#maltese language

[mad-wheelies]

Making an effort to learn my great grandparents native languages because as difficult as it can be I refuse to let it die with them and never be able to talk with them in their mother tongue

[therealnuclearplatypus]

guess there's some other maltese guy on this hellsite and ill be damned if another one of us impresses my partner /j

im kidding, but it got me thinking about how obscure my language actually is, and maybe i should be a little more proud of it

so! here's seven words for you, love, a word for every month ive loved you.

“għagħa” (common noun – pronounced, literally, 'aaaaaa'): mob/crowd/a lot of noise [very fitting, it's the noise i make whenever i see a crowd].

“iħirsa” (common noun, plural – pronounced 'ee-hir-sah'): ghosts, spectre, phantom watchers.

“bewsa” (common noun – pronounced 'beh-wsa'): kiss.

“ħabib” (common noun – pronounced 'ha-beeb'): friend, companion.

“jiddispra” (verb – pronounced 'yid-diss-prah'): conjugated, means to despair. [i often find myself doing this].

“Ġaħan” (proper noun – pronounced 'jah-hahn'): a word derived from a popular character in maltese storytelling. potentially taken from arabic stories. used to refer to a stupid or gullible person, as ġaħan was in stories. the most popular one is called 'ġaħan u l-bieb', meaning 'ġaħan and the door'. i can elaborate on that in a later post if i ever feel like it lol.

“żejża” (common noun – pronounced 'zey-zah'): boobie :))

@marrymesev

[taispinimoragam]

I just found out you can take fucking Maltese on the leaving cert? wtf. like you can take Maltese but not Chinese, the most spoken language in the world.

[mariekavanagh]

So my father-in-law does this thing where when he learns a new word in English he wanders around repeating it every so often and sounding really proud of himself. Which I've always found quite sweetly funny.

Until today I realised... I do the same in Maltese.

[malteseboy]

Cognates between Maltese & Amharic

Maltese and Amharic are both Semitic languages, so there are a number of cognates between the two languages. I listed some of the ones that I could find / that I know! 

(Apologies for any wrong translation / transliteration of the Amharic words)

Key - Maltese | Amharic (Transliteration) | English 

demm | ደም (däm) | blood

ġemel | ግመል (gəmäl) | camel

għajn | ዓይን (ʔajən) | eye

il-Ħadd | እሁድ (ïhud) | Sunday

il-Ħamis | ሐሙስ (ḥämus) | Thursday

ħajja | ሕይወት (ḥəywät) | life

int / inti | አንተ (antä) | you

qrib | ቅርብ (k’iribi) | near

sebgħa | ሰባት (säbatt) | seven

sema | ሰማይ (sämay) | sky

siegħa | ሰአት (säʾät) | hour

żejt | ዘይት (zäyt) | oil

[blueballotra-blog]

The Travellers - Sempliċità Lyrics in English

Sempliċità - The Travellers

Nifsi fil-fond fis-sempliċità   My breath deep in simplicity

moħħ magħluq ħabba din il-komunità closed mind because of this community

trabb kont u trabb terġa’ ssir   dust you were and dust you will become again

l-irmied huwa biss il-konfini   the ashes are only the boundary

Tal-intelliġenza umana   Of the human intelligence

tara dawn it-tfal kollha ferħana,   you see these children are all happy

għax m'għandhomx għalfejn jaraw il-futur,   because they do not have a reason to look at the future,

l-unika ħajja hi dik tal-lum.   the only life is that of today.

Kemm se ndumu nippakjaw ftit How long will it take for us to pack a bit

induru d-dinja skont l-aptit, we travel the world according to our will,

tfal tal-art, bla konfini children of the earth, without boundary

inbaħħru ‘l bogħod bl-ikbar xini. we sail far away with the biggest ship.

Għal ritmu ta’ kitarra bil-mod u sod, For the rhythm of the guitar slow and firm,

inwasslu dal-messaġġ b'dan il-konfront, we deliver this message with this confrontation,

iżfen għar-ritmu o anġlu jtir   dance to the rhythm oh flying angel

dan baħar blu dan kollu għalik.   this is a blue sea, this is all for you.

Idek f'idi nduru d-dinja   Your hand in my hand, we we travel the world

b’karozzini jew tal-linja with (horse) carriages or with the bus

ferrovija li ttir, x’ħin nixbgħu bil-mixi,   a train that flies, when we are tired of walking,

nar u silġ ingawdu l-ħajja   fire and ice, we enjoy life

monstri kbar iżewqu l-ġrajja   big monsters decorate the story

draguni minn ta’ kull qies   dragons of every size

ħajja waħda qalb in-nies.   one life in the heart of the people.

U hekk toqrob qalbna weħidna fis-skiet And our heart comes closer alone in the silence

nurik id-dinja kollha fl-għeluq tal-wied   I will show you the whole world at the end of the valley

hawnekk għal rasna weħidna fil-kwiet here we are on our own, alone on the quiet

naqsmu din il-ġibda hekk flimkien għal we share this attraction together for

Purifikazzjoni ta’ din-natura,   Purification of this nature,

bla attenzjoni ma hemmx sfortuna,   without attention there is no misfortune,

għax dan huwa l-ħin dan hu l-mument because this is the time this is the moment

naqsmu d-dinja hekk kuntent.   to share the world happily.

Idek f'idi nduru d-dinja   Your hand in my hand, we we travel the world

b’karozzini jew tal-linja with (horse) carriages or with the bus

ferrovija li ttir, x’ħin nixbgħu bil-mixi,   a train that flies, when we are tired of walking,

nar u silġ ingawdu l-ħajja   fire and ice, we enjoy life

monstri kbar iżewqu l-ġrajja   big monsters decorate the story

draguni minn ta’ kull qies   dragons of every size

ħajja waħda qalb in-nies.   one life in the heart of the people.

[livinglanguages]

Comparison of Spanish and Maltese vocabulary

Spanish - Maltese - English

Azahar - Zahar - Blossom (Orange blossom in Spanish)

Aceite - Żejt - Oil

Camisa - Qmis - Shirt

Azúcar - Zokkor - Sugar

Almohada - Imħadda - Pillow

Ojalá - Jalla - Spanish: “Hopefully”/”May...” ; Maltese: “May...” 

Albaricoque - Berquq - Apricot

Ajonjolí (also: sésamo) - Ġunġlien - Sesame

Azafrán - Żaffran - Saffron 

Alcachofa - Qaqoċċ - Artichoke

Tapiz - Tapit - Carpet

Algarrobo (from Arabic: al-kharrouba) - Ħarrub - Carob tree

Algodón - Qoton - Cotton

Almanaque - Almanakk - Almanac

Arroz - Ross - Rice

Atún - Tonn - Tuna

Dado - Dadi - Dice

Taza - Tazza - Cup

Zagal (synonym for “chico”) - Raġel - Man

Zanahoria - Zunnarija - Carrot

Zoco (synonym for “mercado”) - Suq - Market

As you can see the words I have picked in Spanish are very similar to those in Maltese, this is due to the fact that all the Spanish words I have chosen (some of them less common in use than others) are of Arabic origin, from Andalusi Arabic, to be precise. Andalusi Arabic was the Arabic dialect spoken in Spain during the Arabs’ rule in Spain. Andalusi Arabic was very similar to Moroccan Arabic, Moroccan Arabic itself being a Maghrebi dialect. However, Andalusi Arabic is cassified as Iberian Arabic, nevertheless it has evolved from Maghrebi Arabic. Maltese has a similar history to that of Andalusi Arabic. Maltese is the descendant of Siculo-Arabic, the Arabic spoken on Sicily during Arab rule. Siculo-Arabic, like Andalusi Arabic, is also a descendant of Maghrebi Arabic. While Andalusi Arabic died out after the Reconquista by the Catholic Monarchs Isabella I. of Castile and Ferdinand II. of Aragon, Siculo-Arabic managed to survive and develop into modern Maltese, however only on Malta; while dying out in Sicily.  I do not guarantee, that the Maltese translations are the most used ones, as each of the Maltese terms can have a more commonly used synonym. If you want to know anything further about Maltese I would kindly like to redirect you to @malteseboy ‘s blog, he is a native speaker of Maltese and and really sweet because he is always ready to help you all out. I really recommend following him! Speaking of which, if there is anything to correct, @malteseboy, let me know :)

[mariekavanagh]

Under threat of having the whole lot chucked in the bin against my will, my mum has forced me to retrieve the several enormous boxes of stuff I left at home when I first moved out.

Amongst other items I'd completely forgotten I owned was my Maltese Bible, which I'm only slightly more able to fluently read than I was when I last saw it ten years ago.

For anyone who wondered what the Maltese language looks like, it's this.

Fun fact: Maltese is largely Arabic-based and is the only official Semitic language of the EU. It is spoken by less than a million people worldwide.

Another fun fact: It's Arabic heritage means that despite being a very Catholic country, the Maltese word for God is still the Arabic Alla. Now you know :)