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Siculo-Arabic |
| Siculo-Arabic | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Emirate of Sicily and Malta | |
| Total speakers: | Substantially extinct in 14th century. Was the genetic ancestor of the Maltese language |
|
| Language family: | Afro-Asiatic Semitic West Semitic Central Semitic South Central Semitic Arabic Maghrebi Arabic Siculo-Arabic |
|
| Writing system: | Arabic alphabet | |
| Official status | ||
| Official language in: | none | |
| Regulated by: | none | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | – | |
| ISO 639-3: | ? | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
Siculo Arabic (or Sicilian Arabic) was a variety of Arabic spoken in Sicily and Malta between the ninth and the fourteenth centuries.
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While there was an unsuccessful invasion of Sicily by Arabs in 652 AD, the successful Arabic conquest started in 827 at Mazara. By 878, all Sicily was conquered and Arabic was the language of the island's Muslim rulers until the mid-11th century when the Christian Normans began conquering the island. After only a century, however, the Norman dynasty died out and its successor expelled the remaining Muslims in the 13th century.
Today Arabic influence is noticeable in hundreds of Sicilian words, most of which relate to agriculture and related activities. This is understandable since the Arabs introduced to Sicily the most modern irrigation and farming techniques at the time and a new range of crops - nearly all of which remain endemic to the island to this day.
Some words of Arabic origin:
It should be borne in mind that throughout the Arab epoch of Sicilian history, a large Greek population remained on the island and continued to use the Greek language, or most certainly, a variant of Greek heavily influenced by Arabic. What is less clear is the extent to which a Latin-speaking population survived on the island. While a form of Vulgar Latin clearly survived in isolated communities during the Arab epoch, there is much debate as to the influence it had (if any) on the development of the Sicilian language, following the relatinisation of Sicily. The most probable conclusion is that if there was any influence, it is likely to have been minor. This view is supported by the fact that there are few Sicilian words reflecting an archaic Latin form (as may be found, for example, in Sardinian). However, some forms do exist, so the tantalizing prospect of a Sicilian form of a Vulgar Latin surviving the Arab period and influencing the modern development of Sicilian remains open.
Although Siculo-Arabic died out in Sicily, it survived on Malta, with additional influences from Sicilian, Standard Italian, French, and more recently English.2. Examples of surviving Siculo-Arabic vocabulary within the Maltese language include:
| Maltese | Siculo-Arabic | English |
|---|---|---|
| Bebbuxu | Babbaluciu | Snail |
| Kapunata | Caponata | Caponata |
| Qassata | Cassata | [Sicilian cake] |
| Ġiebja | Gebbia | Cistern |
| Ġunġlier | Giuggiulena | Sesame seed |
| Saqqajja | Saia | Canal |
| Kenur | Tanura | Oven |
| Żaffran | Zaffarana | Saffron |
| Zahar | Zagara | Blossom |
| Żbib | Zibbibbu | Raisins |
| Zokk | Zuccu | Tree trunk |
D.A. Agius. 1996. Siculo Arabic. Kegan Paul International. London.
M. Amari. 1988. Biblioteka arabo-sicula, I-II. Accademia Nazionale di Scienze Lettere e Arti. Palermo.
D.A. Agius, "Who Spoke Siculo Arabic?"
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