55-521: The De Rohan Arch ( Maltese : Il-Bieb De Rohan ; Italian : Porta De Rohan ), also known as the New Gateway ( Maltese : Il-Bieb il-Ġdid ), is a commemorative arch in Żebbuġ , Malta . It was built in 1798 to commemorate the locality's status as a city, which had been granted by Grand Master Emmanuel de Rohan-Polduc on 21 June 1777. Emmanuel de Rohan-Polduc , the Grand Master of
110-416: A large number of borrowings from Romance sources ( Sicilian , Italian , and French ) and, more recently, Germanic ones (from English ). The historical source of modern Maltese vocabulary is 52% Italian/Sicilian, 32% Arabic/Siculo-Arabic, and 6% English, with some of the remainder being French. Today, most function words are Arabic, so despite only making up about a third of the vocabulary, they are
165-580: A pamphlet dated 1841. Today, red and white form the basis of the flag and coat of arms of Malta , but the claim that the colours originate from the 1091 invasion is unsubstantiated and unlikely. Local traditions and legends related a number of places around Malta to the Norman invasion. Miġra l-Ferħa , a small inlet near Mtaħleb on the western coast of Malta, is said to have been the place where Roger and his army landed. Ferħ means "joy" in Maltese, and it
220-953: A sample of 1,821 Quranic Arabic roots were found in Maltese, considerably lower than that found in Moroccan (58%) and Lebanese (72%) varieties of Arabic. An analysis of the etymology of the 41,000 words in Aquilina's Maltese–English Dictionary shows that 32% of the Maltese vocabulary is of Arabic origin, although another source claims 40%. Usually, words expressing basic concepts and ideas, such as raġel (man), mara (woman), tifel (boy), dar (house), xemx (sun), sajf (summer), are of Arabic origin. Moreover, belles-lettres in Maltese aim to maximise their use of vocabulary belonging to this group. Notes: * from Arabic استقصى ( istaqṣā ) "to investigate", ** from Arabic اشتاق ( ištāqa ) "to yearn for ". Norman invasion of Malta The Norman invasion of Malta
275-470: A tale where Roger liberated the Christians of Malta from oppressive Muslim rule, and this concept entered Maltese tradition and folklore. The idea of a surviving Maltese Christian population throughout the period of Muslim rule was promoted by the 17th-century historian Giovanni Francesco Abela . There is no evidence of a surviving indigenous Christian population, although this has been disputed and there
330-469: A ḡ fir lanā ḏ unūbanā , kamā na ḡ firu na ḥ nu ʔ ay ḍ an lil-muḏnibīn ʔ ilaynā. wa lā tud ḵ ilna fī tajāriba , lākin najjinā min a š-š irrīr. ʔā mīn hab lan lahmo d-sunqonan yowmono washbuq lan hawbayn wahtohayn aykano doph hnan shbaqan l-hayobayn lo ta`lan l-nesyuno elo paso lan men bisho Amin Although the original vocabulary of Maltese was Siculo-Arabic , it has incorporated
385-447: Is also distinguished from Arabic and other Semitic languages since its morphology has been deeply influenced by Romance languages , namely Italian and Sicilian . The original Arabic base comprises around one-third of the Maltese vocabulary, especially words that denote basic ideas and the function words , but about half of the vocabulary is derived from standard Italian and Sicilian; and English words make up between 6% and 20% of
440-683: Is called lingua maltensi . The oldest known document in Maltese, Il-Kantilena ( Xidew il-Qada ) by Pietru Caxaro , dates from the 15th century. The earliest known Maltese dictionary was a 16th-century manuscript entitled "Maltese-Italiano"; it was included in the Biblioteca Maltese of Mifsud in 1764, but is now lost. A list of Maltese words was included in both the Thesaurus Polyglottus (1603) and Propugnaculum Europae (1606) of Hieronymus Megiser , who had visited Malta in 1588–1589; Domenico Magri gave
495-566: Is considerably lower than the mutual intelligibility found between other varieties of Arabic. Maltese has always been written in the Latin script , the earliest surviving example dating from the late Middle Ages . It is the only standardised Semitic language written exclusively in the Latin script. The origins of the Maltese language are attributed to the arrival, early in the 11th century, of settlers from neighbouring Sicily, where Siculo-Arabic
550-849: Is distinctive word-medially and word-finally in Maltese. The distinction is most rigid intervocalically after a stressed vowel. Stressed, word-final closed syllables with short vowels end in a long consonant, and those with a long vowel in a single consonant; the only exception is where historic *ʕ and *ɣ meant the compensatory lengthening of the succeeding vowel. Some speakers have lost length distinction in clusters. The two nasals /m/ and /n/ assimilate for place of articulation in clusters. /t/ and /d/ are usually dental , whereas /t͡s d͡z s z n r l/ are all alveolar. /t͡s d͡z/ are found mostly in words of Italian origin, retaining length (if not word-initial). /d͡z/ and /ʒ/ are only found in loanwords, e.g. /ɡad͡zd͡zɛtta/ "newspaper" and /tɛlɛˈviʒin/ "television". The pharyngeal fricative /ħ/
605-654: Is less distant from its Siculo-Arabic ancestor than is Standard Maltese. Voiceless stops are only lightly aspirated and voiced stops are fully voiced. Voicing is carried over from the last segment in obstruent clusters ; thus, two- and three-obstruent clusters are either voiceless or voiced throughout, e.g. /niktbu/ is realised [ˈniɡdbu] "we write" (similar assimilation phenomena occur in languages like French or Czech). Maltese has final-obstruent devoicing of voiced obstruents and word-final voiceless stops have no audible release , making voiceless–voiced pairs phonetically indistinguishable in word-final position. Gemination
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#1732773332235660-618: Is listed on National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands . Maltese language Maltese (Maltese: Malti , also L-Ilsien Malti or Lingwa Maltija ) is a Semitic language derived from late medieval Sicilian Arabic with Romance superstrata . It is spoken by the Maltese people and is the national language of Malta , and the only official Semitic and Afroasiatic language of
715-541: Is one of the Berber languages (another language family within Afroasiatic). Less plausibly, Fascist Italy classified it as regional Italian . Urban varieties of Maltese are closer to Standard Maltese than rural varieties, which have some characteristics that distinguish them from Standard Maltese. They tend to show some archaic features such as the realisation of ⟨kh⟩ and ⟨gh⟩ and
770-404: Is part of the supercontinent of Eurasia'), while not understanding a single word of a basic sentence such as Ir-raġel qiegħed fid-dar ('The man is in the house'), which would be easily understood by any Arabic speaker. At that time Malta was thoroughly Arabized. The conquerors brought to the island the vulgar (colloquial) variation of Arabic, not the classical one (Classical Arabic), Therefore
825-781: Is possible that the Muslims who inhabited Malta were refugees who had fled Sicily due to the Arab–Byzantine wars . The Byzantines made an unsuccessful attempt to recapture Malta in 1053–54. The Norman fleet led by Count Roger I left Cape Scalambri in Sicily in June or July 1091 and arrived in Malta within two days. Roger's eldest son, Jordan of Hauteville , had wanted to command the expedition against Malta but Roger decided to go in person, possibly because he feared that his son might defect to
880-860: Is the Lord's Prayer in Maltese compared to other Semitic languages ( Arabic and Syriac ) with cognates highlighted: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen Ħobżna ta' kuljum agħtina llum . Aħfrilna dnubietna , bħal ma naħfru lil min hu ħati għalina . U la ddaħħalniex fit-tiġrib , iżda eħlisna mid-deni. Ammen ʔabāna , alla ḏ i fī as-samāwāt , li- yataqaddas ismuka , li- yaʔti malakūtuka, li-takun ma šī ʔatuka, kamā fī as-samāʔi ka ḏ ālika ʕa lā al-ar ḍ . ḵ ubzana kafāfanā ʔaʕṭi nā alyawm , wa
935-425: Is velar ( [ x ] ), uvular ( [ χ ] ), or glottal ( [ h ] ) for some speakers. Maltese has five short vowels, /ɐ ɛ ɪ ɔ ʊ/ , written a e i o u; six long vowels, /ɐː ɛː ɪː iː ɔː ʊː/ , written a, e, ie, i, o, u, all of which (with the exception of ie /ɪː/ ) can be known to represent long vowels in writing only if they are followed by an orthographic għ or h (otherwise, one needs to know
990-519: Is very little evidence from the period of 870–1091 in general. It is believed that the Christian captives freed in 1091 were not indigenous Maltese or Sicilians, but were possibly from Italy or elsewhere in Europe. By the 19th century, a number of unsourced "details" had been gradually added by different authors into accounts of the Norman invasion. These include speculation that some Maltese assisted
1045-661: The European Union . Maltese is considered a North African dialect of Colloquial Arabic that was brought to Malta by Arab and Berber ( Aghlabids ), who in 869/870 CE seized control of the island from the Byzantine Empire. It is also said that it descents from Siculo-Arabic, which developed as a Maghrebi Arabic dialect in the Emirate of Sicily between 831 and 1091. As a result of the Norman invasion of Malta and
1100-666: The Italo-Normans ended Arab rule of the islands, a written form of the language was not developed for a long time after the Arabs' expulsion in the middle of the thirteenth century. Under the rule of the Knights Hospitaller , both French and Italian were used for official documents and correspondence. During the British colonial period , the use of English was encouraged through education, with Italian being regarded as
1155-458: The Order of St. John , attended the feast of the village of Żebbuġ on 12 May 1776. The parish priest Dun Feliċ Borg sent a petition to the Grand Master, requesting that the village be elevated to the status of a city. Borg promised to construct two triumphal arches if the request was accepted. De Rohan agreed and gave Żebbuġ the title Città Rohan by a decree dated 21 June 1777. Although city status
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#17327733322351210-501: The imāla of Arabic ā into ē (or ī especially in Gozo), considered archaic because they are reminiscent of 15th-century transcriptions of this sound. Another archaic feature is the realisation of Standard Maltese ā as ō in rural dialects. There is also a tendency to diphthongise simple vowels, e.g., ū becomes eo or eu. Rural dialects also tend to employ more Semitic roots and broken plurals than Standard Maltese. In general, rural Maltese
1265-465: The 18th century. Numbering several thousand in the 19th century, it was reported to be only 100 to 200 people as of 2017. Maltese is descended from Siculo-Arabic, a Semitic language within the Afroasiatic family . In the course of its history , Maltese has been influenced by Sicilian, Italian, to a lesser extent by French , and more recently by English. Today, the core vocabulary (including both
1320-547: The Antiquities List of 1925, and it is now scheduled as a Grade 1 national monument. De Rohan Arch is built in the neoclassical style . The archway is flanked by rusticated Doric pilasters set on a plain pedestal . The arch is topped by a triangular pediment having moulded edges. A Gothic designed niche , containing a portrait of the Ecce homo , is located within the arch. The niche, painted in red and white,
1375-455: The Maltese as their national colours. The Norman conquest of southern Italy began in around the beginning of the 11th century. The conquest of Sicily was complete by 1091, with the fall of the last Muslim stronghold of Noto . Their location off the coast of Sicily made the Maltese Islands a natural target for Norman expansion to conclude the conquest of Sicily. Plans to attack Malta had been made by Robert Guiscard as early as 1072. At
1430-508: The Maltese language differs from Classical Arabic in the same way as the Arabic dialects differ from Classical Arabic. the Maltese language also comprises a considerable number of Maghrebi features, in other ways it can be closer to other Arabic dialects, or closer to Classical Arabic than to the other dialects as in the word ra ('to see'). Arabic supplies between 32% and 40% of the language's vocabulary. Żammit (2000) found that 40% of
1485-660: The Member States in a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men prevail. L-Unjoni hija bbażata fuq il-valuri tar-rispett għad-dinjità tal-bniedem, il-libertà, id-demokrazija, l-ugwaljanza, l-istat tad-dritt u r-rispett għad-drittijiet tal-bniedem, inklużi d-drittijiet ta' persuni li jagħmlu parti minn minoranzi. Dawn il-valuri huma komuni għall-Istati Membri f'soċjetà fejn jipprevalu l-pluraliżmu, in-non-diskriminazzjoni, it-tolleranza, il-ġustizzja, is-solidarjetà u l-ugwaljanza bejn in-nisa u l-irġiel. Below
1540-416: The Muslims. Roger's ship arrived first since it was faster than the others, and he initially disembarked with thirteen knights. The inhabitants offered some resistance to the invaders, but some were killed and the rest fled. Count Roger went after some of those who fled, and returned to the landing point later that day. By then the entire army had disembarked and was encamped on the shoreline. At daybreak on
1595-436: The Norman invasion is regarded as little more than a razzia (raid), and not as an attempt to establish a permanent occupation of the islands. The establishment of a Christian regime on Malta only occurred after another invasion by Count Roger's son, King Roger II of Sicily , in 1127. At this point, Christian settlers arrived in Malta, including administrators, garrison members, traders and clergy. Their languages merged with
1650-575: The Normans in their attack against the Muslims, and that Roger allowed the Arabs to remain in Malta and continue to practice their religion. Some accounts stated that after the invasion Roger established a popular council and gave laws and privileges to the Maltese. Roger was also credited with granting the colours of the Hauteville family – red and white – to the Maltese as their coat of arms and national colours. This attribution seems to originate from
1705-405: The arch. In the 1950s, Freedom Avenue ( Maltese : Vjal il-Ħelsien ) was opened to give better access to the Żebbuġ centre, and this reduced the amount of traffic passing through the arch. Later on, vehicles were not allowed to pass through the arch in order to preserve it. The arch was restored by the Żebbuġ Local Council in 1995. It was restored again in 2016. The De Rohan Arch was included on
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1760-629: The etymologies of some Maltese words in his Hierolexicon, sive sacrum dictionarium (1677). An early manuscript dictionary, Dizionario Italiano e Maltese , was discovered in the Biblioteca Vallicelliana in Rome in the 1980s, together with a grammar, the Regole per la Lingua Maltese , attributed to a French knight named Thezan. The first systematic lexicon is that of Giovanni Pietro Francesco Agius de Soldanis , who also wrote
1815-571: The first systematic grammar of the language and proposed a standard orthography . Ethnologue reports a total of 530,000 Maltese speakers: 450,000 in Malta and 79,000 in the diaspora . Most speakers also use English. The largest diaspora community of Maltese speakers is in Australia , with 36,000 speakers reported in 2006 (down from 45,000 in 1996, and expected to decline further). The Maltese linguistic community in Tunisia originated in
1870-407: The freed captives. The attack did not bring about any major political change, but it paved the way for the re-Christianization of Malta, which began in 1127. Over the centuries, the invasion of 1091 was romanticized as the liberation of Christian Malta from Muslim rule, and a number of traditions and legends arose from it, such as the unlikely claim that Count Roger gave his colours red and white to
1925-527: The increasing influence of Romance and English words. In 1992 the academy issued the Aġġornament tat-Tagħrif fuq il-Kitba Maltija , which updated the previous works. The National Council for the Maltese Language (KNM) is the main regulator of the Maltese language (see Maltese Language Act, below). However, the academy's orthography rules are still valid and official. Since Maltese evolved after
1980-530: The most commonly used vocabulary and function words ) is Semitic, with a large number of loanwords . Due to the Sicilian influence on Siculo-Arabic, Maltese has many language contact features and is most commonly described as a language with a large number of loanwords. Maltese has historically been classified in various ways, with some claiming that it was derived from ancient Punic (another Semitic language) instead of Siculo-Arabic, and others claiming it
2035-466: The most used when speaking the language. In this way, Maltese is similar to English , a Germanic language that has been strongly influenced by Norman French and Latin (58% of English vocabulary). As a result of this, Romance language-speakers (and to a lesser extent English speakers) can often easily understand more technical ideas expressed in Maltese, such as Ġeografikament, l-Ewropa hi parti tas-superkontinent ta' l-Ewrasja ('Geographically, Europe
2090-728: The next day, Roger and his army marched to the island's capital, Medina , and besieged it. The ruler of the city and its inhabitants were reportedly terrified at the invading army, and asked to meet the Count to discuss peace terms. They freed all the Christian prisoners, and gave horses, mules, all their weapons and a sum of money to the Normans. They also agreed to swear an oath of loyalty to Roger and pay an annual tribute. The Christian captives reportedly rejoiced at their freedom, and they held wooden or reed crosses, sang Kyrie eleison and flung themselves at Roger's feet. The Christians embarked on Roger's ships, and eventually they went to Sicily. On
2145-405: The next-most important language. In the late 18th century and throughout the 19th century, philologists and academics such as Mikiel Anton Vassalli made a concerted effort to standardise written Maltese. Many examples of written Maltese exist from before this period, always in the Latin alphabet, Il-Kantilena from the 15th century being the earliest example of written Maltese. In 1934, Maltese
2200-486: The pronunciation; e.g. nar (fire) is pronounced /nɐːr/ ); and seven diphthongs , /ɐɪ ɐʊ ɛɪ ɛʊ ɪʊ ɔɪ ɔʊ/ , written aj or għi, aw or għu, ej or għi, ew, iw, oj, and ow or għu. The original Arabic consonant system has undergone partial collapse under European influence, with many Classical Arabic consonants having undergone mergers and modifications in Maltese: The modern system of Maltese orthography
2255-479: The structure of the Maltese language are recorded in the official guidebook Tagħrif fuq il-Kitba Maltija (English: Knowledge on Writing in Maltese ) issued by the Akkademja tal-Malti (Academy of the Maltese language). The first edition of this book was printed in 1924 by the Maltese government's printing press. The rules were further expanded in the 1984 book, iż-Żieda mat-Tagħrif , which focused mainly on
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2310-406: The subsequent re-Christianization of the islands , Maltese evolved independently of Classical Arabic in a gradual process of latinisation. It is therefore exceptional as a variety of historical Arabic that has no diglossic relationship with Classical or Modern Standard Arabic . Maltese is thus classified separately from the 30 varieties constituting the modern Arabic macrolanguage . Maltese
2365-407: The throne. In 1194 Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor husband of Constance conquered Kingdom of Sicily, thus the county of Margaritus was forfeited. The most reliable near-contemporary source regarding the Norman invasion of Malta is an account by the 11th-century historian Goffredo Malaterra . This highly acclaims the actions of Count Roger. In later centuries, the Norman invasion was romanticized into
2420-428: The time, Malta was primarily inhabited by Muslims. According to Al-Himyarī, the island had been depopulated following an Aghlabid attack in 870 AD and it was repopulated by a Muslim community in 1048–49. Archaeological evidence suggests that Medina was a thriving Muslim settlement by the beginning of the 11th century, so 1048–49 might be the date when the city was officially founded and its walls were constructed. It
2475-540: The using Romance loanwords (from the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe Archived 2015-12-29 at the Wayback Machine , see p. 17 Archived 2020-08-04 at the Wayback Machine ): The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to
2530-418: The vernacular from its Arabic source, creating the conditions for its evolution into a distinct language. In contrast to Sicily, where Siculo-Arabic became extinct and was replaced by Sicilian , the vernacular in Malta continued to develop alongside Italian, eventually replacing it as official language in 1934, alongside English. The first written reference to the Maltese language is in a will of 1436, where it
2585-504: The vocabulary. A 2016 study shows that, in terms of basic everyday language, speakers of Maltese are able to understand around a third of what is said to them in Tunisian Arabic and Libyan Arabic , which are Maghrebi Arabic dialects related to Siculo-Arabic, whereas speakers of Tunisian Arabic and Libyan Arabic are able to understand about 40% of what is said to them in Maltese. This reported level of asymmetric intelligibility
2640-560: The way, the Normans invaded and sacked Malta's sister island, Gozo . Upon arrival on Sicily, Roger offered to build a settlement known as "Villafranca" (free village) for the freed captives, which would be exempt from taxation. Those who chose to return to their homes were offered free passage through the Straits of Messina . In 1192, Tancred of Sicily appointed Margaritus of Brindisi the first Count of Malta , perhaps for his unexpected success in capturing Empress Constance contender to
2695-513: Was an attack on the island of Malta , then inhabited predominantly by Muslims, by forces of the Norman County of Sicily led by Roger I in 1091. The invaders besieged Medina (modern Mdina ), the main settlement on the island, but the inhabitants managed to negotiate peace terms. The Muslims freed Christian captives, swore an oath of loyalty to Roger and paid him an annual tribute. Roger's army then sacked Gozo and returned to Sicily with
2750-533: Was designed by the mason Giuseppe Xerri, who also supervised its construction. It was inaugurated on 12 May 1798 by the new Grand Master, Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim . The gate was one of the last examples of Hospitaller-era architecture in Malta, since a month after its inauguration the French invaded the islands and brought the Order's rule to an end. Between 1905 and 1929, the Malta tramway used to pass near
2805-505: Was eventually thought that the place name originated from the welcoming of the Count. In reality, the inlet would not have been suitable for a landing, since it can only accommodate two or three ships and is unsafe. Wied ir-Rum (Valley of the Christians), located west of Mdina, also became identified as a place where Maltese Christians lived during the period of Muslim rule, and where the Maltese met before welcoming Count Roger. Today,
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#17327733322352860-415: Was granted, the two arches were not built due to several difficulties. De Rohan died on 14 July 1797, and the people decided to build a single arch at the entrance to the city, partially fulfilling the promise they had made twenty years earlier. The arch cost about 1000 scudi to build, and funds were raised through fundraising by the population of Żebbuġ, as well as a donation by the parish church . The arch
2915-404: Was introduced in 1924. Below is the Maltese alphabet, with IPA symbols and approximate English pronunciation: Final vowels with grave accents (à, è, ì, ò, ù) are also found in some Maltese words of Italian origin, such as libertà ' freedom ' , sigurtà (old Italian: sicurtà ' security ' ), or soċjetà (Italian: società ' society ' ). The official rules governing
2970-500: Was recognised as an official language. Maltese has both Semitic vocabulary and words derived from Romance languages , primarily Italian . Words such as tweġiba (Arabic origin) and risposta (Italian origin) have the same meaning ('answer') but are both used in Maltese (rather like 'answer' and 'response' in English. Below are two versions of the same translations, one with vocabulary mostly derived from Semitic root words and
3025-554: Was spoken, reversing the Fatimid Caliphate 's conquest of the island at the end of the 9th century. This claim has been corroborated by genetic studies, which show that contemporary Maltese people share common ancestry with Sicilians and Calabrians , with little genetic input from North Africa and the Levant. The Norman conquest in 1091 , followed by the expulsion of the Muslims , complete by 1249, permanently isolated
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