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53-618: The Wignacourt Arch known as the Fleur-De-Lys Gate ( Maltese : L-Arkata ta' Wignacourt magħrufa bħala l-Bieb ta' Fleur-De-Lys ) is an ornamental arch located on the boundary between Fleur-de-Lys (a suburb of Birkirkara ) and Santa Venera , Malta . The arch was originally built in 1615 as part of the Wignacourt Aqueduct , but it was destroyed in 1943 and 1944. A replica of the arch was constructed in 2015 and inaugurated on 28 April 2016. The Wignacourt Aqueduct

106-530: A Maghrebi Arabic dialect in the Emirate of Sicily between 831 and 1091. As a result of the Norman invasion of Malta and 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

159-509: A Royal Army Service Corps truck hit the remaining parts of the structure. The stone remains were supposedly stored by the British but, similar to several other historic relics, they were never retrieved by the Maltese and the whereabouts are unknown. However, the arch's two marble plaques were repossessed. A roundabout with a fountain was later built on the site of the arch. Some arches of

212-416: 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

265-941: 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 ". Prime Minister of Malta The prime minister

318-621: A tender appeal had to be sorted out. In April 2013, the tender was awarded to Vaults Ltd instead of V&C Contractors who had originally won the tender. The replica arch cost €280,000 to build, and €100,000 of these were donated by the Bank of Valletta. €40,000 were taken from the Good Causes Fund, while the remaining €140,000 were paid by the Birkirkara Local Council. While preparations were being made for rebuilding

371-469: 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

424-570: Is appointed by the president, in doing so, the president is of the opinion that the appointed individual is the most able to command the majority of the House of Representatives ; typically, this individual is the leader of a political party or coalition of parties that hold the largest number of seats in the House of Representatives. The prime minister is ex officio an appointee to the grade of Companion of Honour - K.U.O.M. ( Kumpanju tal-Unur ) of

477-587: 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 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

530-849: 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/

583-654: 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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636-747: 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 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

689-404: 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

742-510: Is said to them in Maltese. This reported level of asymmetric intelligibility 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

795-619: Is spoken by the Maltese people and is the national language of Malta , and the only official Semitic and Afroasiatic language of 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

848-860: 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

901-405: Is thus classified separately from the 30 varieties constituting the modern Arabic macrolanguage . Maltese 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

954-425: 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

1007-570: The Central Bank of Malta minted a €10 silver coin, and MaltaPost issued a set of two stamps to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Wignacourt Aqueduct. The Wignacourt Arch is depicted on the coin and one of the stamps. 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

1060-666: 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

1113-527: 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 the 18th century. Numbering several thousand in the 19th century, it was reported to be only 100 to 200 people as of 2017. Maltese

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1166-576: 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 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

1219-502: 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 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

1272-604: The Levant. The Norman conquest in 1091 , followed by the expulsion of the Muslims , complete by 1249, permanently isolated 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

1325-508: The Maltese language are attributed to the arrival, early in the 11th century, of settlers from neighbouring Sicily, where Siculo-Arabic 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

1378-508: 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

1431-485: The Maltese language is in a will of 1436, where it 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

1484-660: 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

1537-471: The National Order of Merit. The office of "Head of Ministry" was created as soon as Malta was granted autonomous government in 1921. The 1921 constitution was suspended twice before being revoked. On the first occasion (1930–33), the head of ministry (at the time, Gerald Strickland ) and his cabinet were retained. Following the second suspension in 1934, the cabinet was dismissed. The constitution

1590-696: The aqueduct were demolished in order to widen the road and make way for this roundabout. The surviving arches of the Wignacourt Aqueduct were restored between 2004 and 2005. The chairman of the Bank of Valletta , whose headquarters is located close to the arch, promised to build a replica of the arch but initially nothing materialized. In 2012, the Fleur-de-Lys Administrative Committee and the Birkirkara Local Council announced that they were planning to rebuild

1643-584: The arch to the same dimensions of the original. The police force had initially objected to the project, believing it could become a traffic hazard, but of similar risk comparisons to other monumental arches and gates in Malta, such as the Portes de Bombes . The plans were eventually approved by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority in October of the same year, but they were placed on hold since

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1696-551: The arch, a dispute arose between the Birkirkara and Santa Venera Local Councils on what to call the arch. The former said that it should be called Fleur-de-Lys Gate , while the latter insisted on using the name Wignacourt Arch . In September 2013, the Santa Venera council took the Birkirkara council to court and accused it of causing "historical damage" by calling the arch with an incorrect name. The councils agreed on using

1749-469: The best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of Malta. ( So help me God ). The president of Malta , who nominally heads the executive branch, appoints as prime minister the member of parliament who, in the opinion of the president, is best able to command a majority of the members of the House of Representatives . The prime minister advises the president on the appointment of

1802-731: The construction of the aqueduct, the Wignacourt Arch was constructed at an area where the aqueduct crossed the road leading from Valletta to Mdina . The Baroque archway had a large arch in the centre, and a smaller arch on either side. It was decorated with three fleurs-de-lis , a relief of Wignacourt's coat of arms, and two marble plaques with Latin inscriptions. The plaque on the side facing Santa Venera read: HAC VALLETTA TENUS FUNCTUM JACUISSE CADAVER VISA EST NUNC LATICIS SPIRITUS INTUS ALIT INCUBUIT PRIMUS OLIM CEU SPIRITUS UNDIS SPIRITUS ENIXA, SIC MODO FERTUR ACQUA BONTADINO DE BONTADINIS, BONEN. AQUÆ DUCTORE. 1615. The plaque on

1855-490: The heraldic symbols on the arch. On 18 April 1943, a Royal Air Force breakdown lorry heading to the airfield at Ta' Qali at night with no street light hit the arch and severely damaged its Santa Venera-facing façade. The central arch was dismantled by military personnel under the supervision of the Public Works Department about two months later. The arch was completely destroyed on 12 February 1944, when

1908-527: 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

1961-466: 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

2014-653: The name The Wignacourt Arch known as the Fleur-de-Lys Gate in August 2014. Reconstruction of the arch began on 1 August 2014, but work stopped soon afterwards after part of the original arch's foundations was found. Reconstruction continued in January 2015, and it was complete by the end of November 2015. Some finishing touches were made in February 2016, including the installation of two marble plaques. The arch

2067-405: 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

2120-518: The other ministers. The prime minister is constitutionally obliged to keep the president fully informed on the general conduct of the government. Whenever the prime minister is away from Malta, the president may authorise any other member of the Cabinet to perform those functions and that member may perform those functions temporarily. It is usually the deputy prime minister who fills in this role as acting prime minister. As minister in his own right,

2173-634: The prime minister is responsible for a number of departments of government. The Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) has been based at the Auberge de Castille in Valletta since 1972, playing a central role in decision-making apart from being the administrative headquarters of the government. The OPM's mission is to support the prime minister in providing leadership and direction for a stable and effective government. The core departments of OPM include

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2226-486: 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

2279-570: The realisation of ⟨kh⟩ and ⟨gh⟩ and 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

2332-400: The side facing Birkirkara read: FRI. ALOPHIO DE WIGNACOURT MAGNO MAGISTRO VALLETTAM URBEM ET ARCEM DULCISSIMIS AQUIS VIVIFICANTI AETERNA SALUS REN. IN 1739 The area around the arch remained rural until the early 20th century. A tram used to pass near the arch between 1905 and 1929. After World War II , the suburb of Fleur-de-Lys developed in the area, and it got its name from

2385-479: 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

2438-463: The subsequent amendments of 1974 which transformed the form of government into a republic . Before assuming office the nominee must take the oath of office before the House of Representatives of Malta . The oath reads: I, (name of nominee), solemnly swear/affirm that I will faithfully execute the office of Prime Minister (perform the functions of the Prime Minister) of Malta, and will, to

2491-540: 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

2544-567: Was constructed between 1610 and 1615 to carry water from springs in Dingli and Rabat to the Maltese capital Valletta . It was named after Alof de Wignacourt , the Grand Master of the Order of St. John , who partially financed its construction. The aqueduct was carried through underground pipes or over a series of stone arches where there were depressions in the ground level. To commemorate

2597-499: Was inaugurated on 28 April 2016 by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and mayor of Birkirkara Joanne Debono Grech. A plaque with the coat of arms of Birkirkara and the following inscription was installed to commemorate the reconstruction: IL-KUNSILL LOKALI TA' BIRKIRKARA IL-PRIM MINISTRU JOSEPH MUSCAT, FLIMKIEN MAS-SINDKU, IS-SINJURA JOANNE DEBONO GRECH, INAWGURAW DIN L-ARKATA TA' WIGNACOURT MAGĦRUFA BĦALA L-BIEB TA' FLEUR DE LYS ILLUM 28 TA' APRIL 2016 In 2015,

2650-606: 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 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

2703-404: 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

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2756-500: 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

2809-421: Was revoked in 1936 and the post did not exist for as long as Malta was under direct colonial administration . The office was re-established with the grant of self-government in 1947 with the post being renamed as "Prime Minister of Malta". The post was again suppressed when the 1947 constitution was again suspended between 1958 and 1962 but was retained largely unchanged in the 1964 independence constitution and

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