Do you consider Maltese to be Arabs?

[Sikeliot]

Maltese are in reality just Arabic-speaking Sicilians. Maltese is neither an ethnicity nor a language but for nationalistic reasons they consider themselves both.

[Maintenance]

They dont speak arabic

[Sikeliot]

They dont speak arabic

Yes, they do.

[Kriptc06]

they are christians, aren't they? so no.

[RN97]

Are you dumb?

[Maintenance]

Yes, they do.

They speak maltese, they understand just as much arabic as I do., or even less.

[Lavrentis]

they are christians, aren't they? so no.

The Maltese are not Arabs, but there are Arabic christians, such as the Maronites


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Marmara]

https://youtu.be/C7VdeHdBn-g

[Jehan]

I have been in malta and therefore have heard malteese speek.
As I live in France, I had the luck to heard many time arabs.

I can assure you the two language are differents.

[Teutone]

Malteste is a semitic language thats highly infuenced by english and partly italian, its by FACT not arabic.

[Sikeliot]

Malteste is a semitic language thats highly infuenced by english and partly italian, its by FACT not arabic.

Considering its proper name is "Sicilian Arabic" (the Arabic spoken in Sicily in the Middle ages) and is part of the Tunisian dialect, yes it is. Maltese has more Classical Arabic lexicon than does Moroccan Arabic.

[Marmara]

I have been in malta and therefore have heard malteese speek.
As I live in France, I had the luck to heard many time arabs.

I can assure you the two language are differents.

That's a terrible way of comparision. At least I can say that Turkish and Azerbaijani would sound very different to foreigners but we understand 90% of each other. Dialects might sound very different doesn't mean they are completely different.

[Maintenance]

Considering its proper name is "Sicilian Arabic" (the Arabic spoken in Sicily in the Middle ages) and is part of the Tunisian dialect, yes it is. Maltese has more Classical Arabic lexicon than does Moroccan Arabic.

a maltese can only understand like 1/4 of what a tunisian says.

I can understand everything a norwegian or danish person says, so swedish is in fact norwegian i guess, or is it danish?

[dperucca]

I have posted this argument before.

[Karol Klačansky]

Maltese is like a distant dialect of middle age Arabic. This is a fact and Arabic speakers can vaugely understand some Maltese from what I've heard

Sent from my KIW-L21 using Tapatalk

[Teutone]

Considering its proper name is "Sicilian Arabic" (the Arabic spoken in Sicily in the Middle ages) and is part of the Tunisian dialect, yes it is. Maltese has more Classical Arabic lexicon than does Moroccan Arabic.

If every semitic language is arabic, then hebrew is by your "logic" arab too.

Maltese is not arabic, its a independent semtitic languange, and im 100% sure every lignuist agrees on that.

[Teutone]

a maltese can only understand like 1/4 of what a tunisian says.

I can understand everything a norwegian or danish person says, so swedish is in fact norwegian i guess, or is it danish?

Same with Dutch for me.

But Dutch is Dutch and German is German.

Its the samle deal with Arabic and Maletese.

[Dick]

If every semitic language is arabic, then hebrew is by your "logic" arab too.

Maltese is not arabic, its a independent semtitic languange, and im 100% sure every lignuist agrees on that.

it's more like a hybrid language or semitic-romance language with outside influences like english.

[Kelmendasi]

If every semitic language is arabic, then hebrew is by your "logic" arab too.

Maltese is not arabic, its a independent semtitic languange, and im 100% sure every lignuist agrees on that.
It did evolve from Maghrebi Arabic though, although it does have a significant amount of Italian influence https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltese_language. The people themselves aren’t Arabic though

[Teutone]

it's more like a hybrid language or semitic-romance language with outside influences like english.

Well whatever, but its defenitely not Arabic.

[Teutone]

It did evolve from Maghrebi Arabic though, although it does have a significant amount of Italian influence https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltese_language. The people themselves aren’t Arabic though

I dont deny that, as a semitic language it for sure has connections to other semitic languages.

[Kelmendasi]

I dont deny that, as a semitic language it for sure has connections to other semitic languages.
It’s not just a connection though, the language stems from Maghrebi Arabic

[Kouros]

If they identify as Maltese then what does it matter to me

[Decius]

Arabic speaking Sicilians

[Token]

If every semitic language is arabic, then hebrew is by your "logic" arab too.

Maltese is not arabic, its a independent semtitic languange, and im 100% sure every lignuist agrees on that.
Maltese is a Siculo-Arabic dialect, heavily influenced by Italo-Dalmatian.

[Karol Klačansky]

If every semitic language is arabic, then hebrew is by your "logic" arab too.

Maltese is not arabic, its a independent semtitic languange, and im 100% sure every lignuist agrees on that. Maltese language literally comes from middle age Arabs who ruled the island it didn't develope like other semitic languages separate from Arabic. It is a separate language and djfferent from Arabic now days but it isn't just a random semitic language like Aramaic for example or Hebrew.

Sent from my KIW-L21 using Tapatalk

[wvwvw]

Aren't they a Sicilian offshoot?

[wvwvw]

Greeks in Malta

The Greek people have a long presence in Malta, since ancient times. The Greeks used the islands for commerce and it is assumed that the location was a place of competition against the Phoenicians. It is not very clear if the Greeks made any colonies here, but we know that the island was known in Greece under the name Melite (Μελίτη) a derivative of the Greek word for honey (μέλι),[1][2][3] and the Romans later transcribed the name to Melita, which evolved into the modern Malta.[4]

Later, the Eastern Roman Empire which evolved into the Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire, held Malta for almost five centuries, from 395 to 870 AD,[5] until they lost it to the Arabs.[6]

In 1192, Margaritus of Brindisi, a Greek admiral of the Kingdom of Sicily, became the first count of Malta.[7]

During the 18th and 19th centuries a number of Greeks moved to Malta, coming from the Ottoman held areas in Greece. A number of Greeks from Rhodes island migrated in Malta after 1523, due to the capture of that Greek island by the troops of Suleiman the Magnificent in 1522 after the Siege of Rhodes.

During the 19th century, the Greek minority built one (Church of St George, Valletta)[8][9] of the two extant Greek orthodox churches in Valletta. There is also a Catholic Greek community on the island.[10]

The Greek Catholic Church of Our Lady of Damascus that houses an icon of the same name, was built in 1571 by Giánnis Kalamia, a wealthy Greek, one of 500 Greek Catholics who arrived with the knights in 1530. The Church was destroyed during an air raid on March 24th 1942[11] but was rebuilt in 1951 from funds collected by the great efforts of Fr. George Schirò, a descendant of one of the original 500. The last surviving descendant carrying the Kalamia name was a discalced Carmelite nun living in the 18th century.[12]

One of the most important Greeks of Malta was the national benefactor Ioannis Papafis, who was originally from Thessaloniki, and moved to Malta in the beginning of the 19th century, and lived there – Valletta and Rabat – until the end of his life at 1886, contributing significantly to the local society as well as supporting financially the Greek War of Independence, and later the newly formed Greek state.[13]

The current Greek community of Malta is defined as being small by the Greek embassy in Malta.[14]

[Profileid]

Sikeliot is an idiot.
This is like saying Italian is Latin.

[Teutone]

Maltese language literally comes from middle age Arabs who ruled the island it didn't develope like other semitic languages separate from Arabic. It is a separate language and djfferent from Arabic now days but it isn't just a random semitic language like Aramaic for example or Hebrew.

Sent from my KIW-L21 using Tapatalk

I never denied any connection of it to arabic. But a connection isnt enough to classify is as arabic, and deny it is a own independent language.

[Karol Klačansky]

its already been proven genetically that maltese are essentially sicillian but speak a semetic language. They are sicilian in every sense except for language.

[Bobby Martnen]

Where do they cluster genetically? With Arabs or Sicilians?