: The now-extinct North African elephant ( Loxodonta [ africana ] pharaoensis ), probably a subspecies of the African forest elephant ( Loxodonta cyclotis ), which is smaller than the African bush elephant ( Loxodonta africana ) and the Indian elephants ( elephas maximus ) used by the Seleucids. In battle, the elephants functioned as a psychological weapon, frightening the opposing men and horses into flight or creating gaps in

10881-511: The parliamentary and court records had commenced. By 1543 this process was virtually complete, with the Tuscan dialect of Italian becoming the lingua franca of the Italian peninsula and supplanting written Sicilian. Spanish rule had hastened this process in two important ways: Spanish rule lasted over three centuries (not counting the Aragonese and Bourbon periods on either side) and had

10998-560: The particular word may even have come to Sicily via another route. For instance, by the time the Romans had occupied Sicily, the Latin language had made its own borrowings from Greek. The words with a prehistoric Mediterranean derivation often refer to plants native to the Mediterranean region or to other natural features. Bearing in mind the qualifiers mentioned above (alternative sources are provided where known), examples of such words include: There are also Sicilian words with an ancient Indo-European origin that do not appear to have come to

11115-468: The people with little money, while owners of producing facilities are mentioned among those with more money. [1] Similar doubts were raised earlier because our only source on a Punic trader is the play Poenulus and the Carthaginian presented there is a rather humble merchant. An important part of the Punic culture seems to have consisted in their devotion to the gods, and their well-known units, called Sacred Bands by our Greek sources , are regarded as

11232-498: The phrase è bonu ‘it's good’, there is a doubled /bb/ in pronunciation. The letter ⟨j⟩ at the start of a word can have two separate sounds depending on what precedes the word. For instance, in jornu ("day"), it is pronounced [ j ] . However, after a nasal consonant or if it is triggered by syntactic gemination, it is pronounced [ ɟ ] as in un jornu with [nɟ] or tri jorna ("three days") with [ɟɟ] . Another difference between

11349-506: The plural: manu ('hand[s]'), ficu ('fig[s]') and soru ('sister[s]'). Sicilian has only one auxiliary verb , aviri , 'to have'. It is also used to denote obligation (e.g. avi a jiri , '[he/she] has to go'), and to form the future tense, as Sicilian for the most part no longer has a synthetic future tense: avi a cantari , '[he/she] will sing'. As in English and like most other Romance languages, Sicilian may use

11466-470: The prestigious recognition I.G.P. by the European Union. Acireale houses costumes and floats parades during the carnival season. Acireale is twinned with: Sicilian language Sicilian (Sicilian: sicilianu , Sicilian: [sɪ(t)ʃɪˈljaːnu] ; Italian : siciliano ) is a Romance language that is spoken on the island of Sicily and its satellite islands. It belongs to

11583-731: The same standard plural ending -i for both masculine and feminine nouns and adjectives: casi ('houses' or 'cases'), porti ('doors' or 'harbors'), tàuli ('tables'). Some masculine plural nouns end in -a instead, a feature that is derived from the Latin neuter endings -um, -a : libbra ('books'), jorna ('days'), vrazza ('arms', compare Italian braccio , braccia ), jardina ('gardens'), scrittura ('writers'), signa ('signs'). Some nouns have irregular plurals: omu has òmini (compare Italian uomo , uomini ), jocu ('game') jòcura (Italian gioco , giochi ) and lettu ("bed") letta (Italian letto , ' letti ). Three feminine nouns are invariable in

11700-488: The sources on the Punic forces are rare and not easily accessible because they are almost exclusively written by their opponents in war. An inscription discovered in Carthage seems to confirm the doubts raised by the lack of sources concerning members of the nobility in the trading business. The translation (which is, like all translations from the Punic, disputed in details) only mentions in the existing parts merchants among

11817-418: The state. Furthermore, we tend to find evidence that many individuals from the leading families of Carthage served in the military forces. Notably the hired units were deployed with their own command structure. As Carthage sent out specific recruiters who bargained contracts with each soldier/corps of soldiers, it is possible that these also served as officers responsible for the integration of their units into

11934-513: The three main prehistoric groups, only the Sicels were known to be Indo-European with a degree of certainty, and their speech is likely to have been closely related to that of the Romans. The following table, listing words for "twins", illustrates the difficulty linguists face in tackling the various substrata of the Sicilian language. A similar qualifier can be applied to many of the words that appear in this article. Sometimes it may be known that

12051-578: The town Acium , and it was on the main road from Catana to Tauromenium . The Romans used the thermal springs located here. In the Middle Ages, the town expanded around the castle (now part of Aci Castello ), known as Jachium under the Byzantines , as Al-Yāj (الياج) under the Arabs , and, later, as Aquilia . The potent 1169 Sicily earthquake scattered the population of the city farther into

12168-555: The treaty, the Italian Parliament has not ratified it. It is not included in Italian Law No. 482/1999 although some other minority languages of Sicily are. Alternative names of Sicilian are Calabro-Sicilian , sicilianu , and sìculu . The first term refers to the fact that a form of Sicilian is spoken in southern Calabria, particularly in the province of Reggio Calabria . The other two are names for

12285-525: The true sense as well. Units were generally segregated by ethnicity, which was also a criterion for the respective specialisation. While within a unit communication in the native tongue was possible, between units Greek and Punic helped to establish communication. According to Polybius, this enabled the insurgents during the Mercenary War , which is also the only recorded large mutiny of Carthage's troops, to communicate with each other on higher levels. The reported causes for this conflict were that following

12402-455: The vast majority of instances in which the originating word had an initial /i/ , Sicilian has dropped it completely. That has also happened when there was once an initial /e/ and, to a lesser extent, /a/ and /o/ : mpurtanti "important", gnuranti "ignorant", nimicu "enemy", ntirissanti "interesting", llustrari "to illustrate", mmàggini "image", cona "icon", miricanu "American". In Sicilian, gemination

12519-408: The verb jiri , 'to go', to signify the act of being about to do something. Vaiu a cantari , 'I'm going to sing'. In this way, jiri + a + infinitive can also be a way to form the simple future construction. The main conjugations in Sicilian are illustrated below with the verb èssiri , 'to be'. Extracts from three of Sicily's more celebrated poets are offered below to illustrate

12636-427: The written and the spoken languages is the extent to which contractions occur in everyday speech. Thus a common expression such as avemu a accattari... ("we have to go and buy...") is generally reduced to âma 'ccattari in talking to family and friends. The circumflex accent is commonly used in denoting a wide range of contractions in the written language, particularly the joining of simple prepositions and

12753-629: The written form of Sicilian over the last few centuries: Antonio Veneziano , Giovanni Meli and Nino Martoglio . A translation of the Lord's Prayer can also be found in J. K. Bonner. This is written with three variations: a standard literary form from the island of Sicily and a southern Apulian literary form. Military of Carthage The Carthaginian military was a combined arms force, which comprised light and heavy infantry , siege engines , skirmishers , light and heavy cavalry , as well as war elephants and chariots . Supreme command of

12870-495: Was a complex mix of small states and principalities , languages and religions. The whole of Sicily was controlled by Saracens, at the elite level, but the general population remained a mix of Muslims and Christians who spoke Greek, Latin or Siculo-Arabic. The far south of the Italian peninsula was part of the Byzantine empire although many communities were reasonably independent from Constantinople . The Principality of Salerno

12987-437: Was a heritage of several boarding schools and institutions of higher education that today can be considered lost in the absence of a university campus. In Acireale there are several Secondary schools, public and private, divided between high schools, technical and professional institutes, which are also largely frequented by students from neighboring municipalities. In Acireale history is often accompanied by legend, especially in

13104-604: Was also used to record the proceedings of the Parliament of Sicily (one of the oldest parliaments in Europe) and for other official purposes. While it is often difficult to determine whether a word came directly from Catalan (as opposed to Occitan), the following are likely to be such examples: By the time the crowns of Castille and Aragon were united in the late 15th century, the Italianisation of written Sicilian in

13221-493: Was charged with retraining and restructuring the Carthaginian army. Xanthippus adopted the combined arms model of the Macedonian army , developed during the time of Phillip II . Xanthippus split his cavalry between his two wings, with mercenary infantry screening the cavalry, and a hastily raised citizen phalanx in the center screened by a line of elephants in front of the spearmen. Previously, Carthaginian generals had placed

13338-555: Was controlled by Lombards (or Langobards), who had also started to make some incursions into Byzantine territory and had managed to establish some isolated independent city-states . It was into this climate that the Normans thrust themselves with increasing numbers during the first half of the 11th century. When the two most famous of Southern Italy's Norman adventurers, Roger of Hauteville and his brother, Robert Guiscard , began their conquest of Sicily in 1061, they already controlled

13455-448: Was equipped with the sarissa (pike), but a number of translations turned the Greek longche for javelin into pike by the wrong assertion that it means lance ( lancea was originally a throwing weapon). There is a mention of a 5,000 men contingent on Zama fighting in Macedonian fashion, sent by the Macedonian king. It is not clear what that exactly means. It could be a Macedonian-style phalanx or some troops using long two handed naval lances,

13572-484: Was growing in stature. Under Mago, Carthage allied with the Etruscans of northern Italy against the Greek city-states in southern Italy, an alliance that would last until Rome expelled its Etruscan kings. Mago also set about a series of military reforms designed to strengthen Carthaginian power. During the 4th century BC, the maximum number of standing troops Carthage expected at its service can be estimated from

13689-474: Was later replaced by a flat, oval shield gripped in the center. It was called a scutum in the western Mediterranean and a thureos in the east. The shield change probably came as a result of prolonged experience with the more flexible Gallic, Ligurian, Italian, and Iberian mercenaries who had been using such shields for centuries prior. Iberian warriors serving Carthage were split into scutari heavy infantry and caetrati light infantry, named so after their shields,

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