Siculo-Arabic

Siculo-Arabic (or Sicilian Arabic ) was a variety of Arabic spoken in Sicily , Malta , and Southern Italy between the ninth and the fourteenth centuries. It is extinct in Sicily and Italy, but it has developed into what is now the Maltese language on the islands of Malta.

Siculo-Arabic (or Sicilian Arabic ) was a variety of Arabic spoken in Sicily and Malta between the end of the ninth century and the end of the twelfth century. It is extinct in Sicily, but it has developed into what is now the Maltese language on the islands of Malta.

Siculo-Arabic (or Sicilian Arabic ) is the term used for varieties of Arabic that were spoken in the Emirate of Sicily (which included Malta) from the 9th century, persisting under the subsequent Norman rule until the 13th century. It was derived from early Maghrebi Arabic following the Abbasid conquest of Sicily in the 9th century, and gradually marginalized following the Norman conquest in the 11th century. Siculo Arabic is extinct and is designated as a historical language that is attested only in writings from the 9th–13th centuries in Sicily. However, present-day Maltese is considered to be its sole surviving descendant, it being in foundation a Semitic language which evolved from one of the dialects of Siculo-Arabic over the past 800 years, though in a gradual process of Latinisation which gave Maltese a significant Romance superstrate influence. By contrast, present-day Sicilian , which is an Italo-Dalmatian Romance language , retains very little Siculo-Arabic, with its influence being limited to some 300 words. So who are the ‘real’ Maltese . The kind of Arabic used in the Maltese language is most likely derived from the language spoken by those that repopulated the island from Sicily in the early second millennium; it is known as Siculo-Arab. The Maltese are mostly descendants of these people. Maltese - an unusual formula . Originally Maltese was an Arabic dialect but it was immediately exposed to Latinisation because the Normans conquered the islands in 1090, while Christianisation, which was complete by 1250, cut off the dialect from contact with Classical Arabic. Consequently Maltese developed on its own, slowly but steadily absorbing new words from Sicilian and Italian according to the needs of the developing community. : CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list ( link ) Ruffino, Giovanni (2001).

Historical dialect of Arabic spoken in Sicily following the Muslim conquest in the 9th century Siculo-Arabic or Sicilian Arabic ( ) is the term used for varieties of Arabic that were spoken in the Emirate of Sicily (which included Malta ) from the 9th century, persisting under the subsequent Norman rule until the 13th century. It was derived from early Maghrebi Arabic following the Abbasid conquest of Sicily in the 9th century and gradually marginalized following the Norman conquest in the 11th century. Siculo-Arabic is extinct and is designated as a historical language that is attested only in writings from the 9th–13th centuries in Sicily. However, present-day Maltese is considered to be its sole surviving descendant, it being in foundation a Semitic language that evolved from one of the dialects of Siculo-Arabic over the past 800 years, though in a gradual process of Latinisation that gave Maltese a significant Romance superstrate influence. By contrast, present-day Sicilian , which is an Italo-Dalmatian Romance language, retains very little Siculo-Arabic, with its influence being limited to some 300 words. The kind of Arabic used in the Maltese language is most likely derived from the language spoken by those that repopulated the island from Sicily in the early second millennium; it is known as Siculo-Arab. The Maltese are mostly descendants of these people. Maltese – an unusual formula . Originally Maltese was an Arabic dialect but it was immediately exposed to Latinisation because the Normans conquered the islands in 1090, while Christianisation, which was complete by 1250, cut off the dialect from contact with Classical Arabic. Consequently Maltese developed on its own, slowly but steadily absorbing new words from Sicilian and Italian according to the needs of the developing community. : CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list ( link ) Ruffino, Giovanni (2001).