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119-530: 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 the European Union . Maltese is considered a North African dialect of Colloquial Arabic that

238-455: A Canon at the bishop's cathedral chapter, objected on the grounds of “spiritual affinity”, since Caxaro's father was a godfather to Franca. Despite the fact that Caxaro did all he could to win Franca over, and also obtained the official blessing of the bishop of Malta, the marriage did not take place. To the great consternation of Caxaro, Franca changed her mind. Caxaro remained a bachelor to

357-604: A branch of the Northwest Semitic languages included Edomite , Hebrew , Ammonite , Moabite , Phoenician ( Punic / Carthaginian ), Samaritan Hebrew , and Ekronite . They were spoken in what is today Israel and the Palestinian territories , Syria , Lebanon , Jordan , the northern Sinai Peninsula , some northern and eastern parts of the Arabian Peninsula , southwest fringes of Turkey , and in

476-529: A category of state, the indefinite state being expressed by nunation . Pietru Caxaro Pietru Caxaro or Caxaru ( Maltese pronunciation: [ˈpɪːtrʊ kɐˈʃɐːrɔ, -rʊ] ; c.  1400 – August 1485), also known in English as Peter Caxaro , was a Maltese philosopher and poet . He is so far Malta 's first known philosopher, fragments of whose works are extant. His philosophical views and positions qualify him as an honourable adherent of

595-496: A common source; namely, on the Descrittione delli Tre Conventi che l’Ordine dei Predicatori tiene nell’Isola di Malta , I, 1, by Francesco Maria Azzopardo O.P., written about 1676. Mention of Caxaro had also been made in a work preceding Azzopardo's by approximately three decades. This had been by Giovanni Francesco Abela 's 1647 publication entitled (in short) Della Descrittione di Malta . Introducing his transcription of

714-629: A comparative analysis of Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic was published in Latin in 1538 by Guillaume Postel . Almost two centuries later, Hiob Ludolf described the similarities between these three languages and the Ethiopian Semitic languages . However, neither scholar named this grouping as "Semitic". The term "Semitic" was created by members of the Göttingen school of history , initially by August Ludwig von Schlözer (1781), to designate

833-521: 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 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

952-709: 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

1071-413: 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

1190-437: A literary language of early Christianity in the third to fifth centuries and continued into the early Islamic era. The Arabic language, although originating in the Arabian Peninsula , first emerged in written form in the 1st to 4th centuries CE in the southern regions of The Levant . With the advent of the early Arab conquests of the seventh and eighth centuries, Classical Arabic eventually replaced many (but not all) of

1309-466: A number of languages, including Amharic and Tigrinya . With the expansion of Ethiopia under the Solomonic dynasty , Amharic, previously a minor local language, spread throughout much of the country, replacing both Semitic (such as Gafat ) and non-Semitic (such as Weyto ) languages, and replacing Ge'ez as the principal literary language (though Ge'ez remains the liturgical language for Christians in

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1428-422: A question of transcription; the exact pronunciation is not recorded. Most of the attested languages have merged a number of the reconstructed original fricatives, though South Arabian retains all fourteen (and has added a fifteenth from *p > f). In Aramaic and Hebrew, all non-emphatic stops occurring singly after a vowel were softened to fricatives, leading to an alternation that was often later phonemicized as

1547-652: A result of the loss of gemination. In languages exhibiting pharyngealization of emphatics, the original velar emphatic has rather developed to a uvular stop [q] . Note: the fricatives *s, *z, *ṣ, *ś, *ṣ́, and *ṱ may also be interpreted as affricates (/t͡s/, /d͡z/, /t͡sʼ/, /t͡ɬ/, /t͡ɬʼ/, and /t͡θʼ/). Notes: The following table shows the development of the various fricatives in Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic and Maltese through cognate words: – żmien xahar sliem tnejn – */d/ d daħaq – ħolm għarb sebgħa Proto-Semitic vowels are, in general, harder to deduce due to

1666-1012: 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 ". Semitic languages Semitic languages occur in written form from

1785-576: A sister branch within the Afroasiatic family, related to the Semitic languages but not part of them. Amorite appeared in Mesopotamia and the northern Levant c.  2100 BC , followed by the mutually intelligible Canaanite languages (including Hebrew, Phoenician, Moabite, Edomite, and Ammonite, and perhaps Ekronite, Amalekite and Sutean), the still spoken Aramaic , and Ugaritic during

1904-624: A span of forty-three years. Alternatively or concurrently, at one time or another Caxaro acted as judge in the civil courts of Gozo and of Malta, and in the ecclesiastical cours. He was further juror in Malta at the Mdina city-council, to which he sometimes acted as secretary. Finally, the Dominicans at Rabat, Malta preserve a substantial part of his will, drawn on August 12, 1485, shortly before his death. No wife or offspring are mentioned in

2023-419: A strict sense. The hope of the discovery of corroborative material in this regard must remain enkindled. It seems to be opportune at this point to highlight two instances from Caxaro's acquaintances, namely, his father's contact with Barcelona and Valencia , and Caxaro's own connection with Palermo . Catalonia , together with Aragon , became familiar with humanism before Castille . The first contact of

2142-506: A variety of Maghrebi Arabic formerly spoken in Sicily . The modern Maltese alphabet is based on the Latin script with the addition of some letters with diacritic marks and digraphs . Maltese is the only Semitic official language within the European Union . Successful as second languages far beyond their numbers of contemporary first-language speakers, a few Semitic languages today are

2261-566: A very early historical date in West Asia , with East Semitic Akkadian (also known as Assyrian and Babylonian ) and Eblaite texts (written in a script adapted from Sumerian cuneiform ) appearing from c.  2600 BCE in Mesopotamia and the northeastern Levant respectively. The only earlier attested languages are Sumerian and Elamite (2800 BCE to 550 BCE), both language isolates , and Egyptian ( c.  3000 BCE ),

2380-414: A very long time. It had taken the authors about two years before they were able to present Caxaro's Cantilena to the general public. The authenticity of Caxaro's work is undoubtable, and so is Brandan's transcription. The discoverers themselves, both reliable historical researchers, carefully examined the document and found that it could not reveal any suspicious feature. It was next to impossible for

2499-469: 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

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2618-570: 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 is descended from Siculo-Arabic, a Semitic language within the Afroasiatic family . In

2737-583: Is verb–subject–object (VSO), possessed–possessor (NG), and noun–adjective (NA). This was still the case in Classical Arabic and Biblical Hebrew , e.g. Classical Arabic رأى محمد فريدا ra'ā muħammadun farīdan . (literally "saw Muhammad Farid", Muhammad saw Farid ). In the modern Arabic vernaculars , however, as well as sometimes in Modern Standard Arabic (the modern literary language based on Classical Arabic) and Modern Hebrew ,

2856-597: Is April 1, 1438, when he set for the examination to be given the warrant of public notary of Malta and Gozo by the competent authorities in Palermo , Sicily . In those times, Malta and its dependencies formed part of the Kingdom of Aragon . This means that Caxaro had spent some time in Palermo, a city then imbued with humanism . Next, we are informed of a series of appointments in Malta and Gozo between 1440 and 1483,

2975-773: Is a forceful writer, possessing clarity of thought, and is confident in handling of style. The Cantilena is a piece of fine literature; the work of dextrous mastership. It shows a very particular formal attention, and an uncommon capability of stylistic invention in its structure. It must be noticed, however, that Giovanni Francesco Abela , in his Descrittione of 1647, did not include Caxaro in his list of some forty-six Houmini di Malta per varie guise d’eccellenza celebri, e famosi , of which not all are that illustrious. Abela could have mentioned Caxaro's philosophic, poetic or oratorical skills, if anything. This may suggest that Caxaro's aptitudes were somewhat concealed. The known sources of Caxaro's biographical data are few, namely four,

3094-547: Is a working language in Eritrea. Tigre is spoken by over one million people in the northern and central Eritrean lowlands and parts of eastern Sudan. A number of Gurage languages are spoken by populations in the semi-mountainous region of central Ethiopia, while Harari is restricted to the city of Harar . Ge'ez remains the liturgical language for certain groups of Christians in Ethiopia and in Eritrea . The phonologies of

3213-660: Is also used liturgically by the primarily Arabic-speaking followers of the Maronite Church , Syriac Catholic Church , and was originally the liturgical language of the Melkites in Antioch , and ancient Syria . Koine Greek and Classical Arabic are the main liturgical languages of Oriental Orthodox Christians in the Middle East, who compose the patriarchates of Antioch , Jerusalem , and Alexandria . Mandaic

3332-612: Is both spoken and used as a liturgical language by the Mandaeans . Although the majority of Neo-Aramaic dialects spoken today are descended from Eastern varieties, Western Neo-Aramaic is still spoken in two villages in Syria. Despite the ascendancy of Arabic in the Middle East, other Semitic languages still exist. Biblical Hebrew, long extinct as a colloquial language and in use only in Jewish literary, intellectual, and liturgical activity,

3451-845: 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/

3570-521: Is fully justified since its construction is professionally accomplished. He certainly was a man of learning. Lately, a few proposals have been made which held that the said composition, in part or as a whole, does not have Peter Caxaro as its author. It has been said that the poem is none other than Rev. Brandan's innocent transcription in Latin characters of a Megrebian or Andalusian qasida . The proponent unscientifically based his suppositions, as he himself said, on an “extrasensorial impression”. Thus

3689-500: Is known that he had in his service at least six slaves. Apart from Caxaro's public offices and death, which is satisfactorily documented, two other personal episodes are known. The first, occurring either in 1463 or 1478, concerns his proposed marriage to Francha di Biglera. From the court proceedings we know that Caxaro's father had frequently visited Catalonia (specifically Barcelona and Valencia ). This may have some bearing on Peter's own formation. The second instance concerns

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3808-652: 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

3927-444: Is natural for the consonants , as sound correspondences among the consonants of the Semitic languages are very straightforward for a family of its time depth. Sound shifts affecting the vowels are more numerous and, at times, less regular. Each Proto-Semitic phoneme was reconstructed to explain a certain regular sound correspondence between various Semitic languages. Note that Latin letter values ( italicized ) for extinct languages are

4046-405: Is now only spoken by a few thousand Christian and Muslim Arameans (Syriacs) in western Syria . The Arabs spread their Central Semitic language to North Africa ( Egypt , Libya , Tunisia , Algeria , Morocco , and northern Sudan and Mauritania ), where it gradually replaced Egyptian Coptic and many Berber languages (although Berber is still largely extant in many areas), and for a time to

4165-404: 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

4284-403: 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

4403-860: 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

4522-424: 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

4641-526: The Assyrians and Mandaeans of northern and southern Iraq , northwestern Iran , northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey , with up to a million fluent speakers. Syriac is a recognized language in Iraq, furthermore, Mesopotamian Arabic is one of the most Syriac influenced dialects of Arabic, due to Syriac, the dialect of Edessa specifically, having originated in Mesopotamia. Meanwhile Western Aramaic

4760-591: The Beni Ḥassān brought Arabization to Mauritania . A number of Modern South Arabian languages distinct from Arabic still survive, such as Soqotri , Mehri and Shehri which are mainly spoken in Socotra , Yemen, and Oman. Meanwhile, the Semitic languages that had arrived from southern Arabia in the 8th century BC were diversifying in Ethiopia and Eritrea , where, under heavy Cushitic influence, they split into

4879-455: The Cantilena is faulty is evident from various internal traits. Furthermore, the reasons for which Brandan recalled the work, and even the manner in which he did so, is unto this day a baffling uncertainty. The cheerfulness felt by Brandan apparently seems to be doubly caused, namely by both the memory of the composition and the memory of his ancestor (with a necessary relationship of one to

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4998-576: The Dominican friars. These had a monastery at Rabat, Malta , very close to Mdina , Caxaro's home-town and centre of operation. The Dominicans had originally arrived in Malta around 1450, and quickly forged good friendships amongst the literary population and professional people, including academics. Towards the end of the 15th century, the Dominicans could boast of erudite friars amongst their fold, such as Peter Xara, Peter Zurki, Dominic Bartolo (who

5117-532: The European Union . The Semitic languages are notable for their nonconcatenative morphology . That is, word roots are not themselves syllables or words, but instead are isolated sets of consonants (usually three, making a so-called triliteral root ). Words are composed from roots not so much by adding prefixes or suffixes, but rather by filling in the vowels between the root consonants, although prefixes and suffixes are often added as well. For example, in Arabic,

5236-521: The Horn of Africa to a much earlier date. According to another hypothesis, Semitic originated from an offshoot of a still earlier language in North Africa and desertification made its inhabitants to migrate in the fourth millennium BC into what is now Ethiopia , others northwest out of Africa into West Asia. The various extremely closely related and mutually intelligible Canaanite languages ,

5355-557: The Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain , Portugal , and Gibraltar ) and Malta . With the patronage of the caliphs and the prestige of its liturgical status, Arabic rapidly became one of the world's main literary languages. Its spread among the masses took much longer, however, as many (although not all) of the native populations outside the Arabian Peninsula only gradually abandoned their languages in favour of Arabic. As Bedouin tribes settled in conquered areas, it became

5474-666: 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

5593-554: The Levant , Ethiopia , the Eastern Mediterranean region, the Arabian Peninsula , and North Africa . According to a 2009 study, the Semitic languages originated in the Levant c.  3750 BC , and were introduced to the Horn of Africa c. 800 BC from the southern Arabian Peninsula, and to North Africa via Phoenician colonists at approximately the same time. Others assign the arrival of Semitic speakers in

5712-616: The Middle East and Asia Minor during the Bronze Age and Iron Age , the earliest attested being the East Semitic Akkadian of Mesopotamia ( Akkad , Assyria , Isin , Larsa , and Babylonia ) from the third millennium BC . The origin of Semitic-speaking peoples is still under discussion. Several locations were proposed as possible sites of a prehistoric origin of Semitic-speaking peoples : Mesopotamia ,

5831-730: The Qur'an and Jews speak and study Biblical Hebrew , the language of the Torah , Midrash , and other Jewish scriptures. The followers of the Assyrian Church of the East , Chaldean Catholic Church , Ancient Church of the East , Assyrian Pentecostal Church , Assyrian Evangelical Church , and the Syriac Orthodox Church speak Eastern Aramaic languages and use Classical Syriac as their liturgical language . Classical Syriac

5950-522: The nonconcatenative morphology of Semitic languages. The history of vowel changes in the languages makes drawing up a complete table of correspondences impossible, so only the most common reflexes can be given: The Semitic languages share a number of grammatical features, although variation — both between separate languages, and within the languages themselves — has naturally occurred over time. The reconstructed default word order in Proto-Semitic

6069-548: 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 the diaspora . Most speakers also use English. The largest diaspora community of Maltese speakers

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6188-506: The 2nd millennium BC. Most scripts used to write Semitic languages are abjads  – a type of alphabetic script that omits some or all of the vowels, which is feasible for these languages because the consonants are the primary carriers of meaning in the Semitic languages. These include the Ugaritic , Phoenician , Aramaic , Hebrew , Syriac , Arabic , and ancient South Arabian alphabets. The Geʽez script , used for writing

6307-650: The Catalan scholars with the movement was at its first appearance at the Pontifical court of Avignon , where Petrarch sojourned, and at the Council of Constance (1414–1418), Basel (1431) and Florence (1438–1455), as at the Neapolitan court of Alphonse V of Aragon, so-called El Magnanimo (died 1458). The Catalan movement was initiated by Juan Fernandez' efforts in the 14th century. Fernandez travelled to

6426-517: The East and returned with many Greek manuscripts. He later established himself as a translator, compiler and commentator of classical texts, therefore giving rise to a literary culture concerned with human interests. Fernandez was followed by other men of standing, such as Pedro de Saplana, a Dominican (14th century), Antonio Canals, Bernat Metge ( c .1340-1413), Carlos de Aragon (1421–1461), nephew of King Alphonse V , and Bachiller Alfonso de la Torre (15th century). These men of letters concentrated on

6545-600: 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

6664-507: 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

6783-452: 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

6902-483: 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

7021-640: 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 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

7140-660: 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

7259-524: The Near East, particularly after being adopted as the lingua franca of the vast Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–605 BC) by Tiglath-Pileser III during the 8th century BC, and being retained by the succeeding Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid Empires . The Chaldean language (not to be confused with Aramaic or its Biblical variant , sometimes referred to as Chaldean ) was a Northwest Semitic language, possibly closely related to Aramaic, but no examples of

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7378-708: The Palestinian territories, Jordan, Lebanon) during the 14th century BC, incorporating elements of the Mesopotamian East Semitic Akkadian language of Assyria and Babylonia with the West Semitic Canaanite languages. Aramaic , a still living ancient Northwest Semitic language, first attested in the 12th century BC in the northern Levant , gradually replaced the East Semitic and Canaanite languages across much of

7497-439: The Semitic languages of Ethiopia and Eritrea , is technically an abugida  – a modified abjad in which vowels are notated using diacritic marks added to the consonants at all times, in contrast with other Semitic languages which indicate vowels based on need or for introductory purposes. Maltese is the only Semitic language written in the Latin script and the only Semitic language to be an official language of

7616-611: The State Archives of Palermo, Sicily ( Protocollo del Regno , mainly vol. 34), the National Library of Malta ( Universitas , 11), the Archives of the Dominicans, Rabat (Ms. 321, Giuliana Antica , I), and Della Descrittione di Malta Isola nel Mare Siciliano con le sue Antichità, ed altre Notitie of Giovanni Francesco Abela , printed by Paolo Bonecota, Malta, in 1647 ( passim ). The first known date regarding Caxaro

7735-493: The alphabet used, the name "Semitic languages" is completely appropriate. Previously these languages had been commonly known as the " Oriental languages " in European literature. In the 19th century, "Semitic" became the conventional name; however, an alternative name, " Syro-Arabian languages ", was later introduced by James Cowles Prichard and used by some writers. Semitic languages were spoken and written across much of

7854-431: The attested Semitic languages are presented here from a comparative point of view (see Proto-Semitic language#Phonology for details on the phonological reconstruction of Proto-Semitic used in this article). The reconstruction of Proto-Semitic (PS) was originally based primarily on Arabic , whose phonology and morphology (particularly in Classical Arabic ) is very conservative, and which preserves as contrastive 28 out of

7973-478: The author hastily concluded that the qualifications attributed to Caxaro by Rev. Brandan are spurious. The truth, however, seems to be otherwise. Caxaro's competence as a poetic writer, apart from his philosophic and oratorical skills, is highly estimable. He seems to qualify as a phonetic master, as well as one having control of classical rhetoric techniques. He has tact in expressing his veiled poetic thought in striking and tempting allusions. In other words, Caxaro

8092-403: The base of the sacred literature of some of the world's major religions, including Islam (Arabic), Judaism (Hebrew and Aramaic ( Biblical and Talmudic )), churches of Syriac Christianity (Classical Syriac) and Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Christianity (Ge'ez). Millions learn these as a second language (or an archaic version of their modern tongues): many Muslims learn to read and recite

8211-462: The bishop excommunicated him, an action which was considered immensely serious in those days. Nevertheless, Caxaro was unyielding in his opposition and demands. Consequently, the bishop interdicted him. However, Caxaro was nonetheless undaunted. The issue lingered on until the first half of the following year, when the bishop had to accede to Caxaro's and the Town Council's demands. Accordingly,

8330-574: The case of Phoenician, coastal regions of Tunisia ( Carthage ), Libya , Algeria , and parts of Morocco , Spain , and possibly in Malta and other Mediterranean islands. Ugaritic , a Northwest Semitic language closely related to but distinct from the Canaanite group was spoken in the kingdom of Ugarit in north western Syria. A hybrid Canaano-Akkadian language also emerged in Canaan (Israel and

8449-588: The classical VSO order has given way to SVO. Modern Ethiopian Semitic languages follow a different word order: SOV, possessor–possessed, and adjective–noun; however, the oldest attested Ethiopian Semitic language, Ge'ez, was VSO, possessed–possessor, and noun–adjective. Akkadian was also predominantly SOV. The proto-Semitic three-case system ( nominative , accusative and genitive ) with differing vowel endings (-u, -a -i), fully preserved in Qur'anic Arabic (see ʾIʿrab ), Akkadian and Ugaritic , has disappeared everywhere in

8568-459: The composition, Rev. Brandan – a member of the Society of True Christians – indicated its author as a "philosopher, poet and orator". On examination, it is positively held that Caxaro's original version was in the Maltese tongue, and that Rev. Brandan transcribed it as faithfully as possible as he recalled it. The composition proves that Caxaro's qualification as a philosopher, poet and orator

8687-516: The council between 1447 and 1485. At most of these, he had a minor say; at other times, his share is more substantial. Some acts are also written in Caxaro's own hand. Philosopher is the title attributed to Caxaro by Rev. Brandan. In the rest of the Cantilena ’s prologue, which is formally in accord with the general practice of the times, the poetic rather than the philosophical or oratorical excellences of Caxaro are emphasized. These are left in

8806-468: 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 is most commonly described as

8925-510: The document to have been faked so well that no sign of its faking remained. Up till 1968, modern scholarly references to Peter Caxaro had been few. The first known to have referred to him was the Dominican Paul Galea in his history of the Dominicans at Rabat, Malta , published in 1949. Further data was produced by Michael Fsadni O.P. in 1965, also attempting his hand at a similar history. Both friars based their information on

9044-491: The eastern coast of Saudi Arabia , and Bahrain , Qatar , Oman , and Yemen . South Semitic languages are thought to have spread to the Horn of Africa circa 8th century BC where the Ge'ez language emerged (though the direction of influence remains uncertain). Classical Syriac , a 200 CE Eastern Middle Aramaic dialect, used as a liturgical language in Mesopotamia , the Levant , and Kerala , India, rose to importance as

9163-405: The ecclesiastical courts in 1473 and 1480-1481. Caxaro was also jurat at the Town Council of Mdina in 1452-1453, 1458–1459, 1461–1462, 1469–1470, 1474–1475 and 1482-1483. He was a notary or secretary to the same council in 1460 and 1468. He possessed considerable property at the northern side of Malta, and was the owner of six slaves. During all this time, Caxaro was on very good terms with

9282-520: The end of his days. At the Town Council of Mdina Caxaro had three particular themes which he seemed to come to life about: the welfare and maintenance of his hometown Mdina, the education of the common people, and the accountability of civil servants. In 1480, Caxaro took an active and bold part in an issue which involved the bishop of Malta, who was suspected of corruption. Caxaro was vehement against such corruption, and vigorous in his demand for an immediate remedy. In June 1480, as an act of retaliation,

9401-487: The equilibrate soberness of Caxaro. Herein, we search in vain for any of Caxaro's own original thinking, apart from the arid judicial and official terminology. The same may be said of the municipal acts. Only here the information provided regards Caxaro's context in matters which interested his town (Mdina) particularly, and the Maltese Islands in general. Caxaro's name is mentioned at least in some 267 sittings of

9520-561: The error. Brincat's important conclusion was followed by other scholars, and to which we also subscribe here. Apart from the Cantilena , other fragments concerning Caxaro's contributions are extant, namely, a few judicial sentences passed by Caxaro at the ecclesiastical courts, and secretarial minutes taken at the Mdina town-council meetings in which Caxaro took part. Both are naturally extra-philosophical in nature. The sentences, however interesting they may be, only give us an inkling into

9639-508: The evident 29 consonantal phonemes. with *s [ s ] and *š [ ʃ ] merging into Arabic / s / ⟨ س ⟩ and *ś [ ɬ ] becoming Arabic / ʃ / ⟨ ش ⟩ . Note: the fricatives *s, *z, *ṣ, *ś, *ṣ́, and *ṱ may also be interpreted as affricates (/t͡s/, /d͡z/, /t͡sʼ/, /t͡ɬ/, /t͡ɬʼ/, and /t͡θʼ/), as discussed in Proto-Semitic language § Fricatives . This comparative approach

9758-441: The excommunication and the interdict were removed. Caxaro's determination and resolve in the matter were highly praised. On August 12, 1485, Caxaro drew up his will, and died a few days later. The precise date of his death is still not known with any certainty. All his possession went to the Dominican friars. It is not known where he was initially buried. However, later, as he had it willed, his remains were laid to rest in one of

9877-526: 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

9996-691: The indigenous Semitic languages and cultures of the Near East . Both the Near East and North Africa saw an influx of Muslim Arabs from the Arabian Peninsula, followed later by non-Semitic Muslim Iranian and Turkic peoples . The previously dominant Aramaic dialects maintained by the Assyrians, Babylonians and Persians gradually began to be sidelined, however descendant dialects of Eastern Aramaic (including Suret (Assyrian and Chaldean varieties), Turoyo , and Mandaic ) survive to this day among

10115-654: The language remain, as after settling in south eastern Mesopotamia from the Levant during the 9th century BC, the Chaldeans appear to have rapidly adopted the Akkadian and Aramaic languages of the indigenous Mesopotamians. Old South Arabian languages (classified as South Semitic and therefore distinct from the Central-Semitic Arabic) were spoken in the kingdoms of Dilmun , Sheba , Ubar , Socotra , and Magan , which in modern terms encompassed part of

10234-507: The languages closely related to Arabic, Aramaic, and Hebrew. The choice of name was derived from Shem , one of the three sons of Noah in the genealogical accounts of the biblical Book of Genesis , or more precisely from the Koine Greek rendering of the name, Σήμ (Sēm) . Johann Gottfried Eichhorn is credited with popularising the term, particularly via a 1795 article "Semitische Sprachen" ( Semitic languages ) in which he justified

10353-466: The legends about the invention of the syllabograms and alphabetic script go back to the Semites. In contrast, all so called Hamitic peoples originally used hieroglyphs, until they here and there, either through contact with the Semites, or through their settlement among them, became familiar with their syllabograms or alphabetic script, and partly adopted them. Viewed from this aspect too, with respect to

10472-662: The main language of not only central Arabia, but also Yemen, the Fertile Crescent , and Egypt . Most of the Maghreb followed, specifically in the wake of the Banu Hilal 's incursion in the 11th century, and Arabic became the native language of many inhabitants of al-Andalus . After the collapse of the Nubian kingdom of Dongola in the 14th century, Arabic began to spread south of Egypt into modern Sudan ; soon after,

10591-423: The man and his philosophy is immeasurably relevant to further recognition of the wise tenure of an ancient civilization. No portrait of Caxaro is known to exist. Caxaro was born of a noble Mdina family in Malta . The date of his birth is unknown, and it is doubtful that it had ever been recorded at all. He was likely born around the beginning of the 15th century. His father's name was Leo, and his mother's

10710-612: The many colloquial forms of Semitic languages. Modern Standard Arabic maintains such case distinctions, although they are typically lost in free speech due to colloquial influence. An accusative ending -n is preserved in Ethiopian Semitic. In the northwest, the scarcely attested Samalian reflects a case distinction in the plural between nominative -ū and oblique -ī (compare the same distinction in Classical Arabic). Additionally, Semitic nouns and adjectives had

10829-439: The mediaeval humanist movement. His contribution skilfully stands as a mature reflection of the social and cultural revival of his time. Caxaro's cultural preparation and his humanistic character, together with his philosophy, entirely reflect the peculiar force, functions and needs of a Mediterranean people whose golden age had still to come, but whose mental constitution and mode of expression were readily set. The discovery of

10948-466: 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

11067-411: The murder of Caxaro's brother, Cola, in 1473 at Siggiewi , Malta , which may have given a not-so-good reputation to his family. The most recent significant addition to the personal data and profile of Peter Caxaro was made by Frans Sammut in 2009. He suggested that Caxaro came from a Jewish family that had been converted to Christianity . In support of his claim he proposed that Caxaro's Cantilena

11186-516: The newly built chapels of the church of St. Dominic at Rabat, Malta . The chapel had been actually constructed at Caxaro's expense, and dedicated to Our Lady of Divine Help. A memorial was unveiled within the same chapel over Caxaro's tomb on September 30, 1992. Peter Caxaro was virtually unknown until he was made famous in 1968 by the publication of his Cantilena by the Dominican Mikiel Fsadni and Godfrey Wettinger . It

11305-405: 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

11424-572: The other). Brandan's opening sentence of the short prologue seems to suggest that he was gladdened more by the relationship than by any of the related parts. Wettinger and Fsadni had suggested that it was the consolation which Brandan saw in the content of the composition that prompted him to leave us a memory of it, writing it down in one of the registers of his acts. But this is a question which must still be open to discussion. The first to seriously suspect certain imperfections in Brandan's transcript

11543-484: 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

11662-566: 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

11781-459: The region); this spread continues to this day, with Qimant set to disappear in another generation. Arabic is currently the native language of majorities from Mauritania to Oman , and from Iraq to Sudan . Classical Arabic is the language of the Quran . It is also studied widely in the non-Arabic-speaking Muslim world . The Maltese language is a descendant of the extinct Siculo-Arabic ,

11900-615: The root meaning "write" has the form k-t-b . From this root, words are formed by filling in the vowels and sometimes adding consonants, e.g. كِتاب k i t ā b "book", كُتُب k u t u b "books", كاتِب k ā t i b "writer", كُتّاب k u tt ā b "writers", كَتَب k a t a b a "he wrote", يكتُب ya kt u b u "he writes", etc.. The similarity of the Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic languages has been accepted by all scholars since medieval times. The languages were familiar to Western European scholars due to historical contact with neighbouring Near Eastern countries and through Biblical studies , and

12019-421: The shadow, even by modern scholars. It has been naively ventured that the appellative philosopher is to be understood merely in the sense of a man of wisdom or learning ( “bniedem gharef” , literally indicating a sophist rather than a philosopher). However, being a trustworthy notary in possession of a precise vocabulary (to which the rest of the prologue, at least, is witness), Rev. Brandan is to be understood in

12138-479: 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

12257-557: The surrounding Arabic dialects and from the languages of the Old South Arabian inscriptions. Historically linked to the peninsular homeland of Old South Arabian, of which only one language, Razihi , remains, Ethiopia and Eritrea contain a substantial number of Semitic languages; the most widely spoken are Amharic in Ethiopia, Tigre in Eritrea , and Tigrinya in both. Amharic is the official language of Ethiopia. Tigrinya

12376-694: The terminology against criticism that Hebrew and Canaanite were the same language despite Canaan being " Hamitic " in the Table of Nations : In the Mosaic Table of Nations , those names which are listed as Semites are purely names of tribes who speak the so-called Oriental languages and live in Southwest Asia. As far as we can trace the history of these very languages back in time, they have always been written with syllabograms or with alphabetic script (never with hieroglyphs or pictograms ); and

12495-527: The then prevailing environment of Spain's Mediterranean city-harbours. Here, as elsewhere, humanism was not restricted to mere cultural circles, but had become the philosophy of the people. Caxaro, apart from his father, had other members of his family, together with many of his townfolk, taking part in this same commerce of goods and ideas. King Alphonse the Magnanimous of Aragon , asserting his seat at Naples , and set in giving additional splendour to

12614-540: 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

12733-569: The will. Caxaro had willed that he be buried in the Dominican newly built church at Rabat, as eventually happened. in a chapel built at his own expense, dedicated to the Gloriosissima Vergine del Soccorso . It is further known with certainty that Peter Caxaro was a native of Malta, born of Maltese parents, and lived at Mdina. His date of birth is still unknown. His immobile property was considerable, though not exuberant. It

12852-417: The works of Aristotle , Boethius , Petrarch , Boccaccio , Marcianus Capella , Pedro Campostella, and the like. They were additionally highly instrumental in animating the cultural centres of Barcelona and Valencia with the spirit of humanism. Caxaro's father, in the course of his constant voyaging between Catalonia , Sicily and Malta , like so many other tradesmen of his time, came in contact with

12971-556: Was Fsadni who discovered the Cantilena on September 22, 1966, at the back of the third page from the last in the first of Reverend Brandan Caxaro's notarial registers (1533–1536), currently numbered R175, in the Notarial Archives , Valletta . Caxaro's work was actually transcribed by Rev. Brandan himself in its original Maltese version. The discovery was encountered with enthusiasm within scholarship circles since it had eventually given Maltese literature its greatest boost for

13090-492: Was Joseph Brincat in 1986, suspicious of the verses which do not have any rhyme. He specifically refers here to the four lines of the refrain (vv. 7-10) and the first four lines of the second stanza (vv. 11-14). Brincat, guided by his erudition as by common sense, concludes that the quatrain which stands on its own between the two stanzas, of six verses and ten verses each respectively, is erroneously transcribed by Brandan. Brincat very aptly provides convincing internal evidence for

13209-415: Was Zuna. It may have been that the family was of Jewish descent and was forced to convert to Christianity . It is known that one of Caxaro's brothers, Nicholas, was killed in 1473 following a brawl with people from Siġġiewi , Malta, because of a girl he was secretly seeing. Caxaro's first studies were undertaken in Malta. Later, he went to Palermo , Sicily , to pursue them further. At the time, Palermo

13328-416: Was a flourishing city imbued with the spirit of Renaissance humanism . There, Caxaro completed his studies and became a notary in 1438. A couple of months after his graduation, he was appointed judge at the courts of Gozo for the years 1440-1441. In 1441, he also sat as judge in the courts of Malta, and the similarly in 1475. He was judge at the civil courts in 1460-1461, 1470–1471 and 1481–1482, and judge at

13447-536: Was also Pro-Inquisitor for some cases of the Inquisition in Malta) and Bartolomeus Pace. Caxaro was certainly a good friend of some of these men, both for intellectual as well as personal reasons. The fact that he designated the Dominicans as his general inheritors, or residuary legatees, in his will is proof enough of this. Around 1463, Caxaro aspired to marrying a widow, Franca de Biglera. However, her brother,

13566-608: 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 the subsequent re-Christianization of the islands , Maltese evolved independently of Classical Arabic in

13685-538: Was in fact a zajal , which in Arabic refers to a song which the Jews of Spain (and Sicily ) adopted and promoted. Little of Caxaro's scholarship is known to exist. Much work has yet to be accomplished in this difficult field. We only possess isolated parts of his contributions, the most complete being the Cantilena , which, in itself, comes down to us through an imperfect, indirect source. That Brandan's transcript of

13804-605: 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

13923-403: 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

14042-445: 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

14161-434: Was revived in spoken form at the end of the 19th century. Modern Hebrew is the main language of Israel , with Biblical Hebrew remaining as the language of liturgy and religious scholarship of Jews worldwide. In Arab-dominated Yemen and Oman, on the southern rim of the Arabian Peninsula, a few tribes continue to speak Modern South Arabian languages such as Mahri and Soqotri . These languages differ greatly from both

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