'JOURNAL OF THE FACULTY OF ARTS Royal Univetsity of Malta

Volume l Number l 1957

INTRODUCING mE JOURNAL

This is the first numbet of a· J ournal which: wi1l be devoted to contri­ butions mairily by: members of the Faculty of Arts but also by outsiders especi:ally: scholars who have a contribution to make on any· sut>ject which; the Editi:>rs consider suffiċiently interesting. We appeal to the members of the Faċulty to support this Journal not only by their. sub­ scriptions but also by: their: contributions. This Journalwas produced on a Composomatiċ Machine and we are aware that techniċaHy it could be much :more attractiVe. But we hope to be able to produce technically: more satisfactory· issues in the future when we shall be able to use photographiċ processes iri pririting this Journal. Two of the articles published iri this number were originally iritended for a Journal of Maltese Studies which: Professor Mgr P.P. Saydon and Professor J. Aquiliria, then an undergtaduate, iritended to bririg out some years before World War ll. One of the contributors, Dr Dessoulavy; is now dead. The other article iri question is by. Fr E.Sutcliffe S.J., the author of A Grammar of the Maltese Language.

THE EDITORS

LEXICALM.ATERIAL IN MALTESE FOLKLORE

By J. AQUILINA and J. CASSAR-PULLICINO·

In this study we are giving a list of archaic or obsolete words picked from the language of Maltese Folklore, They are words not very commonly used nowadays, but occurring mostly in old Maltese proverbs which have been handed down without any appreciable modification, as well as in folk-songs, popular riddles, charms and exorcisms, street-cries, children's games and folk-tales. As far as possible the words have bee9 taken down as uttered by peasants in their everyday conversation, but as regards those words which survive in old collections of Maltese proverbs and sayings we have had to rely on Canon Agius DeSoldanis's Proverbi ed apoftegmi maltesi, in manuscript, preserved at the Royal Malta Library (Ms. 143) and published by Dr G. Curmi in Malta Letteraria (1929) and on M.A. Vassalli's Motti, aforismi e proverbi maltesi published in Malta in 1828. A few words included in the list are not found in dictionaries, For reference purposes we have consulted M.A. Vassalli's dictionary Ktyb Yl Klym Malti 'Mfysser byl-Latin u byt·Taljan (Rome, 1796), G.B. Falzon's Dizionario Maltese-Italiano-Inglese (Malta, 1882), A.E. Caruana's Voca­ bolario della Lingua Maltese (Malta, 1903) and G. Barbera's Dizionario Maltese·Arabo-ltaliano (4v. Beyrouth, 1939-40). Many of these words still form part of the spoken language of our rural population, although it is the older people that have preserved the traru­ tional expressions. And precisely for this reason they are of the greatest importance and interest in that they provide examples of a living and ever-changing language. These words and ways of expression peculiar to a former generation offer good ground for comparison with the present vocabulary in common use. It is worth noticing that the greater part of these words occur only in everyday proverbs and weather-sayings. This is as it should be, inasmuch as the proverbs of any country embody the sum-total of a people's ex­ periences throughout a long penod of existence, as memorised by a later

* This linguistic investigation is a joint work - the fusion of originally two sepa­ ra te articles by twO students of the Maltese Language whose interests and ap­ proaches are different but intersecting. J. Cassar-Pullicino is interested princi­ pally in folklore and he is responsible for the folkloristic information and the relevant vocabulary, white J. Aquilina is princiially interested in the language as such, and is responsible for the etymological and linguistic annotations thereon. 2 J. AQUILINA and J. CASSAR PULLICINO

generation in short and popular sayings. For this reason proverbs have come to be considered as 'the wit of one and the wisdom of many'. And of all types of linguistic legacies they suffer the least modification, because they are handed down orally from one generation to another, and used frequently in everyday conversation in which they are quoted with the persuasive force of an age,long tradition or belief and with the autho .. rity of an unwritten law, This can be noticed more clearly in the country than in the towns and cities, where Jte Maltese Language has suffered most throughfoxeign encroachments upon the native stock, in the form of Romance loan·,words and, recently, loan-words from English; whether of Germanic or Romance origin. Inthis sens'e oId collections of Maltese proverbs, such as Vassalli's, are invaluable because they have fixed the traditional form of a particular saying or maxim, Grammatical types such as diminutives, forms of verbal derivatives which are now going our of use are met with in thelr odginal contexts, thus helping the philologist to rediscover, in part, some of the lost words of our forefathers, The oId prayers, exorcisms and songs that we are giving here have been personally heard in the various villages of Malta and Gozo, Outside Folklore, they may be of interest also to' the Semitic glossarist and grammarian, shedding as they do light on original features of Maltese grammar, shared with other branches of the Semitic family of languages, Ie would be wrong, however, to consider the words included in this Ust as completely obsolete; indeed, it is very difficult to decide whether a word is really dead or not. Some words are often retained by a particular section of the population long after theiI' disappeaI'ance from the general word-currency of the people in generaL It may also happen that they may be apparently dead, or nearly so, but later reappear in use with a slight modification in their meaning. For example, widna, 'ear', metaphorically 'spy', is occasionally heard in' the expression widna tas-Sultan, 'spy em­ ployed by the Grand Master or King'; at the beginning of the Second World. War it was used by peasants near Għar Hasan (Hasan's Cave) in Malta, and in Gozo, to denote 'a sound~detector'. Rather than obsolete, some words ar~ obsolescent; and they have been termed 'archaic' in this study to indicate that they belong to an earlier generation, and that they are now no longer in current use, though some may be still heard sporadically in the Maltese Islands. The list contains words which, etymologically, inc1uding some addi­ tional derivatives, may be c1assified lnto: (a) Local formations, that is words the morphology and/or the meaning of which has developed in the Maltese Islands;" (b) Words that are matched wirt. Arabic equivalents, the only difference LEXICAL MATERIAL IN MALTESE FOLKLORE 3

being phonetical. (c) Words corresponding(i) to North African, or (ii) to Syrian words; (d) Two wordsthe meaning of which is more directly horne out by cor­ respondingwords in Hebrew; (e) Words of Latin origininttoduced into the language through Arabic, and finally (f) Maltese words of Sicilian origin adapted to Semitic Maltese patterns. Such words in the fol1owing six groups show, in brackets, the number of the-corresponding folklore passage in which they occur. Under heading(a) we include the fol1owing words: baqqa, 'to water (plants)' (7); binnija, 'construction' (34); dura, 'smal1 house' (30); farxa, 'a shelf' (75); ġbira, 'a collection' (78); ġbis, 'stubble' (38); ġwieB, 'hun­ ger' (76); ġodda, 'new' (27); girna, 'conical-ston:e construction' (77); Bela, 'to waste' (47); Btebb, 'to be loved' (48);inklele, 'otherwise' (29);instalab, 'ro be crucified' (9); lewliemi, 'rainy' (85); lula, 'misfortune' (54); [Haġa] mOBġaġa, 'a riddle' (23); mserka, 'a spool, a quil1' (22); musan, 'leftovers' (18); mżużi, 'squeamish' (60); gBaljiena, 'sorrowful' (28); gBaxa, 'supper' (41); għobra, 'woe' (44); qożżot, 'fie'(86); -sisija, 'begging' (66); titkir, 'misery' (87); wejda, 'little hand' (4); xituta, 'little rain' (3); xtamba, 'to require' (73). Under (b): amar, 'to command' (32); asaħtJ, 'sttċ>nger' (33); buq, 'a hollow reed' (74); darr, 'to injure' (35); dell, 'a shadow, omen' (36); ġergBa, 'a draught' (21); ġodod, 'new'(27); ġrajra, 'a little jar' (5); Bajna, 'malicious' (50); Batem, 'seal, ring' (49); Btrieq, 'scorching wind' (79); hmum, 'griefs' (40); imrabbab, 'a person that has been brought-up' (70); lewliemes, 'the day befoie yesterday' (84); libien, 'incense' (l5);megħuda~ 'promiseH' (83); M' erBsu, 'how cheap it is!' (56); miel, 'estates, riches' (57); mindU, 'nap­ kin' (82); m.irjieħ, 'windy' (58); mniddi, 'wetted, moist' (80);-moqul, 'toId' (59); muna, 'provisions, victuals' (81); mxuma, 'hand to mouth' (52); naża, 'to be in one's agony' (62); għalet, 'to deceive' (42); għanem, 'cattle' (43); gBar, 'disgrace' (39); gBemum, 'paternal uncles' (40); għilla, 'disease' (44); għwajjar, 'a smal1 cave' (2); _qara, 'to study' (8); qbur, 'graves' (16); Rabbi, 'lord' (64);sernegħa, 'wrestling bout' (20);siba, 'piracy' (65); tarr, 'to lay eggs' (67); tbiħ, 'cooking' (68); tellet, 'to ttipIicate' (70); teraħ, 'to dissolve, melt indigo or paint' (69); tifragħ, 'emptying' (88); titriegBa. 'to be grazed (fie1d)' (89); tqajba, 'a smallhole' (6); uBudna, 'by ourselves (alone): (25); wadaf, 'sIing' (19); widaB, 'ear wax' (71); widek, 'fatty sub­ stance'(71); wited, 'peg' (91); xiegħel, 'to employ' (72); żerqa, 'blue' (26). _ Under (c) (i): baqla, 'impetigo' (12); Borra, 'honest' (46); f;ożża, waist girdle' (51); qarinza, 'serenaders' (24); qfejfa, 'smal1 basket' (1);qluqi, 'restless' (63); reqa, 'to charm' (11);- żenbtl, 'Iarge basket' (90); 4 Jo AQUILINA and J. CAsSAR PU~LICINO

(li) ħabar, 'death knell' (45); namar, 'abundance' (61); nt~jfa, 'a little piece of' (1); reqa 'to cure jaundice (11), Under (d): bewwaq, 'to hollow out (a reedY (74); dliel, 'long hair' (13); Under (e): mindil, 'napkin' (82). ·Under (f): fiel, 'to cheat' (37); izzinlla, 'to circle over' (10); lillu, 'finery' (55»; lissija, 'lye' (53); tutemb, 'a truce' (31); vrajs, 'short verse' (9); żorba, 'sorb tree' (17).

A•. RIDDLES, SONGS. TALES,FOLK~PRAYERS. Etc.

(i) ·Diminutives Nominal and adjectival diminutives in Maltese are fonned chiefly (a) by theinsertion of ·ejje-, -ejja-,,,ajje-; or -riija- berween the second and third radicals of the word, e.g. tfajjel f~m tifel, 'boy'; fqajjar from fqir, 'poor'; (b) by introducing w, which is often·the second radical of the word, imme­ diately after the first consonant, e.g. dwejra from dar, 'house', originally from yDWR; ·rwejha from rulJ, •souI' , originallyyRWH; or(c) by adding the female suffix a to the masculine fonn, e.g. bieba from bieb, 'door'; fiesafrom fies, 'pickaxe';senduqa dromsenduq, ·chest'. (Vide E.Sutcliffe; A Grammar of the Maltese . L angu(lge , -London, 1936, pp. 31-33; also A. Cremona, TagMim fuq-il-Kitba Mal#ja, Patt·II, Third Edition, Malta 1944, p.138). Another fonn of Maltese diminutive, however, may be noted in such words as geduda. from gidi, 'kid', fonned .by the repetition of the last con­ sonant d, preceded by a long u. In other examples the u seems ro express endeannent and affection: thus bedudu, •good luck:!, heard in children's games; bażużu, 'darling', a tenn of endeannent used by. mothers; ċkejkunu, 'very small', common in baby languag~; żaqquqa, 'small belly', andsin­ nuna, 'smal1 tooth', from żaqq, 'belly" and sinna, 'rooth., respectively, also heard in baby jargon; qarquċa, 'cartilage, or small r~ants of meat after the fat has beeri melted down', from qarqaċ, 'to dry'; qarmuċu, tenn applied to smallchildren, ,from qarmeċ, 'a rosk: or biscuit'. Words in italics in the fol1owing examples illustrate one or other of the above-mentioned fonns of Maltese diminutives. Translation (1) Twilimtawwal _.. L.o.ng.and lengthened, :Aqta' u dawwar; . Wt and roll; Ftit·ta' ntejfa . Put a small piece Agħmel ġol-qfejfa. In the small bask:et. The answer to this still current i.idd!e is ta sau·sage'. Ntejfa, n.f. 'A litcle piece o( Uiminutive of M. nitfa, 'a small part ora LEXICAL MATERIAL IN MALTESE FOLKLORE 5

particle of'. It is found in Vassalli and Falzon only. With M. nitfa ~n . I (" b' ) . l . G A ., / 0 ... ~ /" tah mtJa ,)0 Z, etc. , malfi y current 1fi ozo, cp. r. Lr'" bJ..;.:....i lS~1g" 'he gave him a little of' (Hava). With the adverbial use of nitfa in M. nitolbok tasal nitfa d-dar, 'I ask you to come home for a little while', cp. Syrian bfjtraggak tU$f:i1 nf!tfe 'al-bajt. Feghali, who gives this ex­ ample in his Syntaxe des Parlers Arabes actuels du Liban (p.30), illustrates its various uses with further examples which agree with Maltese. With M. stenna nitfa cp. Syrian ntere netfa, 'await a little'. With the M. diminutive cp. Syrian ntli.iVe (Feghali, ibid., p. 477). M~ and Ar. nitfa derives from yNTF, 'to pluck (the hair)'. For semantics cp. M. ftit, 'a little', from yFTT, Ar ..;t.J. 'to crumble with the fin­ gers'; M. ħafna, 'much', from ħafen, 'to grasp'; wisq, 'a great deal of', from Ar. ~; 'to contain (a thing) , to load (a camel)'; M. bosta, 'a great quantity of', Ar. ;U.~ 'extent, capacity', from Ar. .t,~ (unknown in Maltese) 'to widen, to stretch (the arm)'. The M. ward nitfa in its recorded meaning is mainly Syrian. Beaussier gives only its literal meaning 'pind!e de poHs, de cheveux arrachee'. Qfejfa, n.L 'Small wicker basket'. Diminutive of sing. qoffa, pl. qfief, with which cp. Ar. W pL u~ whence also It.· coffa. For the M. diminutive form cp. N. Afr. Ar. b..:.'~ pL = I 'perit couffin' (Beaus­ sier). Another diminutive form qoffina, 'small wicker basket for shop­ ping', is made up of qoffa + ina, Romance diminutive suffix. (2) (a) Sant' Anna u San Mikiel (St Anne and St .Michael Ġejjin mill-għwajjar ta' Coming from the small cave of Betliem ... . Bethlehem ... ) An exorcism to ward off the evU eye heard at Xewkija, Gozo. (b) San Ġu żepp daħal B-għwajjar (St J oseph ~ent into the small cave Biex jadura l-Bambin fqajjar ... To worship the p06ttChild ... ) Fragment of an aId Maltese Christmas carol heard at Qormi, Malta. Għwajjar, n;m .. This is ~ regular Maltese diminutive fotmation of għar, 'cave', Ar. JG:. The pattem qtajjal, on which this word is formed, is shared by diminutive and plural formations. As a matter of fact, għwaj­ jar is explained as a plural formation by Vassalli. Other similar Maltese plurals are f tajjar, from ftira, 'pancake', and ħsajjar, from ħasira, 'mat'.

(3) Ix-xita u x-xemx (The rain and the sun U l-għasfur inaqqi l-qemħ! And the bird pecking at the grain! Ix-xita u x-xi tuta The rain and the small rain In-nanna taħt it-tuta. And Granny under the mulberry tree) A children's rhyme, heard when ie rains and the sun shines at the same 6 J, AQUILINA and J. CASSAR PULLICINO time. The above version comes from Munxiu, Gozo. Xiruta, n f. 'A dilzzle', lit, small, used only in the above rhyme, Diminu­ tive of M. xita, 'min', Ar. ~U0. 'rain' (Hava), With the interesting M, diminutive obtained by the addition of suffix uta after the elimination of , l A/''' /. .. (l ~ . " /,.. ) d" . f <, /' (M ~ ,.) fma a cp. r. ~ a so ~ , lmmut!ve 0 ~ . gr;axlJa meaning 'nighttall' Af. 00.i , diminutive of 6~ 'sons', pL of ;:H~, M. iben. (Vide Wright: Arabic Grammar, Vol.I, p. 175, Thirded.).

(4) (a) Abbi l-wejda! (Kiss the little hand.) Baby language. (b) Ara jaħraq il-wejda, (Mind you won't bum yoU! 1ittle hand.) A street cry peculiar to vendors of baked chestnuts. Wejda, n.f. Irregu1ar diminutive formation from M. id, 'hand', Ar. 1;; with which cp. M. jedd, 'right', a translation of the 1ega1 word manus of Roman law. With the M. diminutive cp. Ar. diminutive ~~ Beaus­ sier gives diminutives il~~ and ~~ .. T'r.e.l,i, diminutive seems to have deve10ped from the N. Afr. variant il~~ which, by dropping the first consonant d becomes jajda, whence wajda by change of initial j lnto w and dialectal variation of the diphthong aj into ej, whence - u1timate1y wejda. The M. form is assimilated to the diminutives of nouns from verba primae w, which reject the first radi.cal taking the feminine termination a(t) but which, in exchange, resume the w in their / 0'/ ~ ,- diminutives as Ar. il~", diminutive of ',,~, meaning 'a promise', from ~~ (M. wiegħed, 'to promise').

(5) Bil-qtajra 1-qtajra timtela l­ (Many a mick1e makes a muckIe. ġrajra. Lit. 'Drop by drop the pitcher is filIed' .) A Maltese proverb. Ġrajra, n.t, 'a small or little jar'. Diminutive of ,ġarra, Ar. ii~ 'earthen-· ware jar', pL ... /fi. (Dozy) M. ġarar" following the diminutive pattern qtajla, of such words as bħajra, 'a 1ake', from batjar, 'sea'; tfajla, 'a maiden', from tifla, 'giri'; xtajta; 'small or pretty seaside', from /'O/.J> xatt, 'shore', with which cp. Ar. fem. dim. pattern ~~ with the medial Ar, vowel between the first and second vowels dropped in Maltese.

(6) Bi1·kelma t-tajba toħroġ il-far (The soft word brwgs on\: \.he rat miHqajba, {i.Ol:! !ts hole.) Another Mah:ese proverb, . Tqajba, nL Maltese diminuti.ve of toqba, '''' hde', fJ:Om taqab, 'to plerce', ", /' @ /0 ~ Ar. '-~:;, 'to pierce', whence Af. ;;"~lL:; (M. toqba, 'a hole' (l~ava) .. LEXlCAL MA TERIAL IN MALTESE FOLKLORE 7

(ii) Archaic Verbs The following is a list of verbs that are very few in number and are but rarely, if ever, used outside folklore. Their chief interest lies in furnish­ ing examples of lost meanings or words, and unusual forms of derived verbs.

(7) Anġ la bella, (Lovely Angela, Issaqqi w tbaqqi: Watering repeatedly Kemm-il werqa fih How many leaves are there Il-ħabaq għazzi? In the basil plant?)

This is the first part of a popular rhyme in dialogue form, presumably between a young man (a Prince) and a young woman who is watering a pot of basil on the balcony. F ormerly a pot of basil on the window si11 showed that in that house there were girls of a marriageable age - a hint to young men in search of a wife. Baqqa, pp. mbaqqi (m), + ja (f), whence tbaqqi, 'you water or irrigare'. Cp. Ar. ~ 'to pour an abundant rain; cloud' (Hava); 'to spout from the mouth (Spiro Bey, who gives also -:?, 'mouth' (cf. Lat. bucca, 'cheek'). Of a heavy rain pouring in bubbles we say gfjamlet xita boqoq or tal-boqoq, boqoq, 'bubbles', being the pI. of boqqa, 'bubble' - a Maltese formation. Caruana gives boqqa żejża, 'a baby's mouthful of sucking', from ż ejż a, 'mother's breast'. A:E.C. wrongly lists boqqa (n) and baqqa (v) under different radicals.

(8) Int Sultan, u bin is-Slaten (0 thou king, son of kings, tikteb u tqari: Continually writing and reading: Kemm-i! kewkba fih How many stars are there Is-sema l-għali? In the high heavens?) The girl's answer to the previous quatrain - an example of a primitive 'brains trust' or riddle contest. Both rhis and the preceding rhyme were heard at Luqa, Malta, during World War lI. They are also found in L. Bonelli's Saggi deI folklore dell'isola di Malta, Palermo, 1895, p.lO. Qara, v. t. Third form of qara, 'to read' (Ar.i~ ). Not in the Maltese die- tionaries and unknown in the spoken language. The corresponding Ar. "$. /' ./ form I.J_.s means 'to study; to read with' (Hava). This form does not occur in Beaussier.

(9) Vrajsett u vrajs ingħid~ (A small verse and a verse I have L-ikbar għuda tas·Salib; recited~ min iħobb il-Bambin ċkejken The g:eatest Rood is the Cross; Imut u jinstalab fih. He wj10 loves the little Child ShaH die and be crudfied on k) 8 J. AQUILINA and J" CASSAR PULLICINO

The opening lines of an old folk-prayer recited by peasants before going to bed. !t was heard at Xagħra, Gozo, in the summer of 1941. Vrajs, vrajsett, n.m. Short verse. Two obsolete ruminutive forms of vers, from Sic. versu or !t. verso. Vrajsett is doubly diminutive in Maltese, being made up of vrajs, shorter form of vrajjes, + !taHan suffix etto (!t. versetto). For a similar diminutive formation from Italian cf. M. Brajbu, from k Verbo, which is the name of a popular folk-prayer all over Italy (Ct P. Toschi, La Poesia Popolare Religiosa in Italia, Firenze, 1935, p. 97). Nsta1ab, v.int. To be crucified; also, to fall down with the arms stretched out in the form of a cross, the latter meaning being sti!l common. This is the VIIth Form of Maltese radicals S-L-B-. Ar. ~, 'to provide (a bucket) with two crosspieces', also 'to crucify' whence M. salib, 'a cross', and sallab, 'to crucify', or 'to make the sign of the cross fre­ quently', Ar ~. The VI!th form is a Iocal formation.

(10) Id-dragun ... malli wasal (The dragon ... on catching up with izzintla ruħu fuqu (xini). them, circled above the ship to swoop down upon it.) Quotation from the Maltese folk-tale known as L-Erba' Snajja' (The Four Trades) collected by Fr M. Magri (Ħrejjef Misserijietna in Kotba tal-Mogħ­ dija taż-Żmien, No. 18, 1902, p. 30). Izzinda, v.int. To circle overhead (hawk, etc.)Not in the Maltese diction­ aries but still used by quarrymen in the expression spiera xibrejn zintlu, 'a stone pit two spans in diamete.t". Fr Magri (op. eit., p.32) explains izzintla ruħu, 'to fly in a circle, as a hawk-does before swoop­ ing down on its prey'. An archaic form of current iċċentra, 'to cen­ tra!ize, to place in a central posiJ:ion', with.z for It. t and l for r.For correspondence of archaic Romance Maltese z to !t. t cp. M. zuntier, . 'a churchyard', formerly used as a;' buri:a.l1place, from sie. cimiteriu (Modern Maltese ċimiterju) and It. cimiterf/if;. For the interchange of l and r cp ..dialectal M. pitlorju (for more current form pitrolju) from It. petrolio, M. artal, from It. ,altare. For the verbal pattern of izzintla cp. iddiskla(It. diseolo), 'to lead a dissolute life'; iddritta (!t. diritto), 'to straighten '; illirtja (Ie. all' erta), 'to be on the alert'. This is gene­ rally the pa.ttern followed by Maltese verbs from the Italian, Sici1ian orEnglish. Examples from the English language areiddajvja, 'to dive', illandja, 'to land', ipparkja, 'to park' and iffittja, 'to fit'.

(11) (a) Hżieża, Hżieża!(Ringworm! Ringworm! Mur għand ommok il-moq ż,\e ża: Go to your filthy mother: LEXICAL MATERIAL~IN MALTESE FOLKLORE 9

Nirqik, nerġa' nirqik -I exorcise you alld-will do so again Sa naqtagħlek l-egħruq li fik. Till l cut your roots out.) An exorcism recited to cure oneself of ringworm. -An oil ointment, in which a live cowrie (M. baħbuħa) has been previously put, is rubbed over the affected part of the skin-while the above words are recited. Vassalli records the practice of exorcisms and explains kliemir-riqi as 'verba superstitiosa, seu oratio sacra simul profana cui occulta au.cuginis virtus ttibuitur'. Besides Ringworm, other diseases such as Pterigium (M. qar­ nita) and Jaundice (M. suffejra) are beli~ved to be, amenable to cure by exorcism. The above lines appeared 'in L. Bonelli's IlDialetto, Maltese, published as a supplement to Archivio Glottologico Italiano (Torino, 1891-1897, p.69). ' (b) Qarnita, ja qarnita, (0 Pterygium, Pterygium, Irqejtek w aktar inqorr; I have exorcised you and wiU do so Naqalgħek bl-egħruq u again; x-xniexel 1'11 cut your roots out Nixħtek ġol-baħar fejn kont. And fling you back into the sea.) An exorcism recited 'to cure Pterygium, an eye-disease locally known as Qarnita (lit.'ocropus').Connected with this practice is the use of a small silver fing withan octopus engraved on it. This dng is called Il· Hatem (the signet) and the man or woman who passes.it over the affUcted eyes repeats theabove lines, the meaning of which is very clear to a Maltese tO whom Qarnita means both 'octopus' 'and 'pterygium'. ,These lines were still current at Kerċem, Gozo, in 1941. _ Reqa, v.t. _to cure jaundice, etc. The Maltese meaning must have original­ ly been associat(:d with charm andenchantment, which agrees with the definition given by Vassalli 'verba superstitiosa', with which cp. Ar. ~~ 'to give a charm to, to enchant'. Inmeaning the Maltese· word agrees with, ·Syrian O~J 'avoir le jaundice', denominative from raiaqa:n, 'jaunisse' (BartheIemy). For the idea of charm cp. -AIsoN. Afr. :-Ar, :~J 'charmer 'de Peau,un puiis, et1 prononc;ant des paroles ou en .crachant dessus';also 'garantir quelqu'un contre les sorcelleries _.p~ des amulettes' (Beaussier).

(Hi) Miscellaneous· Forms ~ong these are, found some uncommon plural forms, archaic nouns and adjectives, etc. ,

(12) ....: .. Narra· ttih~ baqla sewda (May she be plagued with Black spots Tirnexxilha marsuttin. That wifl. develop in to a chest disease.) 10 J. AQUILINA and J. CASSAR PULLICINO

A specimen of vitrio1ic expression of hatred in a Maltese folk-song heard at Birkirkara, Malta. Baqla, n.f. This is the name given to a kind of cutaneous eruprion accom­ panying malignant diseases. It may be either baqla hamra, 'Purple Spots', or baqla sewda, 'Black Spots'. Vassalli explains it as 'impe­ rigo'. Hava does not give this word as thename of a cutaneous disease. The Maltese word is semanrically' connected with Ar.·Ji.; 'to be covered with down(face)'. For the specific disease-name cp. N.Afr. Ar.<>JJi..,.. 'coup de soleil', insolatiori, fevre, typhoide' (Beaussier). Marsuttin, n.m. Tuberculosis; consumption, from !t. mal sottile.

(13) (~) Holl dlielek u ġib iż-żejt. (Loosen your hairand bring oil.) A Maltese proverb used as a waming that there is going to be trouble, enough rime to comb your hair while the angry person is letting off steam. Barbera (Dizionario·Maltese-Arabo-ltaliano, Beyrouth, Vol. I, 1939, p.321) says of this proverb: 'questa ·frase fa ricordare l'uso deI popolino in Sici1ia ed anche a Malta di ravviare, acconciare la capig1iatura con dell'olio,per dareai capelli illucido ed anche per rinforzarli;uso arabo'.

(b) Hu il-man t u omxot dlżelek, (Here is the veil, comb your hair, Hu l-muftieħ, ixrob u kul; Take the key, drink and eat; .,.... 'Jiena ikel le ma niekol - 'I will not touch any food Qabel raħli, il-Mosta, immur'. Before I retum to Mosta, my village.) A stanza from the traditional ballad of 'The Bride of Mosta' (L-Gharusa tal-Mosta). First collected by Annibale Preca, a nineteenth century Maltese writer, this ballad was prin:ted by Luigi Bonel1i in II Dialetto Maltese (1897. Supplement) and has since been extensively studied by local and foreign writers. Prof. Ettore Rossi, of Rome, is inclined to class it as a fifteenth century producrion - a period in which ·the pirates of northem Africa laid wastethe island of Malta with frequent raids. In an eighteenth century ~nuscript diary preserved at the Royal Malta Library (No. 1146, VoL l) it is recorded that the Turks raided and sacked the village of Mosta in 1526, 'under the famous corsair Rajjes Sinen, taking aoout four hundred prisoners ..... as well as a bride, together with the guests all dressed for the weddinġ, about wh

Dliel, pl. n.m .. Plural form of dell (Ar. ~), 'shadow', the plural mean~ng being 'long, fIowing hal!', wrongly derived by Barbera from Ar. '. j':; 'to direct, to indicate'. Dessoulavy refers to.. Ethiopic J.Y:5 'anything shady, screen; also shadows', plural of, A (Hava). The meaning agrees more nearly with Hebrew i1~ '=T 'hair of the head' from I I '=T 'to hang, be low, languish (cp. M. midltel); weak, languishing, of deli~ate construction' Cp. also Delila, the name of Samson's wife, famous for cutting the long halr of her giant husband. The Maltese word survives in plant-name Dliel il-Madliena (Greater Periwinkle). A fleecy sheep is still called nagħ ġa midliela.

(14) (a) Narra l-ghobra tgħabbrek! (May calamity fall upon you!) (b) Minn surtek tidher ghobortok. (Your appearance betrays your misery.) Two sayings given in Caruana's dictionary ..

(c) 'lIbes, bint!, ilbes, (,Put on your dress, my daughter, Hemm is-senduq, iIbes u There's the chest, dress and żżejjen'. adorn yourself.' -'Nilbes? gf;obra għala wiċċi -'Woe unto me! How can I Waqajt ilsira għala dejjem', bother? I have fallen a slave for ever!' 'Orqod, binti, orqod (,Sleep, my daughter, sleep, Hemm is-sodda, irpoża, strieħ.'. There's the bed, sleep and rest'. -'Nirpoża? għobra għala wiċċi!­ -'Woe unto me! How can I sleep? Waqajt ilsira għand il-klieb' .. I have fallen a sli:lVe-in the hands of the dogs (Turks». Two stanzas from the Mosta ballad referred to above (No. 13 b). They were collected in 1942 and published together with all known stanzas and variants of the ballad. (Ġ. Cassar Pullicino: L-Għarusa tal-Mosta, b' xi żieda, in 'Leħen il-Malti', Nos. 133-6, 1942, pp. 26-9). Għobra, n.f. Misery, distress. With the Maltese meaning of ghobra (pI. għebieri, given by Vassalli) in għobra għala wiċċi cp. Ar. \l:';";;; 'tears', pL ~ from ..:;;:. 'to shed tears', and ~I 'to shed tear;;' also 'to weigh coins' (Hava) (M. għabbar, 'to weigh~ to ascertain weight') whence the combined Maltese idea of (i) tears, and (li) oppression, in the latter sense as when we speak of one being 'weighed down with sorrow'. The use of the Maltese word is otherwise 10caL For asso­ ciated meaning cp. also Heb. i1j':J\r 'overflow, arrogance,fury'. T : ~.' • 12 J. AQUILINA and J. CASSAR PULLICINO

(15) Bambin ċkejken, ċkejken, (Little, little Olild-Jesus, Kollok xama' u libien, Surrounded with· candles and Nirrikmanda ruħi 'l Alla frankincense, U l-bqija lil San Mikiel I recommend my soul to God And the rest to St Michael.) A folk-prayer recited by children before going to bed. The name Il­ Libiena is still given to the first fortnight of November, when the weather is usually very fine and recalls that of Summer; hence its other name Sajl ta' San Martin, 'St Martin's Summer'. Libien (but lubien in Falzon) n.m. Frankincense. Now-a-days replaced by the Romance inċens (!t. incenso). Cp. Ar. u0 'olibanum; gum resin used as a franklincense' (Hava). With adj. libien (m), libiena (f), 'serene, fair (weather)' as in sena or xitwa libiena cp. Ar. u~ 'bumt by thirst'. and the noun u' ~~ 'buming heat, hot day'. Falzon gives also the noun libbiena, pl. libbiniet, 'dryness, drought',' also derived from YLHB. Therefore, orthographically M. libienin the sense of 'serene, fair' (weather) should be written lehbien (m) and lehbiena (f). In Maltese we call a craving for something lehba, which word is not found in Caruana or Falzon, and corresponds to Ar. ii ~ h\:trning thirst. The cognate Maltese quadriliteral verb lebleb, is made up of leheb + leheb, with the omission of medial radical h and a re­ duction of vocalic sequence e - e to short e, when<;e the Maltese qua­ drilateral on the pattem QeT+QeT (e.g. temtem, 'to stutter', lellel, ''to devour', gerger, 'to grumble'). Barbera and Dessoulavy wrongly derive M. lebleb from Ar ..•~I ;J which corresponds to M. leblt:lb, 'to flap (sail, flag)' and lablab, 'to prate'. For semantics cp. Lat... serenus, 'fair', unclouded (weather)', perhaps cognate with Greek STJPO, 'dry' Sanscrit ksayati, 'it bums', with which cp. Latin serescere,' to grow dry' as in vestes serescunt (Lucr. I, 30.7).

(16) Itla' u fur (Rise and overflow bħalma Kristu As Christ rose from his tomb.) Tala' minn ġol-qbur! A propitiatory rhyme, recited by bakers or other people engaged in kneading flour, to make the dough rise. .l" Qbur, n.m. Tombs, pl. of qabar, other plural forms being qbura (Caruana), qobra and oqbra. Cp. Ar ..J~ pl. of ~ 'tomb'.

(17) Żorba w lajn (Eng.line) mejjet! (Within the square or on the line dead; i.e. the game is lost.) Żorba (Luqa) or, in other loca1ities, Fatt is the name of a children's LEXlCALMATERIAL IN MALTESE FOLKLORE 13 game played on condition that the boy whose m~rble stops within the square marked on the ground, called Fatt, or on one of the lines forming the square, loses the game. Żorba means also 'sorb tree', of which there are only a few specimens in Malta, one of them in the fields 'Tal-Lunzjata', belonging to the Carmeli te Friars, beyond Rabat, Malta. Waqajt żorba is a common expression meaning 'I have fallen down in a lump', denoting the helplessness and sudden onrush of physical col1apse (lit. like a sorb) or of senile debility. Żorba, n.f. Sorb. From Sicilian zorba, It. sorba. For correspondence of M. ż to Sic. z (ts) cp. M. tuŻżana, from Sic. It. dozzina.

(18) 'Il dan (żiemeI)' qallu 'Beat this horse thoroughly' he told 'idilku sħiħ;.lill-oħrajn him, 'and feed the others on the agħtihom il-musan'. leftovers' A passage from the popular explanation of the Maltese folk-tale Balmies, heard by Fr Magri at Xagħra, Gozo, in 1905. M. Magri: X' Tgħid il-Malti fuq id-Dinja ta' Taħt u fuq ir-Rjieħ, 1905, p. 38). Musan, adj.m. Undamaged, in good condition (grass, etc.) Participial adjective from absolute M. san, isun (Falzon), with which cp. Ar. u~ 'to preserve a thing' (Hava). The Maltese form regularIy should be masun or misun (cp. Ar. u~ 'guarded').· But the Maltese form has followed the participial adjectival pattern from verbs of the IXth form, like musfar, 'pale', and muħdar, 'greenish', from sfar, 'to grow pale', and hdar, 'togrow green' respectively. Magri explains the word as 'damaged, that which is not accepted by others'.

(19) ' ... qiegħed ċagħka fil-wadaf (He put a pebble in his sling, swung' tiegħu, xejjirha dawra mejt u it around and let it off.) rħielha.' . A passage from the Maltese folk-tale Il-Ġgant u s-Sajjied tal-Ghasafar (The Giant and the Bird Catcher) given by Fr Magri in his X' 19ħid il-Malti fuq Missirijietna u l-Ġganti (1904, p. 36). Wadaf (more commonly wadab, or, in Modern Maltese, sbandola, from Sic. sbannola or sbandola (Barbera». Sling, Ar. U\~; 'a sling', with which cp. ....t:;~. 'fronde'r' (Dozy) and -~~ 'lancer des pierres une fronde' (Kazimirsky). For change of Ar. f into M. b cp. M. b'aża', 'to f ear,'A r tj1>;.... ~ M. qa b eż, ' to Jump,. 'A r. ·fl// ..

(20) 'Issa immela ħalli nagħmlu (Let us then have a wrestling bout serriegha qabel ma nieklok.' before I eat you up.) Another passage from the giant story mentioned in (19) above. 14 J. AQUILINA and J. CASSAR PULLICINO

Serriegħa, n.f. A wrestling bout. Verbal noun from disused verb saragf'J, with which cp. Ar. ~"::'L:, 'to wrestle, to fight a duel with' (Hava), /. '- -~. 0/ whence ~ I:;' 'prostrating his adversary' (Hava), whence also E...J""'-"" ta wrestling place', with which cp. M. misrah, 'an open space before a village church, so called because it origina11y may have served as a playground for demonstrations of personal prowess -a place for village re

(21) 'Li ma għedtlix saħħa, qaltlu, ('If you had'nt wished me good kont nibilgħek belgħa u lc0nt health' she said, '1 would have inġerrgħek ġerg$:ia'. swallowed and digested you.).

A passage from the Maltese folk-tale Bini il:Mara l-Ghar/a jġib il-G$:ias/ur ighanni (The Wise Woman's Son brings the Singing Bird) contained in Fr Magri's Ħrejje/ Misserijietna I, 1902, p.43). These words are repeatedly uttered by three people whose help the Wise Woman's Son asked in his quest for the Singing Bird. Ġergħa, n.f. Noun of unity from ġera', to digest; to swallow up', and, figuratively, 'to tolerate (somet~ing unpleasant); 'to stand (a difficult <>..r unpleasant man)'. Cp. Ar. t.fi. to swallow in one draught', and t~(IInd form) 'to cause one to swallow (water)', whence ~~ also ~~ 'draught or a mouThful' (Hava). The second form ġerra', 'to digest', fig. 'to stand (a person)' is sti11 used.

(22) '. , . Għandi din l-imserka (1 have this needle-case containing labar, fiha mitt waħda .. .' a hundred needles.)

A passage from the Maltese folk-tale Bin il-Mara l-Ghar/a jġib ix-Xebba tal-Ġmiel (TIle Wise Woman's Son brings the Maiden of Beauty), one of the series figuring the' Wise Woman's Son, who may be compared to Hercu­ les in his difficult tasks. (Cp. Fr M. Magri: op. cit., Vol. I, p. 51). , Mserka, n.f. A quill; a kind of weaver's bobbin. According to Magri in the context of the story mserka Zahar means ta needle-case' (Modern Maltese stoċċ, from lt. astuccio). Mimated noun of instrument from ob- ~., solete verb sirek, which cp. with Ar. ,.!ll.':. 'to wind off (thread)', whence ~ 'spun thread'. The Maltese mimated fonn is a local growth created by the local weaving industry. Note the interchange of Maltese and' Arabic r and l. The masculine fonn misrek is sti11 used of a lean man. Mesrek, 'to ply frequently between one place and another', which is a denominative verb from mserka, like mesZa,1i, 'to splutter', from

mselha, 'a broom', from ySLHj is still heard in Gozo. , LEXICAL MATERIAL IN MALTESE FOLKLORE 15

(23) Haġa Mol;ġaġa. Initial formula recited by children when playing at riddles, with which cp. Eng. 'me riddle me riddle', 'come a riddle, come a riddle', 'Ma riddle­ dy, riddledy, rote d'tote', 'Riddle eum riddle cum rawley' (See Archer Taylor: Finglish Riddles from Gral Tradition, University of California Press, 1951, pp. 230-232). Moħġaġa, pp.f., A riddle, a puzzle. Morphologically this word is a par­ ticipial adjective developed from an obsolete verb of the IXth form. Cp, M. mus/ara,' 'pale', fem. adj. from star, 'to grow pate'. Actually, the Ar. .verb is.& 'to' overcome in a dispute', whence the IIIrd form -: ..... , ,," <,>., 'n .. " d ~ , / , ff d 'd ,"" ~'-""VO ~ '-> to argue agamst, an ~L:,.-..j to a or arguments, an ~ 'argument, plea', and 'litigious' (Hava), whence M. moħ ġa­ ġa, thing the meaning of which is disputed, hence 'a riddle'.

(24) Qariuż, Qarin Ż, Qarin Ż, (Qarin Ż, Qarin Ż, Quarin ż ! Ġejt nitolbok wara biebek: I have come to beg at your door: Is-Sena t-tajba, A good New Year, L-għatba mbajjada, The doorstep is whitewashed, Bajjadhielek is-Sultan; The King has whitewashed it for you; Issa hu jrid xi ħaġa Now he expects something from you Imur itiha 'l dawk it-tfal. To give it to those children.) A rhyme which is still heard on New Year's Day in some villages in Gozo. Qarinża was the name given to the serenades'heard on·New Year's Eve, sung by carollers in front of the ·homes of the well-to-do. When some­ one appeared at the window and threw them coins, the carollers sprinkled li me on the doorsteps as an augury of good wishes and prosperity for the new ye'l1: But if no coin was thrown to thein impreċationswere uttered against ·the· inmai:es wllile the walls of the house were befol1led. This eustom is by no means extinct. Our villagers sti11 show their displeasure by throwing dirt at walls and doors. Up to some time ago the word sur­ vived in the nickname Ta' Qarinż. To-day only the memory of the Qarinża remains, but lime is still sprinkled on the floor of market stalls at the Valletta Market on New Year's Day, and at Luqa, up to the Second World War, it was eustomary for the vilhlge sexton or some other vi11ager to sprinkle the doors of the villagers with lime before daybreak on New Year's Day; In Gozo there is the tradition that the Qarinża was discon­ ~:n" .... J ~ku" ~ bund.r:ed yc:ars ago, when one of the company, who was feiIDlin~ Death durin.l! the ceremony, ",,,ruaUy died aad ie was cħen decid­ {?d nM to tevlve the custom. Qarini.a, n.L The Maltese word seems to link up with Algerian iS~~ 'mandoline' (Beaussier). Cp. also W~,.. .. 'guitare - Turkish or Algerhin' 16 J. AQUILINA and J. CASSAR PULLICINO

(Dozy). Rather puzzling is the change of Ar. d into M. ż.

(25) Tabilħaqq li aħnawħudna (It is true that none else but ourselves Sal1abnieh 'il-Iben tiegħek; . have nai1ed YOu! son to the Holy Cross; Fuq l-imqaddes is-salib, A crown of thom on his head ... ) Fuq l-imqaddsa il-kuruna ...

The above lines, heard at Xagħra, Gozo, in the summer of 1942, form part of a folk-prayer called Salve Reġina tad-Duluri ('Salve Regina' of Our Lady of Sorrows) recited by peasant women. In the last two lines the construction· of the adjective and noun, both preceded by the definite article, is very unusual, the usual construction being the noun preceded by the definite article· and followed by the adjective with or without the definite article. This unusual order heightens the poetic effect of the lines .. Uħudna, adv. By ourselves, alone. Common Maltese form is wetJidna. The word is made up of uhud (Ar. pl. ).~I; but N. Afr.Ar ..pl..:>~., (Beaussier» +pronominal suffix na, 'us', first person plural (Ar. + L.;).

(26) L-għajn il-ħamra (May the red eye go away with the sand; Tmur mar-ramla! the black .ey:.~.:w.ith the wave and the L-għajn is-sewda blue eye vanish like lightning!) Tmur mal-mewġa! L-għajn iż-żer.qa Tmur bħal berqa! An exorcism heard at Luqa, Malta. It is a popular belief in Malta that the evil eye may be caused by the three predominant colours of the eye, namely, blue (żerqa), red (tJamra) and black (sewda). The beIief in the magical influence of the eye isalso testified by the following saying: l-gtJajnejn żoroq jisirqu n-nies mit- toroq (blue eyes steal away people from the streets). In this connection it is interesting to note that in Morocco fair eyes inspire much fear among the Arabs of the plains, where sucheyes are rare, and if a blue-eyed person looks at you it is just as if he killed you. AtAndrj~ when a person is suspected of having been l:iurt by the evil eye they use an incantation containing the following passage: A'r1.rju bi lltih m~n l-'ain z-'zarqa u m~n l-'ain l-ġarqa u l· 'a in erJma lat­ ~al[{ si 'ala rasu[u llah. 'I take refuge with God from the blue eye and from the deep-set eye and the eye which. does not pray for the aposde of God'. (See Westermarck: RituaZ and BeZiel in Morocco, 1926, Vol. I, p.420). " Żerqa, adj.f. Blue, ., feminine gender of ~asc.iżraq, pl. ilJroq, both· gen- ders. Cp. fu. "U~.Jfem. of masc. ,,';..)1... pLżUrq, 'blue'. Of one who is stone blind we say that he is agħma iżraq. For the interesting use of iżraq in this adverbial sense cp. Ar. "..; 1t t.:!.>~ 'vjolent death'; ,LEXICAL MATERIAL IN MALTESE FOLKLORE 17

<~.::;:.;~ ~~, 'desp'erate eneniy', literally 'blue-eyed ~nemy' (Hava). , (27) Ġodod! Ġew il-ġodod! (New ones! Here are the new ones, i.e. herrings!) A fish-market, cry peculiar to herring vendors. Ġodod, adj. (Modern Maltese ġodda), plural of ġdid, 'new'. With this pluraI form cp. reguIar Ar. pl. .;~ of sing. ~ 'new'. ,The Maltese pIural ġodda is a IocaI formarion by anaIogy with the plural noun and adjective pattern qotla, like pL tobba, from sing. tabib, 'doctor', and qodma, from sing. ,qadim, ·oId'. (28) •...... (How sorrowful is Fi1omeI, Filomen kemm hi għaljiena Because her Peppu (Joseph) has gone Għax Peppu marilha l-Kalr!' away to Cairo.) Lines from a folk-song collected by Bertha Ilg and published in Malte­ sische Volkslieder im urtext' mit Deutscher Ubersetzung, herausgegeben V0n R Ilg und H. Stumme, Leipzig, 1909, p. 42). Għaljiena, adj.t (Modern Maltese mgħollija, or iddispjacuta, from le; dispiacere). Maltese adjectival formation from għala, jagħli, pp. mgħolli (m)+ ja(f), 'to boil', as in Arabic. But the adjective is a purely Maltese formarion and its figurarive meaning, 'sorrowful' seems to have been influenced by It. bollire, literally 'to boil', as in Maltese and Arabic, but fig~l.fatively 'es~ere 10 agitazione, in sussulto' (ZingarelIi). In Arabic u~ also u~ means 'taH, bulky' (Hava). , (29) ' ... : ...... Hanini ġuvni smajjar, (My beloved is a dark young man, Inklele jarawh għajnejja!' Or else thaes how my eyes see him.) Lines from a Maltese folk-song heard at Munxar, Gozo. Inklele, conj. Otherwise. The more common form is inkella and the less common jekklile. According to Dessoulavy 'De Sacy proposed to read .':1 <.S:.}.J! u~ for Maltese jekklilt'. li. bettei' explanation is that :in­ kella is made up of in, with which cp. Ar. uf 'if', + kell, shortened from A P ikun (Ar. u~ 'iI: be') (final n becoming l by regressive assimilation) + le, Ar .."'1 'no' literally 'if it be not so'. This word is a local formarion.

(30) Dura durel1a! (Little, little hut! .Qasba żagarella, A yard of ribbon Hija l-Abbatija My brother in the orphanage Bil-maktur tal-mustaxija! With a crepe handkerchief! -Axxa! .,...A-tishoo! Missieri mastrudaxxa! My father is a carpenter!) 18 Je AQUILINA and J. CASSAR PULLICINO

O1Udren's doggerel recit:ed during a dng dance. Axxa is a meaningless word added to rhyme with mastrudaxxa'In the last line and.recalls the third line of the Englishgame~rhyme Ring a ri;ng 0' rosies.

Durat n.f. This word conveys a diminutive meaning of dar, 'house' is peculiar to Maltese, and sporadic. A toy house buih of litde stones by children. It is also the name of a semi··circular construcdon about three or four feet high, built of rubble stones and used by bird catchers as a watching place. Cp. Ar. ii...)l.:> 'maisonette', and also ii...)f)..jl ~ «jeu d'enfants», the name of a childt:en's game' (Dozy). Durella is doubly diminutive by the addition of the Ita1ian suffix -ella.

(31) Tutemb! A word used in children's games, meaning 'a pause!' or 'a truce!', In some games, by crying 'tui:emb' or 'tutemba!' one is allowed to go out of play for a ShOlCi: time, thus prevenring the qattus, 'ca!:' > (Tunisian ~)from touching and 'kiHing' him out of the game. Tutemb, adv. Bonelli says that rhis is a hybrid word forItalian 'a tempo'. Phonetlcal.ly a mote .lcceptable explanation is that this word is made up of Sic. to, 'your', + temp, short for Sic. tempu, 'time'. The voicing of final p, as one can see in the variant tutemba, is a result of its phono­ logical junction at the end of a word withpreceding liquid m. Tutemb, which in the original Sicilian meant 'your time, your tum', took the general meaning 'to be one's turn; to be out of the game' because the grammatical meaning of the possessive to was not appreciated by the Maltese-~peaking children. No tutemb given by Bonelli stands for 'no to temp', not your time (tum), For further· usage of Maltese no in child­ ren's games also with Semitic verbs cL no qbadtni;'You haveri't· caught me'

B, P.ROVERBS AND OTHER SA YlNGS

These have been grouped under two headings, i,e, (i) proverbs of every, day life, and (li) weather-proverbs and sayings, Grammatical explanation is given only in some cases of unusual plural or verbal forms, We have retained the traditional forms given by VassaIli, De Soldanis or other early collectors of sayings, as the modemised form may have been slightly modified in the course of its passage to our generation.

(i) Proverbs of everyday life

(32) (a) Il-amar u s-smigħ bħad~ (Order and obedience are like a beat daqqa u l-ħoss and its sound.) LEXICAL MATERJAL IN MALTESE. FOLKLORE 19

(b) Li jien kont emir, u int (lfl were master and you were kont emir, master, Kieku min isuq il-ħmir? Which of us would drive the asses?) Amar, v. t. ",To command. Cp. Ar. A whence.;fi 'order' or 'decree', and Ar.~i 'chief, prince', with which cp. M. amar, 'an order' and emir (obs.), 'leader'.

(33) Asaħħ kelmet il-Malti (You can trust the word (pledge) of Minn ħalfet is-Sultan. a Maltese more than that of a King. lit. 'the word of a Maltese is stronger than the oath of a King'.) The Grand Master of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem was known as is-Sultan. This meaning survives in some place-names, such as Bieb is­ Sultan, 'the Grandmaster's Gate', as well as in such sayings as il-bejta tas-Sultan or fejn jamar is-Sultan, 'the Grand Master's nest' applied to Valletta, the capital, and taħdem għall-f;abba tas-Sultan, 'to work for the Grand Master's pittance' (literally 'grain', one twelfthof a penny). Asaħħ, adj. Stronger. This is the archaic relative of sħiħ, 'strong' ,. con­ forming to the now arcI.;.ais pattern of adjectives with second and third radicals alike. Cp. Ar. ~i 'more glorious', from ~ 'glorious' ..

(34) Fuq il-binnija tidden is-sriedek (The cocks crow on the egg-nest, Kull ma tagħmel turihx 'l Do not let your children know all uliedek. you do.) Binnija" n.f. The secret place where hens lay their eggs and brood. Cp. Ar. t>~:: (also b;.~) 'structure', from Ar. ~ (M. bena), 'to build'. This word is local in its meaning and form.

(35) Aħna li m' għandniex immorru (We that have not go to those who . Għand min għandu u jdorru. have more than is good for them.) Darr, v.t. To injure or harm (bad food), from Ar . "'--..J"'> 'to harm, to injure'. (36) Mara bil-lejl dellha tqil. (Heavy: evil) is the shadow of a woman wandering about by night.) The Maltese ·still believe in the evil influences of certain days, seasons or persons. Thus, Fridays are of evil omen, and so is the month of May. Care is taken not to begin work on a Friday, while some also avoid marrying in May, which is considered as the month of misfortune. A woman seen wandering about at night was likewise associated with bad luck. Dell, n.m. Shadow and, figuratively, omen. Cp. Ar.. ~ 'shadow'. The association of dell with an omen of misfortune, as in the expression 20 J, AQUILINA and J, CASSAR PULLICINO

dellu tqil, lk 'his shadow is heavy', seems t~ be a Westem supersti­ tion, lbe Maltese dell is a sort of i55-1 the like of which Westermarck seems to have recorded in his work 'Ritual and Belief in Morocco' The Maltese meaning seems to be derived from that of the Latin umbra,. whence Eng, 'The Shades', meaning 'The Abode of Spirits, Death', and the !taHan 'le ombre'

(37) (a). n·għadu biex [ietek biesek, (yOUl enemy kissed you to cheat you, U int biex tfutu, aqleb fuqu And you, to cheat him, will tum against him) (b) Wisq drabi Homm ilU! (Very often the mouth betrays the il'qalb. heari:.) Fiel:, iful:, v t To cheat Dessoulavy wl'Ongly derives me Maltese verb horn Ar:. ~ 'to miss', and ,=t..:1i 'to cause. to miss' It derives from Ii:. [ottere, Lat1fi [utuo, 'to cheat, to have sexual intercourse with', whichagrees with the meaning this verb has in Maltese. Fotta, i[otti, having the same meaning, is a modem loan,·word, !ts Sem1tlc equiva­ len!: ħexa, jaħxi, meamng, like [iet and [otta, 'to cheai:' and also 'to have sexual inter:course with', which··is thelr original meaning 10 !taHan and Latin.

(39) Ir-ragħa fil" ġbis ma jsem1!linx (Feeding on stubble wi1l not fatten the catde ) Gbis; n.m. Stubble (Falzon and Caruana). According to De Soldanis, quoted by Va.s sa 11i, ġbis is 'term che sl trova circolatmente nella creta, e con cul i creta!:i danno lustr:o 0 vemice ai loli'O vasi non corti', Cp. Ar ..~ 'to become dty' (Hava), whence 'Y.. ~ 'pain sec, pain azyme' (Kazimirsky and Hava), Maltese ġbis and A;..~ shate the idea of dryness, but the M word is applied to dry str;w or stubble, whexeas the Ax< indicates dry bread, The M, word, though written with an sas the third radical, should really be Wl.'1tten with a Ż, In Maltese voiced consonants al: the end of a word are unvoiced and this explains why Maltese lexicographers have' writl:en the word with'a final s.

(39) (a) Qagħad id-dar ma fihx għar, (Staying at home brings no shame,)

(b) Għall-għera· u l-għar il-fqir (On account of his poverty (lit, jitrekken ġewwa d-dar:, nudity) and shame the poor man hides himself at home,)

(c) I1 għajb igħajjeb u l~għar (Equivalent to '!t's a case of the pot igħajjar, calling the kettle black'; lit, dis~ grace disgraces and shame shames',) LEXICAL MATERIAL·IN MALTESE FOLKLORE 21

(d) Il faqar mhuwiex gf;ar. (Poverty is no shame.) These four proverbs show the prevalence of the fear of shame or dis­ grace in life .. Ghar, n.m. Shame, disgrace. Cp, Ar'.JLf ('shame, disgrace, vice'(se­ cond radical ,) -Hava. With the Maltese plural gf;awar, o'ccurring in the proverb il-tfal jikxfu l-gf;awar, 'children betray secrets', cp .. the Ar. plural.J~ in which note the interchange of M. w and Ar. j; and for the opposite phenomenon cp. M.qajjem, 'to awaken', second form of Ar.. f>U 'to rise' .. The M. word gf;ar occurs generally jointly with: każa, forming the complete.: word gf;arukaża (gf;ar + u + każa),

'disgraceL cause for scandal'• .Każa is used as a verb in the sixth form only, tkaża, 'to express (generally self-complacently) astonishment at someone else's shortcomings', .whence the Maltese proverb min· jitkaża jaqa' fil-każa, 'he who affects surprise at his neighbour's shortcomings will himself fall short of perfection' (lit. 'fall into disgrace'). The Maltese verb se~ms to be connected with . j~ and ....r.s~ "de tra ctor, and • su 5 surru 5 , (Dozy), whence the basic idea of the M. verb tkaża, that is, the scandal-monger's mischievous whisperings. Każa and tkaż~' are otherwise local formations. An interesting example of mixed . Maltese is the adjective każajr, 'onewho self-complacently expresses astonishment at his neighbour's shortcomings', also 'one who is im­ pertinently inquisitive'. The word is made up of the noun każa + Ro­ mance adj. suffix ajr, from Ie. aro.

(40) Fin-niket u fil hmum' (Friends and relative indeed are Jidhru l-ħbieb u l-egf;mum. known in times of distress and need.), Hmum, n.m. Griefs, worries. Plural of hemm. Cp. Ar,"~ 'anxiety, care', pI. .~~ (Hava) , whenc~ .~ (M .. hammem), 'inq~ieter' (Beaussier).. Hava gives the fifth. form.~ 'to be anxious about, to searcha thing' . Ghemum, n.m. (Modem Maltese zijiet, irrespective of the maternal or patemal side) plural of gf;amm, 'paternal uncle'. Cp. Ar .... ~ having the same meaning, pI. ~~ the feminine of which.is -t.;;; (M. gf;ammt) .. ,patemal aunt' , made up of fem. sing. gf;amma and surviving t mar­ buta) Ar. pI. ,•. ~ t.'c. (M. pI. gf;ammiet)

(41) (a) M' għandux gf;axa ta' lejla. (He can't even afford a night's supper.)

(b) Għax it.ttekel għal ġaru (Becuase he counted upon the assis­ Baqa' blagf;4xa f'daru. tance of his neighbour he had to sleep without his supper.) 22 Jo AQUILINA and J, CASSAR PULLICINO

Għaxa, n,t Nomen unitatis from M, verb għax, 'to live'; Ar'if~which, like għajxien, 'a livelihood, a living', is a Iocal growtho With. għaxa, which :according to the more· common Maltese pat:tem should be għaxja, also heard, cp, M, żieda, 'an addition', from żad (or żied), iżid, 'to add', Ar. .b 1• .'.-s. 'living' and J;;~ 'food' (Hava), Examples ?f the more common M. nominal pattem from hol1ow verbs are sejba, 'a treasure trove', from sab, 'to Hnd'; bajda, 'an egg', from bad (or bied), 'to lay eggs', sajra, 'a good cooking', from sar, 'to cook'; and tajra, 'a fowl', from tar, 'to fly', .

(42) Dak li jħobb jixrob l~ilma (He who likes· drinking water only ma jagħletxfil,-kilma, . won't utterthe wrong word,)

Għalet, v,t, To commit a misl:ake; in modem Maltese żbaIJ'a,' from It, sba- . ~ gliare, Cp. Ar ~ 'to commit a mistake, a slip' and ili (M, għallat, 'to deceive, to attribute amistake to'; .h'l.b(M, .għilt, 'mistake') "'a slip, mistake, lapse', and ~ 'a slip, a mistake' (Hava). Elias gives the third form of .hU: (Egyptian) in the Maltese sense of g~allat (second form) 'to swindle, to cheae, Dozy quotes also the fifth form meaning "errare' from Schiapparelli's 'Vocabulista' (Florence, 1871), corresporilling to its Maltese equivalent 'to deceive oneself' or "to be deceived'. The form is also given by Hava in

(43) Il-għana mill-għanem, u (Wealthfrom cattle, and cattle pro- l-għanem iġib il·għana, . duce wealth;). // Għanem, n.colL Herd, drove, cattle, The word· corresponds to A r .~

'sheep, ewes, goats' 0 Caruana gi ves gt.Janen instead o( għanem, which. must be a misprint ..

(44) (a)Il-mewi: dejjem b'xi għilla. (There must always be some cause for death.).

".,(b) Kulħadd b'xi għilla, (None without trouble,) ,~. GħiHa, n,€- Disease, Cause, Cp. AF:, ill'" 'misfortune', from '1:0 be HI', In·Maltese we have għallel, 'l:odevitaHse, to weaken', andtgt.Jal~ lel, '1:0 giOW weak? to lose energy' whence M, pp, mgħallel, 'devital­ ised, weakened', rozms which :aze noi: recorded in the Maltese dicttono aries .. Wiidl: cll~ meaning of the Maltese second rorm .. cp, the Arabic fOUith: fOim j:2i 'to armc;l: w~ili. a clisease',' Cp, also ~ 'eo adduce pleas, exc."Uses· and ~ 'Effid.eni: cause~ illness' (Ha,,·a). LEXICAL MA TERIAL iN MALTESE FOLICLORE 23

(45) (a) Zelaq darba, ħareġ ħabru (He s1ipped once, and sooo eveiYcne mad<>dinja .. came to Imow of .k)

(b) Agħti, Mulej is~sabar sa (Give, 0 Lord, patience till deatħ~ daqq il-ħabar, lmelL)

Habar, nm. Rumour, death,'~eIL. For Maltese meaning of death~lmell cp. Syrian Ar ~ pl. ,.J~i 'nouvelle de la morte' (Barthelemy). For the other Maltese meanings cp,. also Ar, ,.:.;.i pL..J4t 'information, news, notice' (Hava) Maltese ħabar in the sense of death<>lmell is presumably the original word used before it was replaced by modern agunija, and, like other Semitic Christian words such. as qTar, •confes,· sion', tqarbin, 'communion', etc" was very likely originally introduced into Malta by Maronite missionaries,

(46) {a)Aħjarimqattgħa u ħo"a (Betl:er an honest gid in rags i:han a inkella ghanja u morra, richbut eviloi:ongued one,)

(b) Fiż"żwieġ tfittix iSosoffa~ (In marriage do nol: ask for i:he Hu tifla fqira u ħo"a, bundle (riehes, wealth), but choose a poor and honest girL) Hona, adj.f Honest, unpolluted, Cp. Ar ... ~ 'free-born, generous, pure, unmixed' also 'frank, speaking plainly' (dialect of Syria: (Hava), which, in RAfrica, may also lndicatei:he virtue of legitimacy of birth; from Ar.,~ 'to be freed (slave), i:o be free-horn (man)' (Hava) .With the Maltese meaning ep, N, Air. Ar, .-.r:;. 'Hbre, bien nee,vertueuse' (Beaussier), Spiro Bey explains ii:; /i..ro as 'a respectable woman' In Arabic one describes a .:; ( + 1< fem,) anyi:h.ing i:hal: is pUl.'e 01' unmixed such :as gold, language and one's birth; (47) Min ma jraqqa' jo!;la f'daqqa (He i:hat does noi: mend comes to min quiekly,) .

Hela, v, t, To· come to min, Cp, Ar, ~ 'to become destitute or poor' 0 The Maltese verb in form corresponds to Ar ~ 'ro beeome vacant (place)' (Hava), and, in the dialect of N Africa also 'devaster, depeupler' (Beaussier), ,The better known mean.ing of M.ħela, 'to waste or to squander', is IoeaL .' ," (48)' . L<>ulied (Were li: not for love Jekk ma jeħtebbux it would not be easy to Ma jittabbux'. bring up children.)

Htebb, vJnt, To be loved or cherished, Elghi:h 'form of Mall:eseo A2'abic ~ t,v." '1:0 love or to chedsh~- ,The eighth'foim is a Mal~ese growi:h:noi: found in oi:her Arabic Dict1onanes, 24 J. AQUILINA and J. CASSAR PULLICINO

(49) (a) Għad illi marru l-'ħwietem (Though.the rings have gone yet baqgħu s~swaba'. the fingers remain.)

(b) Għal1-ħwietem u għal1-imsielet (In order to buy rings and ear­ Illum baqgħet xejn ma kielet. rings to-day she remained without hermeaL)

The ħatem is also associated with. the popular exorcisms recited to cure the eye disease cal1ed Pterygium, hence the Maltese name Ħatem tal­ Qarnita (Vide No. 11 (b». Hatem, pL .1iwietem, n.m. Seal, ring. In Modern Maltese we use ċurkett, It. cerchietto, 'ane1lino' (Zingare1li).. The Maltese word corresponds to Ar. H-.w:. pL :HI~ (M . .1iwietem), 'a ring, or signet-ring' ..

(50) Il-ħazin ilgħablu l-ħajna. (With an evil person use deceit.) Hajna, n.f. Deceit, fraud.This word looks like the feminine adjective of 1iajjen, 'malicious' (Ar ~0.) used nominally. It deri ves from M. ,ħan (m . .IP,. ,me1ijun, (+ a, fem.) 'to deceive, to cheat', corresponding to Ar. :(.)\3. 'to betray, to embezzle', whence ~~ 'a perfidy, breach :of trust', with. which. cp. M. 1ijiena, 'malice'. In the dialect of Gozo a half-witted man who is easily taken in or fooled is described as bla 1ijiena, 'silly', (lit. without malice).

(51) Mhix kull ħożża tistor il"bażwa.. (h's not every rug that hides a rapture,)

Hożża, n.g. Girdle, drawers. The Maltese word corresponds to N. Afr. ~ .'. . . Ar ..ii,:p. pL .J::P- (M . .1iożoż), 'coulisse de l~ ceinture d'un pantalon: (Beaussier). Dessoulavy derives it from Ar. iij;: a reduction of /'Y, as explained in Freytag. Dozy in his Dictionnaire DitailIe des Noms des Vetemfmts chez les Arabes (Amsterdam, 184-5, p. 139) writes: 'On ~~ 4 sait que iij> designe en arabe la coulisse par ou pass la ~ c'es~ a-dire la ceinture qui sert a attacher le cale~on. A Malte, le mot ħożża au pluriel 1iiżai: (not in Maltese dictionaries which give ħożoz, cp, idiom donnok ħożoż, said of a shabbily dressed person) a re~ une acceptidn plus etenduej ~l y designe de nos jours le cale~on avec la ceinture' (Voyez Vassalli, Lexicon Melitense, col. 262).

(52) Hajja dejjem imxuma aħjar (Better deaththan a life of il-mewt minnha. privations.) Mxuma, pp.f. F~ll of priva~on (poor man's life). With t!}e Maltese word cp .. Ar.. ~-'~ also ~~ 'inauspicious', from Ar. /t..i. 'to draw ilI luck upon' (Hava) .. LEXICAL MATERJAL IN MALTESE FOLKLORE 25

(53) Taħsel ras il-ħmar titlef (Washing a donkey's head is sheer il~lissija u s~sapun, waste of lye and soap,) With this proverb cp, ,!to 'Chi lava la testa all'asino, perde il ranno e i1 sapone'; Fr, 'A laver la tete d'un ane, on perd son savon'; Sp; 'Laver P cabeza de asno, perdimento de jabon , Germ. 'Wer den Esel mit Seife wascht, hat schlechten Lohn davon'; Eng, 'He that was,hes an ass's head, shalllose both lye and his labour", Ussnja, n.t Lye, From Sic, Lissia (Barbera), Marzano in his Dizionario Etimologico dei Dialetto Calabrese (1929) gives also Lissia, 'ranno,

liscivia' p ffOm Latin lixivia, whence It. liscivia, and Maltese verb /issa, ilissi, 'to wash with lye' (Falzon),

(54) (a) Kulħadd b'xi fula. (Everyone has got his own trouble.)

(b) LuZa għalikom, ja boloh, (Woe to you, fools, if you don't heed jekk ma tisimgħux minni my words,) Luia, n.t 'woe! is originally a composite word made up of article l + uZa, the latter short for obsolete għula, 'woe', with which cp,Ar. J~ 'pain· ful affair, lamentation' (Hava), and ~ 5l,; J';;. 'woe to him', which agrees with .the use of the Maltese word in fula ghalikom! 'woe to you!' The feminine fOim is purely Maltese; though final a may also be the accusative ending of the Arabic word in the minatory phrase given.

(55) Min irid iJ.·lillu (He who wants finery must go on Jishar lejIu killu, working all the night,) Lil1u, n.m. Finery. Dessoulavy has omitted this word while Barbera has derived lt from AL ~ (M il-helu), k a dolce, But the Maltese wOfd corfesponds to the Sicilian lilla, 'panno vergato', and more close·· ly to halian lillo, 'omamento vano', whence ,lillato, 'omato di lilli' (Zingafelli), The word kilZu, rhyming with liZZu, is a dialectal form common in Gozo and in some Maltese villages, ,

(56) Irħis, u m'erhsu dan i1~laħam, (This meat couldn't be cheapef than Iżda la meraq u la xaħam. li: is; but it is without gravy or fat.)

MPerħsu. Exclamation. This composite wOfd, which is not given in dic~ cionades, means 'What cheaper than?' It is made up of preformative m reduced from ma, corresponding to Af. ~ expressive of surprise and wonder, followed by the third person singular, masculine, perfecl: tense of the fOl1rth .form of the verb RoHoS, 'to be cheap', + pronominal suffix fi, in Ar. ~ The Maltese verb rohos, corresDonds to Ar. '/ //o;y: ~J 'to abate (price)" of which: the fourth: form ~JI means 'to 26 J. AQUILINA and J. CASSAR PULLICINO

purehase something eheap'. Literally merħsu means 'What ean one buy eheaper than this?'. Only a few other examples of this grammacieal form survive in Maltese, Le. M'isbaħ l-indafa!, 'What is more beautiful than cleanliness?'; M'akbrek, Mulej, 'How great thou art, 0 Lord!', and M'isbaħna għal min jaf jarana!, 'What a fine figure we cut for anyone with an eye to see'; M'isbaħ is-sikta!. 'How delightful is silenee". Sutcliffe (op. ci!. p.l09) eonsiders these expressions as eurious sur­ vivals of the fourth'derived Form of the verb, He says: 'In spite of the resemblanee in form to the eomparative the addicion of the pronominal suffix shows that this eannot be a eomparative .. , . .on aeeouni: of its resemblanee to the eomparative this form has eome to be tteated as sueh, e.g. M'isbaħ l-indafa, 'what a fine thing is cleanliness'. Henee it may be said that in this constmetion in Maltese the word used is a eomparative voealization, and a·verb in its ability to take pronominal suffixes' .

(57) (a) Aħjar għerfek min mwielek. . (Better your wisdom th~n your riehes.) (b) Dari dari, u darek darek, (My house is my house and your' Mieli mieli, u mielek mielek. house is your house; My property is my property and your property is your property.) . The proverb embodies the idea eontained in the Latin maxim 'unicuique suum tribuere'. Aecording to Caruana, a street in Rabat inhabited by the rieh :and the noble was known as 'Ta' l-imwiel' (lit. the street of the rieh.) Miel, n.m.pL mwiel. Estates, riehes. Cp. Ar. JL;;; pL j!~ 'floeks, wealth'. This word oecurs also in ras il-miel, 'eapital whereon intereSi: mns', _.a very arehaie word whieh has noi:' died out altogether (ep. Ar. Jc:;. ~~). Maltese plaee-n.ame Bormla seems t~o be made up of Bur, 'uneultivated land', (Ar.,.J~) + mula, from Ar ..~~ meaning 'Lord' from cs;}; and therefore has no eonneetion with miel. But ep. also ;U~ 'Pl. of JL:;;; rieh, wealthy man, or sing. fem. gender.

(58) (a) Mejju mirjieħ, b'kull deni (May is windYj look out for all sorts stennieh. of harm.)

(b) Mej ju mirjieħ, jaqleb il­ (May is so windy that it overtums wiċċ u l-qiegħ .. both the surfaee and the bottom.) Mirjieħ, adj .m. Windy. The eorresponding Arabie word is C-7..f 'windy (day)' (Hava), but the Maltese form foHows the pattem meQTieL, the participial deseriptive pattem from verbs of the ninth form like mid­ biel, 'withered', from dbiel, 'to wither', (Ar. ~S) and like misnieħ, LEXICAL MATERIAL IN MALTESE FOLKLORE 27

'rancid' from snieħ, 'to grow rancid' (Ar. & ), indicating the acquisi­ tion of a quality which may be good or bad~

(59) Kull miktub kien moqul; (All that is written has been said Sata' jkun migdub u mirqum .. before; it could have been invent­ ed and embellished.) According to Vassalli, this proverb implies disbelief. Moqul, pp.m. of qal, 'to say', which is defective, used only in the third person singular masculine and feminine, in the third person plural of the perfect, and in the seventh form, its omissions being supplied by the verb għad, 'to say' (Cp, Ar. .,)L:C ( 'to repe~it~). The corresponding Ar. JU; is regular in Classical Arabic .. With M. moqul cp. Ar. J~ and J-,~ 'said, word' (Hava).

(60) L-Imżu:ti ma fihx ħajr. (A squeamish person makes un~ pleasant company,) Miużi, adj.m. Nauseating, From ..jMZ:Z, 'to be smelly', whence . the other form of M. miżż, 'having a disagreeable smel1' like duck's flesh. The Maltese verb links up withAx.. ~ 'to be sour (beverage):, whence the Arabic adjective.:;' (m), ii~ (f) 'soue' (Maltese miżż (m), miżża (f), The adjectival pauern of mżużi is a Iocal formation,

(61)(a) Fih kemm in-namar Alla. (There is an innumerable quandty)

(b) Itdn għamel namar Alla s-sena,(Thls year figs are abundant.) Namar, n,m. Abundance, a great number of In the dialectal Arabic of Egypt and Syria we find )0::. '(0 number', a verbal formation from Latin numerus. This word, which is not l:ecorded by Beaussier, may have reached Malta through':Syrian Arabic.

(62)(a) Dejjem inażi u qatt ma jmut. (Hels always at the last gasp but never dies.)

(b) Waqt in~niżi, jekk ikollu dan (Ar one's last gasp, if one h"s time,) Naia, v.int, 'To be in one's agony'. Etymologically the Maltese verb should be written with fin.al għ. Cp. Ar, tJ.J and t:Li (third form) 'to be in the pangs of death', whence Af. tj..J 'pangs of death' (Hava)o With the Maltese phrase waqt in-niżi or fin-ni:ti cp, Aro tjU! ~ 'a l'agonie' (Beaussier). As the Maltese verb occurs in the saying dejjem inażi u. qatt ma jmut, the verb follows the conjunction of the third form of verbs with final j like iqari (No. 8) and imieri, 'he cont~adicts', that is to say, the Maltese verb, dropj>ing final radical għ (Ar. t ), has been 28 J. AQUILINA and J. CASSAR PULLICINO

assimilated to verbs of the third form having' j for a third radieal.

(63) Ġurdien qluqi qatt far ma jsir.. (A wandering mouse will never beeome a rat.) Qluqi, adj .m. Fidgety, unstable. Adjeetival form from Maltese qiZeq, with. whieh ep. Ar. W 'to be restless' (Hava), and Tunisian qoloq, 'e.tre ,. ., "'<:; ennui'. (Bernadeau). 'Dozy gives ~ 'inquiet'. En parlant d'un eheval qui par inquietude ne peut se tenir en repos quand il est sous le eava­ !ier'. The Maltese form is given by Beaussier with inter-eonsonantal a between the first and seeond radieals, meaning 'impatient, irritable, restless' .

(64)(a) Hsibt u rajt bejni u bejn Rabbi. (I have thought and decided between myself and my Lord.)

(b) Rabbna jagħmel! (The Lord's will be done.) Rabbi, n.m. Grammatieally the meaning is 'My Lord', the word being made up of obsolete rabb and first person singular pronominal suffix. Cp. Ar. ..;:.; 'the Lord, master'. The word is reeorded by Vassalli in his eolleetion of proverbs, where he says: 'detto in oggi rara, e rim­ piazzato da 'Jagħmel Alla'. Rabb, dizione araba, forse portata da qualche sehiavo venduto in eampagna. Al.trimenti sara ebraiea, e vale 'il maestro faecia'. Quando io la udii per la prima volta, mi feee sen­ sazione, ma il senso era per il grande artefiee'.

(65) (a) Il-ħidma fil-btala (Work on feast days eauses min iġġib is-siba u l··ħala. and waste.)

(b) Barrani jaħlik, ġewwieni . (An outsider mins you, but a rela­ jisbik. tive enslaves you.) Siba, n.f. Slavery, enslavement. With Maltese verb siba, jisbi, "to enslave, .to min', ep. Ar . .;;;.:, 'to take eaptiv~' (Hava), with !ts eognate nouns ..~ and 1~ . Misba, 'pirate lair', given by Camana, seems to be a Ioeal formation.

(66) Dak li jidra jgħix bis-sisija (He who get"s used to live on Aħjar minn biż-żewġ fil-Hemsija. eharity fares better than the farmer who owns a double plough at Hemsija.) Sisija, n.f. Barbera wrongly derives this word from Maltese saqsa, 'to ask', Ar ~ 'interroger' (Beaussier), while Dessoulavy 1inks it up with ~~ 'a beggar' (Roland de Bussy) whence M. sisija, adding that 'formerly a link was sought with the Persian LJL...L... 'a beggar', thus LEXICAL MATERIAL IN MALTESE FOLKLORE 29

connecting with the tale of the founder of the Sassanian dynasty. his now taken to be a reduction from a noun from istaqsa'. But the proposed reduction of sisija from saqsa, 'to ask', is phonetically unsatisfactory. If the word is Semitic at all, one may suggest a possible connection with Ar. U"L:. 'to manage an affair', whence ~'-S 'politics'; also 'habilite' (Dozy). Beaussier givesthe phrase ~~L,. ~do\lcement, tout beau'. Semantically, the connection may be explained on the ground that begging isvery often considered asan attempt to live by one's wits at other people'sexpense. For a SemiticMaltese form cp. binnija (Vide No. 34), 'a place where hens lay their eggs', and tusija, 'an admonition'.

(67) Iġġorr, iġġorr, sa l-bajda ltO". (It (bird) carries (the straw) till it lays its eggs.) Tarr, v. t. 'To lay eggs, push. them out'. Cp. Ar. .~' 'to drive away' (Hava), 'rebuter, repousser' (Beaussier). Cp. also':' 'to fall from a terrace, to grow forth, plant, mustache (Hava)'.

(68) Tbit; imsaħħan jingħarafminn (You can tell warmedup soup by its togħmtu. taste.)

Thiħ, Verbal noun from tebah, 'to dress meat, to cook' (Falzon), with. which cp. Ar.. e:;~ 'cooking of a dish; cookedfood' (Hava), from ~ 'to cook meat'.

(69) Hajja din ta' kul u ixrob, (This life is· just eat and drink, orqod u tterat:J. sleep and stretch yourself (in bed». Teraħ; v;t._T~ dissolve, mel t indigo or paint; to s~etc3 out; to cripple. Cp. Ar c..~ 'to fling or cast away', and Syrian ~...,rb 'miscarried' (cp. Maltese bajda mitruha, 'a prematurely laid egg'; also it-tiġieġa titrah il-bajd', 'the hen lays her eggs prematurely'). With the Maltese noun ter!;!. cp. Ar.~:;t. 'Persian mantle', with. Maltese· te"iet;a cp. Ar. ~ I~ 'square mattress'. With the Maltese mimatednoun mitrat;, 'Mattress', cp. N. Afr. Ar. c~ 'matelas a une place' (Beaussier) which, ili non-dialectal Arabic, means 'a place where a thing is thrown'. (70) Armel u mrabbab ma fihx (A widowerwith step-children is not x' ittellet. worth marrying for the third time.) Imrabbab, pp.m. of rabba, in Arabic, 'to bring up a child', hence imrabbab means 'a person that has been brought up'. This word is an active participlemeaning 'one that has brought up children'. In Arabic ";-'~~ (M. rbib) means 'a stepson or stepfather'. 30 J. AQUILINA and J. CASSAR PULLICINO

/. -' Tellet, v. t. To make threefold, to triplieate. Cp. Ar ..i1j 'to triplieate' (Hava).

(71) I1-kromb bla widek bħal (Turnips without meat-fat are like widna bla widafj. ears without wax.)

~=-,-----_~ _This prQ.verb emphasizes the importanee of fat in making the loeal ~ri;;ty--~f ;;;eat-soup ealled kawlata (It. cavolo + ata: loeal fromation). Widek, n.m. Any greasy substanee. Cp. Ar .!iS:; 'grease, gravy' (Hava). Widaħ, n.m. Ear wax. The Maltese meaning agrees with Ar.~; 'salete' given by Dozy. Otherwise the usual Arabie meaning is different.

(72) Alla jxiegħel il-battal. (May God provide work for the idle.)

Xieghel, V.t. To employ; to divert (the attention). Third form Maltese verbs having (e) or ~ for a seeond radieal are incapable of reduplicat­ ing their radieals. They can adopt the third form instead, which eor­ responds to Ar. seeond form. With Maltese xiegf;el ep. Ar. ~ 'to give muehworkto' (Hava); 'donner de l'oceupation' (Bea:J.ssier).-

(73) Fid-dar kollox jixtamba, sa (There is use for everything in the r-rmied tal-kenun. house, even the ashes.) Xtamba, v. t. To be needed, or in demand. This verb is a curious formation made up of indefinite pronoun xi (Ar. ~.'(? 'thing') 'what' and the verb amba, which in its turn is a reduction ~f gfjamel (Ar. ~ ) bi (Ar. ~) 'to need" --ro make use' df', literally: 'to do WIth). Consonarit t is the infix of the eighth form as in xtewa 'to be roasted'. This verb is a loeal formation.

(ii) Weather Proverbs and Sayings

(74) (a) Mill-Milied il-fuq (From Xmas onwad. hunger strikes I1-ġuħ jibda jagħti bil-buq. with the staff.) A Christmas saying.

(b) Haġa moħġaġa: (Riddle me riddle: One and two Wieħed u tnejn mhuma xejn, count for nothing; two or three Tnejn u tlieta logħob u hlieqa count for a joke; from three on- Minn tlieta 'l fuq jagħtu bil-buq. wards they strike with a stiek.) The answer to this still eurrent riddle heard at Birkirkara (Malta) is 'children'. Buq, n.m. A hollow reed. I have also heard the word buq used in the seeondary sense of 'eyelid' in the phrase il-buq tal-għajn (Munxar LEXICAL MATERIAL'Ilii~ALTESE FOLKLORE 31

. Gozo) , which.is anknown'in Arabic-:The meaning of Maltesebuq seems to ·be associated· with the use of the reed(cp. M. żUmmara, Ar. ii'::;c:..J' 'a reed pipe') as·a sort of flageolet, with·:which .cp. Ar. ~ (p1. d I~' M. ..bwieq), 'ttumpet,· bugle!, whence Ar.. ~ 'to !ie', (cp. It. strom­ pettare aild·sttombazzar~,"to· boast publicly',' from trombetta, 'trumpet') whereas the meaning of the Maltese· fifth·.form tbewwaq is derived from the primary.Maltese meaning, of hollowness, ~to· become hollow', which: is unknown in ·other Arabic ·dialects, but occurs ·in the Hebrew fem. noun li? ~ ::l'emptiness, . devastation'. The Maltese ·word occurs also' in the idiom ma jibżax minn daqq il-buq (or tabal),literaUy the is not afraidof the sound of the reed-pipe (or drum)', i.e. the is a brave, courageous man, not easily frightened'.

(75) La jiġil-Milied (WbenXmas·comes, keep Arfa' xkubettietek your fowling-piece on . Fuq il-farxa·tal-bieb•. the shelf over the door.>, Farxa, n.f.·Besides the meaning 'a board· sustaining the door-post' re­ corded·in the Maltese dictionaries, farxa·indicates.also a sort of wood­ en board·or she1f on which : the week's loaves are kept. Thus in Gozo one speaks of i/-farxa· tal ħobz, 'the loaves' board'; ħobzufuq i/·farxa, 'his loaves are on the bread-shelf'··i.e. he is·well-off; and of a very tall·man ·itis said jilħaqha l.[arxa!, 'he reaches· the bread-shelf'. In Arabic :a'~ means 'bed, mattress!, linking up with. Maltese friex, 'bedding!. :The Maltese·meaning, 'wooden board', unrecordedin Arabic dictionaries, links up with,the secondary.meaning of<.F~ 'to furnish (a house)' ..

(76) Sal-Milied (up to Cbristmas there is neither La bard· u lanql!s, ġwieħ. cold nor hunger.) For a similar idea cp. proverbunder No. 74a. Ġwi.. eħ, (but etymologically ġwiegp,,'pt,of ġuħ (etymologically ġugħ, Ar. G. 'hunger'). This Maltese plural ·form has ·been provoked by :the necessity of assonance with. Milied, 'Cbristmas'. It is otherwise un­ known in spoken Maltese and in Arabic. The proverb mns also .Sal­ Milied la brud u lanqas ġwief5, in which .note the plural formation brud, alsounheard ·in ordinary speech, from sing. masc. M. and Ar . .,):;'; 'cold' .. The plural formation brud grammatically agrees with plural ġwief5 in the same line.

(77) Meta·tara·l-beraq . (When YO\l see lightning make sure . Lestil-girna fejn tintebaq .. you have a shelter to go into.) 32 J. AQUILINA and J. CASSAR PULLICINO

Girna, n.f. This·word·indicates·anancient conical·construction built 'of unplastered and undressed stone. 'The giren (pl.) are· very frequent1n some partsof Malta and Gozo and iq Sardinia, where such :constructions are called nuraghe. The meaning of Maltese· goma or gima does not agree with:Sicilianguma, which:indicates a 'iicettacolo·d'acqua sta­ gnante nel quale si pratica la macerazione deI lino, dei canape' (Traina), a·word which;according to Giacomo de Gregorio (Studii Glet­ tologici ltaliani, Vol. IIl) derives from Latin·uma withdnitial addition of g a,sin the place-name Gruwa from Sic. rua, and in the Maltese­ Sicilian suroame Grima, from Latin rima. But the Maltese word seems to link .up .with:Ar~ 'uft 'a pestle, stone 'basin' and in Syrian, 'stone mortar', from Ar. uft 'to heap, lay·in a heap' (Hava), which:provides the radicals of the Maltese word. Cp. also ()-:'..ft 'threshing place, dry­ ing place for dates' (Hava), linking up' with :H;brew 7'l.:'lwhich :besides 'an open place at· the gate of a city' means also .;; threshing floor, com of the floor'. Grammatically gima is a noun of unity, literal1y meaning ta heap orpile of stones', which:iswhatit·looks like to the' passer-by ..

(78) Marzu (March, saturatelwith.water, BI-ilma xebgħan, quickens the harvest and there !talla' ġbira will be a larger quantity of wneai:.) U gozz ikbar ikun tat-tgħam. Gbira, n.t·A collection, a quantity of. A noun of unity from Maltese ġabar, to col1ect', but in Arabicit means 'to set a broken bone, to restore one's business' (Hava). ii5.~ ;..;. means 'leather bag' (Hava and Beaussier). Maltese ġabar agreeswith,N. Afr. ~~ 'trouver, retrouver, rencontrer' (Beaussier),. and ~~ (fourth.form) 'recouvrex; acquerir de nouveau une chose qu'on avait perdue'; 'c;:obrar·lo perdido'-Alcala (Dozy). Maltese ġbira is a Iocal formation from ġabar, the meaning of which links up with.N .. Afr. Arabic. Other Maltese forms from ġabar which. are purely local are 'maġbra, 'a col1ection of money, etc', and maġbar, 'a greatnumber or crowd of'.

(79) Tidrisx fl-ehtrieq (Do not threshduring a period of hot Biex it-tiben ma jin.ħeliex. wind, lest you waste your hay.). Huieq, on.m. Verbal noun of eighch:. form from fJaraq, 'to burn', Cp. Ar.. .j'~ I 'buroing, combustion', from ~.;:: f 'to buro, take fire' (Elias). ~ ~ .

(80) (a) Sajf imniddi - ħarġa (In a wet summer expect a full mimlija .. growth.) LEXICAL MATERIAL IN MALTESE FOLKLORE 33

(b) Il-qoton ma jibżaghx mix­ (Cotton isnot affected by (lit. xemx il-qawwija; does not fear) e-x:cessive heat but Jibża mic-ċpar bosta u mit­ by excessive mist and moist.) tniddija. Mni ddi , pp.m. Wetted with dew. Flst participial form of Maltese nedda, 'to moisten'. With Maltese mniddi cp. Ar. t5iL.. 'dewy' (Hava). (81) Sant Andrija (By St Andrew's Day half the pro­ Nofs il-muna mitmuma visions have been consumed and U nofs il-mi żirgħa mi ŻIugħa. half the seed sown.) Muna, n.t Provisions, victuals. Cp. Ac ~;. 'victuals, stores, provi,­ s10ns', from Se::;, 'to provide with victuals'. (82) (a) April (By April time the bread reaches Il-ħobż wasal fil-mindil. the napkin.) (b) April (In April you need a large loaf in Trid ħobża kbira fil-mindU. your napkin.) Mindil, n.m. (Modern Maltese sarvetta). The omentum; towel, a napkin. The Maltese meaning 'omentum' is matched with that of 'caul' record­ ed by Etias, who gives ); under J~ In this sense the Egyptian word is the synonym of borqom, Ar. i?~ 'veil'. For other Maltese o /' / / meanings cp. Ar. ~P pl J~u...;. 'towel, napkin, veil' (Hava). Ac- cording to Dozy Ar. ~~ or j-:!~~'est le Latin mantele oumantile et designe comme ce dernier une serviette'.

(83) (a) Ix-xita tal-qigħan megħuda (It always rains when threshing floors are formed, as lf aplO mise.) (b) Ix-xita ta' San Ġorġ megħuda. (It generally rains on St George's Day as if by a promise.) These. two weather sayings are based on the fact that rain usual1y falls in mid-April and when threshing floors are being prepared in the fields about the beginning of June. Megħuda, pp.t Th1S is a more archaic form of the past participle of ob­ solete wegħed, 'to promise', now replaced by wiegħed (third form), whence mwiegħda.

(84) Kien il-bieraħ u kien lewliemes (He was here yesterday and the I żda llum għal ġewwa d-dwiemes. day before yesterday, but to-day he will be carried away to his grave.) 34 J> AQUILINA and J. CASSAR PULLICINO

Lewliemes, adv. The day before yesterday. This word is made up of lewl, for l-ewwel, 'first', and iemes, 'yesterday' (obsolete). Cp. Ar. 0"""'':l ~ 'avant hier', (Beaussier).

(85) .Meta Jannar tarah .lewliemi (When January is too rainy the Ma tarax il-bidwi tant hieni. farmer is not So happy.) Lewliemi, (m) + ja (f). The adjective presupposes t.he hypothetical qua­ diilit{l.rri{ verb lewlem, 'to rain, pour (rain, ~ater)', from ilma, 'water', a composite wor'd made up of article il (Ar. 11 ) + ma (Ar... L.,:;;, water). This form is a purely local formation.

(86) Qożżot, qo żżot għalik, Jannar! (Fie! Fie on you, January! Għaddejt bil~bard bla xita You have brought cold but not U ħallejtni bin-nagħaġ fil-għar. rain, and you left me with my sheep in the cave.) excl. This word seems to link up with Ar. 'to loathe, Qożżot, «,,,,, yQŻŻ, :r; to be affected with nausea', Ar.,jjU 'he loathed, shrank from, (Sal- mone), whence also Maltese qżież, 'repugnance', Ar. ,j!.? 'impurity' (Salmone). Final unstressed ot does not seem to be the stressed suf­ fix of an abstract noun like ut in 6.~aji:u~ though this suffix is always stressed, unlike ot in qożżot. One hears also qożżu in nannu qożżu, a children's word for a very old man. The word may '1150 be a loan-word of unknown origin as the form is non-Semitic, For similar form cp. Qorrot in raMet Qorrot, a place-name in Gozo, in which Qorrot stands for Corrado, the name of a legendary saint.

(87) I ż- żahar fil-herwieq u \::tewm bla (Asphodel in blossoms and garlic taħsir, without rot are a good sign that Tama qawwija li l-biedja tkun the harvest will be plentifuL) b' ebda titkir. Titkir, n.m. Want, misery. This Maltese word seems to link up with Ar. ,,-.... f /' t· ~ // ...J).S 'to trouble, and...J}-5 to be distressful (life)', whence...J~· 'to be troubled' (Hava). In t.his sense Maltese titkir stands for tikdir, with a metathesis of the first and second radicals. If that is so, the change of voiced d to voiceless t is explainable by its phonological junction with its preceding voiceless consonant k. As anot.her rare instance of progressive assimilation instead of the usual regresslve assi~ilation cp. żdied 'to be increased' for żtied, eighthform of żied (Ar. .,)!,j ), 'to increase'. The word is given by Fr Magri wħo is uncertain about its meaning. But the meaning proposed by him, nuqqas, gijaks, 'want, misery', suits the context. LEXIcAL MATERJAL IN MALTESE FOLKLORE 35

(88) Mejju bla riħ (lf May is windless the wheat will Il-biedja bla tifrigħ. not swell out.) Tifrigh, n.m. Ebbing away. Verbalnoun from forogħ, 'to ebb away', a passive form of farag'h, thesecond form of which.means 'to pour out' .. Cp. Ar. t~ 'to be empty' (Hava), and its·N.Afr. verbal noun of action i::::-:P 'vidage', (Beaussier) ..

(89) Gmielek nwar tas-siHa li titriegħa, (Your beauty is like the blossoms J1tfi minn qabel tgħaddi ir- of dover that is grazed, it fades Rebbiegħa. away before Spring is over.)

Tittiegħa, v.int. To be grazed (pasture land). Sixth .form of Maltese rag'ha, Ar. ti-5 'to pasture, to graze (the gx:ass)'. In Maltese the third form (as well as the sixth form) is for the mostpart resefVed for verbs which. have għ (fox: t or t) or the weak aspirate h for. thelr second radical and are therefore incapable of doubling that radical as is re· quired for the second form. The loss of this reduplication is compen­ sated for by the lengthening of the vowel of the first syl1able, which is the characteristic of this form. The third form is, therefore, pracd·· cally an extension of. the second and has the same meaning (Cp. Sut­ cliffe, op; cit " p. 84 (a) and explanation of xieg'hel under No. 72).

(90) (a) Novembru (In November they cut and break Jaqtgħu, ikissru the olives and fiIl the baskets.) U jżenblu.

(b) Min jerħilek żenbilu (He that passes his load on to you ghabbUu. tty to load him yourself.) 01ives that are usual1y gathered in November are sometimes beaten with. a piece of wood tiH they break: hence the street-cry Imkisser il-Malti (lit. TbeMaltese olives are broken!). ZenbU, n.m. Cp. N. Ak Ar. ~j 'panier en sparte en forme de sac long ouvert sur le dhe; il sert a transporter les fardeaux a dos d'ane; on l'y place comme une besace. Panier double. Tx:es grand sac en sparte, triangulaire, pour les marchandises seches, amandes eponges, etc.' (Tunis: Beaussiex:). Note that the Maltese żenbil is l~rgely used for olives. The word occurs also in Egyptian in the sense of 'straw bag' (Elias), 'large native basket' (Spiro Bey, who derives it from Persian). (91) (a) Bejn tal-Qala u l-Milied (Between Conception Day, Le. 8th. Arfa' l-moħriet minn halq December, and Xmas Day stop il-wied, ploughing in the valley, and hang Ixħet xkubettietek fuq l~utied. you!' fow1ing-pieces on the peg.) 36 J. AQUILINA AND J. CASSAR PULLICINO: LEXICAL MAl'ERIAL

(b) Għadu l-wited għa1i (The peg is scill high .and the u l-għarbiel ġdid .. sieve scill new.) The latter saying refers to two parcies who cannot see eye to eye with. one another. / Wited, n.m. pl. utied. Peg.Cp. Ar . .:>~~~ plural of .u; or ~ meaning 'stake, tent-peg' (Hava). 37

THE VOWELS OF VERBS \VITH THIRD WEAK RADICAL

By EDMUND F. SUTCLI FFE, S.J.

The first point that strikes the attention is that the first vowel in the perfect of many of these verbs long ago definite1y established itself as e. Thus beda, beka, bena, feda, fela, ġera, ħeba, ħela, ħema, kera, lewa, mexa, nesa, għewa, qeda, qela, reħa. These words are all so written to­ day as they are to be found already in the dictionaries of Caruana and Falzon. On the other hand, verbs whose third radical letter is għajn, have not attained the same stability. In the dictionaries just mentioned we find the spellings bala: ba:ta', ġama', naża', sama', tafa', :tara'. Now Dun P P. Saydon lays it down as a ruIe that in all these words the first vowel should be e. 'Fi ftit kliem nistgħu ngħidu li meta l-aħħar konsonanti hi għ il··vOkali tal-verb huma e-a', and then mentions the verbs cited, Il­ Malti (1939) 98. At the same time he admits that usage varies at the pre­ sent day: 'Iżda nistqarru li aħna u nitħaddtu l-vokali a u a f'ħafna verbi jinbidlu, u għalhekk min igħid sema' u min igħid sama" SimiIar1y Dun Karm writes: 'Jiena sibt xi drabi min kiteb sama' (to hear) u xi drabi min kiteb sema'; xi drabi tela' u xi drabi tala'; xi waqt ġema' u xi waqt ġema' u refa' u rafa', u bosta oħrajn', ll·Malti (1938)67. These facts show that the present is a period of transition in regard to these verbs whose third radical is għajn. Some writers sdIl retain the original a of the first syllable, others substitute for it the vowel e. These latter would seem to be influenced by the vowel e that, as we have seen, has long been estab" lished as the first vowel of many verbs with third weak radicaL But can a rule be laid down? Can it be said that the one way of speakmg and writing is correct and the other wrong? Those who use the vowel a, can plead for their usage the form of the words previously current and the fact that this form is supported by Semitic analogy. They cannot be said to be in error The worst that can be said of them is that they are conser­ vative, if, indeed, it is bad at all to keep to the old ways On the other hand, neither can those who follow tradition accuse of bIundering those who write these words with e. And the reason is that language is not something for which immutable Iaws can be laid down for all time .. Lan­ guage is something Iiving that cannot be restricted by the rules of a book. Only time can show whether the change will become uni versally adopted. 38 E.F. SUTCLIFFE S.J.

The original vowel of the first syllable of the perfect was a both in verbs with.għajn as their third radical and in verbs with a weak letter.in this position. The change to e has been much slower in coming in the case of the għajn verbs than with the others ..What is the reason of this? I suggest that the reason is to be found in the influence of other persons of the perfect tense. Verbs with weak third radical have the forms, e.g., bdejt, bdew, bdejtu, bdejna; krejt, krew, krejtu, krejna; rmejt, rmew, rmejtu, rmejna. on the other hand, the għajn verbs have such forms as tfajt, tfajtu, tfajna; rfajt, rfajtu, rfajna. The first e in tefgħet, refgħet is due to assimilation to the secoud. This feminine form influenced the third person plural tefgħu, refgħu, where the first vowel also, as in the feminine singular, falls in a closed syllable. The original a of the first syllable has been preserved in a cerrain num­ ber of verbs with third weak radical, dagħa, dara, ħara, qara, ragha. In these cases the reraining influence is principally from the second radical. The first seems to have ·litde effect. It is clear in the case of the first two words that the first consonant is not the influence at work. And with hara contrast ħeba, ħefa, hela, ħema. With qara contrast· qeda, qela, and with ragha contrast rema. Rata in this type of verb is exceptional. . Dun Karm lays down a rule, Il-Malti (1938) 67, on which he invites criti­ cism.. The rule is that if the imperative consists of two consonants be­ tween two vowels and the second vowel is a, then the first vowel of the perfect 3rd person masculine singular is also a. This rule ceratinly works out correcdy in a number of cases, but it breaks down in the case of beda the imperative of which is ibda, and in the case of mela the im­ perative of which is imla. The rule may none the less be a handy rule of thumb to which cerrain exceptions must be remembered, but it does not rest on any scientific principle. And besides it cannot be accepted by those who, like Dun P.P. Saydon, assert that· sema' and not sama' is correct, and so with other għajn verbs. We have seen, however, that it is going beyon.d the facts to condemn sema' as incorrect, though usage may be winning for sema' also its right to recognition. To sum up our results so far, it may be said that whereas the original first vowel of verbs with għajn as first radical has been rerained tiH modern times and is still only in danger of being superseded by e, verbs with. third weak cadlcal have long SIDce substituted e for a, except in the case of verbs which .have a restraining influence in one of their radicals .. If we turn to the imperfect, we find that in words beginning with a con­ sonant other than a guttural or r the first vowel bas been thinned to i. In this Maltese has fol1owed the same path.as Hebrew.. Examples are jibni, jidra, jifdi, ji ġri, jikri, jilwi, jimxi, jinsa, jiswa, jitni, jixwi. With. the VOWELS OF VERBS WIm mlRD WEAK RADICAL 39

gutturals the original a has been retained. Examples are jaħbi, jagħwi, jaqdi. The letterr is distw.ctl}; eclectic in its tastes ..Thus janni, jerħi, jiTgħa. Lastly we come to the second vowel of the imperfect. This is some­ times a and sometimes i. It would be convenient if some simple rule could be laid down by which it would be possible to tell what c1ass of verbs. would take which vowel. From a study of Maltese alone it is not possible to formulate any such rule. The reason is that Maltese has made great strides towardsthe goal ofsimplification, which I call a goal be­ cause a language is more perfect in proportion as it expresses thought with equal c1arity and force but with less expenditure of sound and effort.. But simplification of forms tends to hide origins and, therefore, it is br comparison with cognate languages that the earlier forms of words must often be songht.. It will be found ·that verbs with a as second vowel of the imperfect be­ longto one of ·three c1asses. Some· belong to the c1ass that had hamza, corresponding to Hebrew aleph, as third radical. .Thus jibda from original bada'a; similarly -jimla andjaqra. J aħra is from originalħari'a. Others, with which jaħra could also be classed, had ,i as second vowel of the perfeet. Thus jidra from original darija, jinsa from nasija, and jiswa from sauija. The third c1ass, which.is the least numerous, is characterised by having·a guttural as second radical accompanied by a in the perfect. Thus jirgħa from original ragħaja. Verbs with i as second vowel of the imperfect had originally in the perfect a assecond vowel and j as third radical..Thus jibni from original banaja, which became, bana and finally bena. Similarly jibki from bakaja, jimxi from majaxa, and so on. There are of course apparent exceptions; but they are only apparent. ,Thus to ħeba, jaħ~i, corresponds in c1assical Arabic ħaba'a, whence it might be argued that the form of the imperfect to be expected is jaħba. ~ut actuallyin addition to the form with hamza there is also a form of the, same word with j as third radical. Hema, jaħmi, may be similarly explained. And though I have not actual1y found it, there must be or have been a similar parallel form to explain ħata, jaħti. 40

QUELQUES NOMS PROPRES MAL TAis

By C.L. DESSOULAVY

Nous parlerons id surtout de nomsde lieu (n. de L); la OU s'agit de noms de famil1e nous ajouterons le sigle n. de f. Pour qui.conque s'occupe de noms propres Maltais la source indispensable a consulter c'est Abela, Della Descrittione di Malta, 1674, que je cite toujours (Ab.) d'apres l'excel1ente ttaduction Latine intitulee Descriptio Melitae (Graevius, Tbesaurus... Siciliae, Leyde, 1725). Abela s'est donne beaucoup de peine a col1ectionner les noms propres dans les andens documents, chartes, bails,. etc., et il en a reuni une vaste liste en les expliquant de son mieux. Ses explications sO,nt d'ħabitude parfaitement correctes (a part quelques lourdes bevues) et temoignent d'une connaissance approfondie de la langue arabe chez ses infonnateurs qui furent peut-ette des ~ission­ naires chretiens, peut-etre des'orientauxqu'il' rencontra a Malte.Par ex­ emple son interpfetation de Marsa Muxeto (Ab. 216): ''quod hibemandi si, gnificationem habet' (co!' 21) est:tres juste et Muxeto derive sans aucun doute du verbe ar. sata (passer l'hiver). Le grand desavantage d'Abela c'est sa fa~on d'ecl'ireles soris Maltais. Il esf,manifeste qu'il fit de soJ? mieux aussi dans ce champ, suelement illui manquait l'experience et les modeles sur lesquels il aurait pu se baser. Quelquefois on ne salt s'i1 s'agit d'un K ou d'un Q; par exemple Musccit (n" de f.) est-il une deforma' tionde masqut (hernieux) ou de maskut (silendeux), dans le demier cas avec sens identique au n. de f. Sammii1, ar. Samut" Avec la lettte Son ne sait jamais au juste S1 c'es: un sin ou un sad qu'il faut life. Mifsud, n. de f., signifie t-il 'le gate' (avec sin), ou'le saigne' avec sadf Autre embarras avec le V, dont Abela se sert' poura:endre tantot le V italien, tantot le ou (W). Vella parexample pourrairpeul:'etre deriver de Weħla (lieu bourbeux), nom d'un endroit aux environs de Zebbuġ ce qui le rapprocherait du pa" lestinien Wal;11 (Pa, 165), mais ,ce n'est qu"une conjecture, Encore un dHaut chez Abela: il n'wdique pas sur quelle syllabe il faut appuyer. Par' exemple comment prononcel le dermer mot de son Vyed el Meschita (Ab. 77), EI Mescita (Ab .. 92)? Si, enMaltais modeme, il faut ecrire ce mot Mexita, alors on pensera au palesdnien Wady d Mexciti que Palmer tradutt: vallee du quartier d'hiver (Pa, 36). Second livre important dom il faut tenlr compte c'est le lexique Maltais" Latin·Ita1ien de M.A. Vassalli intimle Ktyb yZ Klym (Line des Paroles), 1796. Un certain nombre de noms propres omis par Abela y sont signales C,L, DESSOULAVY: QUELQUES NOMS PROPRES MAL TAIS 41

et expliques. C'est un livre de merite bien que pas commode a consulter; redige avec le plus grand soin il contient neanmoins c;a et la des meprises parfaitement incomprehensibles. Troisiemement il y a les etudes de Preca qui portent le titre Malta Cananea, 1904. L'auteur est obsede par l'idee fixe que Malte est fille de Canaan, ce qui le porte a faire entrer le Maltais a tout prix dans Le cadre hebraique, que d'ailleurs il ne connaissait que tres imparfaitement, Son oeuvre fourmille d'erreurs pueriles et pourtant je dois avouer qu'elle a son utili te. Preca connaissait a fond son petit pays et sa langue, et, grike a lui maint nom propre a peine intelligible dans l'afflublement que lui avait prete Abela devient susceptible d'une explication raisonnable. Preca a bon droit signalait les deformations deplorables qu'ont fait subir aux noms Maltais les notaires etrangeres venus de Sicile, et ses efforts pour retablir ces noms dans leur forme primitive sont quelquefois tres ingenieux. Preca avait tort d'aller chercher ses explications dans l'ancien Canaan mais il avait parfaitement raison de porter ses regards au dehors de son pays maternel; mais c'est avec l'arabe que le Maltais est en rap­ port le plus etroit et c'est donc plutot dans les autres pays de langue arabe qu'il convient de chercher les points de comparaison. Sur ce champ nous avons le gros livre de E.H. Palmer: Survey of Western Palestine, Arabic and English Name':Lists, 4°, Londres, 1881. Ce quatrieme livre est unique en son genre. Ce sont des listes tres detaillees tirees des cartes dressees par les officiers du genie Anglais. Tous ces noms Sont ecrits en caracteres arabes avec explication en Anglais. Il est clair que le livre a e.te acheve a la hfite et il y a des erreurs visibles tant du cote des ecrivains arabes qui furent responsables de la premiere colonne de chaque page, que du cote de l'interprete Anglais. Palmer, homme d' allure peu academique qui pourtant sut obtenir un pro­ fessorat a Cambridge, connaissait bien les parlers de la Palestine tout pres de laquelle il devait mourir encore jeune sous la main d'un assassin arabe; aussi ses explications gardent toujours une certaine valeur; en ce qui suit on y refere sous l'abreviation Pa. Tour porte a croire que les premiers arabes qui sont venus etablir leurs colonies en Sicile et dans les Iles Maltaises avaient passe pres d'un siecle dans la region s'etendant au sud de Damas oil ils vivaient en rapports d'amitie avec les chretiens orientaux aupres desquels ils appri­ rent a connaftre de noms tels que Barbara, Luqa, Niqola, tous saints veneres en orient. Il est d'ailleurs habitude chez les colons de toute race de transporter dans leurs nouvelles demeures les noms de lieu qu'ils ont connu dans leur pays nata!' Il n'y aurait donc rien d'etonnant si on retrouvait a Malte des noms propres provenant du Canaan, non pas bien 42 C.L DESSOULAVY

entendu du Canaan Biblique mais de celuides deux premiers siecles de l'hegire. Mais on auraittort de se. bomer a la lointaine Palestine et de negliger les voisins ·Africains. En effet dans les GuidesAlgeriens et Tunisiens on trouvera des frappantes analogies, et des renseignements utiles meme dans la liste de ttibus avec laquellefinit le liv.re de Gritfini: L'Arabo parlato delia Libia, 1913, Pour·les noms communs·je renvols le lecreur au livre polygraphie (Mal­ tese-Arabic Word-Lisl: [MAWL])que pubHe l'annee passee chez Luzac a Londres oil on trou vera quelques noms de famille tels que cassar (Ab. 311, 344). Bien des noms son t facilement reconnaissables, tel Semini qui correspond au nom Fran~ais Le Gros et au Syrien Assemani. Qrendi (Ab. 74, 76) pourrah: etre ar. qaramdi (fabricant de tuiles), Cutajar semble etre le diminutif de greco~latin~ guitare, ou, peut:>ette, guitariste. Quelques noms semblent avoir perdu une lettte, tel: GħajnTe.ites (Ab. 48, peut:>ette pout Għajn Qtajtes, source du pedt chat). Dans·ce qui suh je ne uaiterai que des noms propres Maltais qui ont un element de commun avec de noms propres aiUeurs. Pour l'orthographie j'ai moderni se Abela a l'aide de Vassa1Ii, de Preca et du systeme de I'Għaqda. Les mots rifes de Palmer sont ttanscrits de fl'.l:!;on a distinguer le ain(') du ghain(gh), et le ~ du b. Quant aux noms Algerienset Tunisiens ils sont. ecrits a laFran~aise. Nous commencerons avec les noms tires du regne animal ei: vegel:aL A propos de ces noms Preca faisait la remarque que l'onomastique Maltaise contient les noms de divers animaux et arbres qui ne se recontrent pas dans le pays, tels Zerafan. de f. ar. Giraffe, et dans les nomsde lieu, Għoslien (gazelles), Għanbas (VassalH: Hon), Sbetta (Ab. 53, ar. zabadah = civel: te),. Mais il faul:se souvenir que Malte servaitau 13ieme siecle de jardin d' acc1imatation POUI la menagerie imperiale, en sori:e que les animaux Africains etaien~ familiers aux Mah:ais. Quant aux noms d'arb.res non­ indigenes dont on semble trouver de ttaces ces noms auraient ete intto­ duits par dei; colons venus de pays Oll ces arb.res sont mieux connus. Noms a element zoologique, Baqa!:, Baqfat (boeufs, Ab. 53, 54, 71). Motttes commun, cf. Baqarah, Pa. 432. Hal Far (demeure de la s.ouris, Ab. 77), cf. Belt Far, Pa. 200, Tell el Far, Pa. 116, Wady el Far, pa. 276. Fkieren (tortues, Ab. 58), cf. Ain. Fekroun, et Arn Fekitine en Algerie. Hamiema (colombe, Ab. 44), cf. Ham§.mah, Pa.267. Hida (milan, Ab. 52), cf. Hadaya, Pa. 78, 267. Wied i1-ħorief, ħrejjef (val1ee des agneaux, Ab. 53) cf. Wady el AgriH, Pa. 261. Naduril$Kelba (haul: point de la chienne, Ab. 59, 84) cf. Wady el Kelb, Pa. 248, 'Ain el Kelbeħ, Pa. 222. Ramla l-għoslien (Sab1iere des gazeIles, Ab .. 19) et. El GhuzHin, Pa. 143, 266, 283. In-Nemmiel (fourmis QUELQUES NOMS PROPRES MAL TAIS 43

Ab. 48) cf. Nemleh, Pa. 126. Ghrab (corbeau, Ab. 48, 60) cf. Wady el Ghur:ib, Pa. 57,533. Tiġieġ (poules, Ab.70), cf. Deg:ig, Pa.312. Bettieus, Bejta t-tawes (nid du paon, Ab. 18) cf. Tauwas, Pa. 402. Zurrieq (Ab. 76), si c'est une metathese de Zureiq (nom de oiseau) cf. Hallet Zureiq, Pa, 254, Abu Zureiq, Pa. 142, Wady Zureiq, Pa. 172, 338. Bir il'Hut (source du poisson, Ab. 63), cf. Wady el Hut, Pa. 333, Ain el Hout, en AIgerie. Noms li element botanique. Ġnien (jardin, Ab. 15, 44, 47, 52, 6Q, 64, 92). Ce mot, en realite pluriel, sert a Malte pour le singulier, de meme en v y Palestine, Genan, Ginnfm, Pa. 15, 2FlO. En AIgerie, avec l' imaleh comme v,. v a Malte, Djenien. Siġra (arbre, Ab. 51) cf. es-Seg ereh, Pa. 236, 266. Ballut (chene, Ab. 13, 20, 52, 66), cf. Balh1t, Pa. 247. ms (jonc, Ab. 62), cf. Dis, Pa. 233. Dolf (platane etc., Ab. 61), cf. Dilb, Pa. 398. Għajn Dwieli (source des vignes, Ab. 13, 69), cL 'Ain Dalieh, Pa. 142. Tant au pluriel qu t au singulier, comme remarquent Palmer et Preca, le mot pOUl­ rait egalement signifier, non vigne, mais machine irrigatoire. En passant notons que le nom Filfla qui se range ici signifie selon .toute apparence, non grain de poivre, mais crete-de-coq, Ar. fulfulah, ce qui convient a la forme de cet fIot. Wied il-Harrub (Vallee des caroubes, Ab.44, 53, 54) cf. Wady el Harrub, Pa. 248. Wied il-Hemsija (Vallee des pois chiches, Ab. 61, 63) cf. Wady I:Iom~ah, Wady I:Iumma~, Pa. 210, 333. Kemmunah (l'ne entre Malte et Gozo, "cumin") cf. tJ:allet Kammuneh, Pa. 79; mais le nom Maltais se rattache peut-etre plutot a l'arabe kamin, dans le sens d'abri de pirates. Daħlet Qorrot (Entree des poireaux, ou, des boucles d'oreille, Ab. 92). Le mot arabe pour poireau s'ecrit quelquefois avec le Q. Il y a un Wady Kurrat en Palestine (Pa. 418, 419) mais je doute qu'il y ait con­ nection. Rdum Majesa (Ab. 18) fait penser a Meis, Pa. 29, et Meis.tyeh, Pa. 276, noms d'arbres palestiniens; notez aussi Djebel Maiz (mont aux chevres) au Maroc. Psaila (n. de f.) cf. Buseileh (nom de lieu, Pa. 146) ie sens du nom est le meme que pour l'italien Cipolla. Għawseġ (sorte de LyCium; Ab.18); cf. 'Auseg, Pa. 415. Ġebel Qammieħ (mont produisant le froment, Ab.18), cf. Wady Qumh, Pa. 210. Għajn Riħana (Source de la plante odorante Ab. 51), cf. 'Ain Rih~ma, Pa . .16, 64. Rummien (grenade, Ab. 92) cf. Rumman, Pa. 230). Safsafa (saule, tremble etc., Ab. 52) cf. sufsafeh, Pa. 3, et Safsaf en AIgerie; notez encore le pluriel, jujubiers, Zefeizef, Pa. 283~ Snuber (coniferes varies, Ab. 17, 44), cf. ~inobar, cypres, Pa. 283, 295. Għajn Toffieħa (source de la pomme, Ab. 18, 44, 52), cf, 'A in et Tuffal]; Pa. 65. Għajn Tuta (source de murier, Ab. 56) cL 'Ain et Tut, Pa. 301, Ain Touta, AIgerie. Hal Warda (demeure de la rose, ou, de la descente) Ab. 63 cf. 'Ain Werdeh, Pa. 265. Zagħrura (divers arbres et buissons Ab. 65) cf. Za'rur, Pa. 322, 407. Zagħtar, Sagħtar, (Thym, Ab. 62) cf. 44 CoL DESSOULAyy

Za'tar, Pa. 56, 125, Zaatra, en AIgerie. Zejtun (olivier, Ab. 16, 19, 53, 57, 79), cf. Zeirun, Pa. 41, 81, 250, 277. Noms divers. Adami, n. de f., peut-etre pour ad-Dami, originaire de Damia en Palestine, Pa. 125, 252. Axiaq (Ab. 80) cf. Deir el 'a.saq (mo­ nastere de Pamoureux) Pa. 267. Barbara, n. de r Ab. 80. Nom de sainte d'occurrence frequente en Palestine, Barbara, Pa. 226, 247, Bir id~deheb (puits de l'or, Ab.80), cf. 'ain ed deheb, Pa: 14. Bir Jaħlef (Ab. 68) cf, le nom de tribu Beni Yehlef (Griff. 335). Bir Kirkara (Ab. 57,66). Ce mot n'est pas a comparer avec 'ain Kerkereh (source murmurante, Pa. 39) mais pourrait etre une deformat1on du Latin calcara, s'il n'est pas allie avec le ar. karkur (tas de pierres). Bir i~·Tawn (puits obIong,ou profond, Ab. 78, 264) cf. Bir et tawil, Pa. 391. Bir il~Wasa' (puits ample, Ab. 63), cL Bir Wasi'a, Pa. 3. Bilecht (Ab. 44) peut'etre pour Belliegħa (gouffre, tourbil·· lon d'eau) cf. Balua" Pa. 230. Blat, Blata (pierre, Ab. 15, 18, 44, 65, 73, 92) cf. Bela~, Pa. 247, Balata, Pa. 179. Borġ, cf. El Durg, Pa. 4,70, 132. En Algerie beaucoup de localites portent le nom Bordj. Callus, n. de to (Ab .. 48, 245) semble bien etre la palestinien Qallus Pa. 270, 303. Corċara (chute d'eau, Ab. 50), cf. Oued Cherchara en Tunisie; le mot analogue en Palestine est Sellatah, Pa. 113. Dej! il.. Bnie~ (couvent des filles, Ab. 47), cf. Deir el Benat, Pa. 293. Dwejra (diminutif du prece dent, Ab 91, 92), cf Ed Duweir, Pa 72 . .A noter que Dejr en Maltais lorsqu'i1 s'applique a une situatlOn elevee pourrait aussi bien etre pour Deher, comme chez Pa1mer, 429, et souvent ailleurs. En passant on ramarquera que le n. de f. Delicata e;;t pour De Licata (en Sicile) et que ce dernier nom est Par. 1iqat (tenailles), nom sans doure suggere par l'entree du port. Dors (Ab. 72). C'est peuH~tre l'eq111valent de Dirs, Pa. 253. Dosa (Ab. 75) pourrait etre Dawaseh (piecinement) Pa. 427. Ellul, n. de f. vient probablement du nom de mois connu, mais puisque dans le documents Maltais on le trouve aussl ecrit Hellul il se poutrait qufil s'agisse de l'ar. ahlii.l (lunatique). On pou;:rait aussi pensel: au nom 'Allul connu en Palestine, Pa. 5. Għajn Estas (Ab. 52), cf. Istas Pa. 270. On a propose fort ingenieusement d'expliquer le noms Maltais. De Astis et, Anascasi comme des corruptions violentes de Għajn Estas, de meme qu'on a vu dans le n, de f. Aquilina une degeneration de Għajn Kollija. Sur ce dernier mot cf. Ab. 60, 385, 423, En Fran~ais, a l' inverse du Mal· tais, la plante nomee en ladn 'AquiIegia' est devenue 'ancolie'. Estbal (etable, Ab, 48), cf, Wady Istabl, Pa. 36" Hal Farruġ (Ab. 70). Le n. de f, Farrugia vient S:'1ns doute de ce n, de L Le mot farruġa en Maltais signifie une poule comme en Afrique, mais je ne crois pas que ce sens ait a faire avec le nom propre. En Palestine on a Ffuug (crevasses de rocher) Pa. 106, et 'Ain Farilgah (source de la crevasse), Pa. 279, Un QUELQUES.NOMS PROPRES MALTAIS 45

Rahal ·Farrugia en Sicile est nomme dansCusa, Documenti. Fawara (source jaillissante) Ab. 21, 53, 67, cf. Fawħrah, Pa. 39, 72. Le meme nom de lieu en Sicileest devenuFavara. Ġebel Għzara (Ab.. 52), cf.. Ghazzar(abondant,Pa. 14) EI-Ghazzareh, Pa. 21, Ghazzar (joncs, Pa. %), mais Pinterpretation donnee par A..felavaut peut-etre autant que les autres. Gawhar (joyau,' .Ab. 77), cf.Gawharah, Pa .. 48, et notez aussi Q... 9 Guwar, Pa. 7, Giljan (Ab. 44), cf. WadyGilian, Pa. 334, nomme d'apresun saint venere dans le pays. Hal., mot qui se trouve devant bien des noms de lieu Maltais. }'ai ex· prime mavue propre dans le MAWL., mais il convient de signaler aussi le mot tJalleh (constr. Hallet) qui revient a toutinstant en Palestine prefixe au noms de lieu, quelquefois dansles memes combinaisons qu'a Malte. Ainsi Hallet ez-Zeirun, Pa. 81, cf. le Maltais Hal-Zejtun. Hallet Sa'ld, Pa.. 80, cf. the MaltaisHal Said, Ab. 79, tIalletSafi, Pa. 80, cf. le v Maltais ·Hal·Safi, Ab. 77. Le pluriel du mot palestinien, HaHH, est aus:;i employe de la meme maniere, Pa, 82. Le sensdu mot est 'bas fonds', ~vallon·. Għajn·Hammiem (source du bain chaud, Ab. 25), cf. Hummam, Pa. 62, 144, 234, 267. Hammam est un n. de l. tres commun en AIgerie et Tunisie. Il-Har1:q (Ab. 48), cf. Wady el Hariq (vallee deFembrasemel1~, Pa. 333). Ha.ramija, incorrectement explique par Preca p. 606, est en rea1ite le pluriel "voleurstO , cf. 'Ain .el.H~ramryeh (source des voleurs, Pa. 222). Wady el H., Pa. 118. Handaq (tranchee, Ab, 70, 74, 92), cf. El tIanduq, Pa. 36. Pres d'ki se trouve le MaltaisHandul (source bouillon­ nante, Ab. 83, 85), dont: le pluriel arabe s'appHque aux cata.ractes du NU •.Hirbet il-Forn (ruine du four, Ab. 245, cf. Ab. 73, 74), cf. ijurb.e"t el Furn, Pa. 215. Hnejja (arche, Ab.17, 92), cf•. H,aniyeh, Pa. 3, H,enewa, Pa. 4, et, enAlgerie, El Hanaiat. Kirkop (Ab. 77) rappelle Kirkuk en Mesopotamie. Wied il~Knejs (Ab. 78) lO quisemble signifier tOvallee de eg1ises , bien que d'eglises il n'y air aucun signe, doit etre un malenten.du. En Palestine i1 y a un Wady el tIneyes (ValIee des entrelacements, Pa. 412). Kola (Ab. 63, 245, 246), cf. le Wady Kola, Pa. 248 (vallee ascendante), mais ·il pourraic y avoll infIuence du nom de saint: NiqOla, Ma.tNiqOla etant tres considere en parestine, Pa. 315. Hal.Luqa (Ab. 78). Je crois qu'il s'agit tout simple­ ment du nom revangeliste Luc; nOteZ en Palestine les Biar Luqa (puits de Luc, Pa. 302). Ġebel Majn (Ab. 51) et Hal Majn(Ab. 62) semblent avoir refererice aux 'eaux' comme dans le palesl:inien Bi.r Ma'ln, Pa.290, 428. Mallia, n. de f. (Ab. 246, 301) est peulC etre a comparer avec 'Ain el Ma'IHyeh, Pa. 2, 7, 11, mais c~est douteux, et certains Maltais prennent le nom POUI' une reduction de MelHeħa (Saline, Ab• .17, 44, 47), cf. Mel-. l a:hah , Pa.5, 262. Hal Man (Ab. (3), cf. Ma'n, n. de f., Pa•. 130. Ta 46 C.L. DESSOULAVY

Mazz!ua (Ab. 51), cf. Mazar'ah (terres semees, Pa. 234). Mara (Ab. 77}, pourrait etre le pluriel Marah . (bergeries). Marbat(1ieu d' auache,Ab. 16, 82), le meme, marbat,Pa. 58. Mtarfa(Ab. 26, 60, 83) pourrait ·etre une inversionde Martafi~;.notez,to\ltefĠis le nom· dei tribu MFarfa dans Griffini, Nadur (1ieu eleve, belvedere, Ab. 44, 50). En Palestine le nom prend une aune fotme, .malli en Algeiie' if' existe phisieurs Nador ,'",et :avec:le meme sens. :Naħ1ija{Ab.53) semble etre la·meme chose que n~liyeh, at1.~i11es, Pa. 91). Noxija, Nixxija, Nixxiegħa (Ab . .12, 83) est encore un nom de lieu pres de Damas; voyez aussi le charte Sidlienne citee par Dozy, i'1,; p. 672. Nwader (Ab. 16) est le pluriel de l'ar. nadir (meules, aires), cf. Nouader en AIgerie. Għajn . Barrani (source exterieure, ou. source de l'etranger, Ab. 92), cf. 'Ain .Burranlyeh, Pa. 61. Għajn . il-Kbira (la grande source, Ab171), cf. 'Ain el Kebfreh, Pa. 63. Għajn· Tajba (bonne· source, .Ab. 48), cf. 'Ain et tayibeh, Pa. 16, 106. Ce nom s'applique.a celle de deux sourceS:.'X:V,i)isines qui ·fournit Peau la plus pure.lbGħaqajda. :Ab. ,20, cf. 'Aqeideh (pierre de faite, etc.,. etc.,. Pa. ."ln). ,Għar . (caveme, Ab. 17, 23, 52, 58), cf.. Aghar (le pluriel, Pa. 136) et Rhar· en AIgerie. Ben Għisa (Ab. 17, 78). ·Cf. Hu 'Alsa, nom de tribu ch~ ·Griff. 325, Wady 'Aisa, Pa. 331; Benisa en Espagne au ·Sud de Valence.Widien tal-Għor (Ab. 77), cf. EI Għor, la grande depressio~ palestinienne, Pa. 253. Għoxx il-Hamiema (nidde pigeon, .Ab. 44), cf. '08 'el Ghurab (nid de corbeau), Pa. 102, 349. Ħal Gtn11 (Ab. 47), cf. Wady el Ghul (vaW~e du demon), Pa. 130, 195. Qabadl­ Għarib{tombeaude l'etranger, Ab. 17) cf. WadyGharib, Pa. 247. Qburil~ Lhud (tombeauxdes Juifs, Ab. 60), cf. Qabur eLYaht1d,.Pa, 230. Qlejgħa (petire forteresse, Ab. 51), ct Quleyeh, Pa. 29. Hal·Qormi(Ab. 67, 68, 69), cf. Qurm'iyeh (tron90ns d'arbres, Pa. 87). Ġebelir-raheb (mont du moine, Ab. 49),cf. 'Ain er Rahib, Pa.64. Ras il-Għajn (Ab. 50) estle meme que Ras el 'Ain,Pa. 64" et en AIgerie et Tunisie. Ras ·il-egħjun (Ab, 58), d.Ras· elAioun . en Alg~rie. Ta' Ruegħ (Ab. 26'4), de significa­ tion tresincertaine, comparer Wady er Rueihah(vallee dq. repos, Pa. 262). Għaril-Sepħa (Ab.53). Le demiermot est probablementle mot Sebkha qui revient·si souvent en Algerie et Tunisie, avec le sens. marais salin, mais, ecrit avec le sad et I]. au lieu de & le mot a un sens tout aune en Palestine.Pa. 311. Hal·Sejegħ (demeure de l'orfevre, Ab. 75), le meme que Siagħ, Pa. ~11.Hal.Saflieni, cf. Bir es Siflani(puitsinferieur, Pa. 291). Ta ~irina .(Ab. 64); Sirtn, Sartna reviennent· souvent en Pales~ tine, peutoetre IObercails", Pa. 103, 130, 223. Sliema, nom commun partout, Salameh, Pa. 351. Es-Sweqi (:Ab. 63), cf. Wady es Sawaqi (vallee des ruisseaux, Pa. 37) Tabrija, (Ab. 64) cf. Tibriya, Pa. 50, 120. Tabuni (Ab. 72, 246). En Palestine·iI'aoo.nahes1: un foUr apain, eti~abuni est pain cui.t C.L. DESSOULAVY: QUELQUES .NOMS·PROPRES MALTAIS 47

dans un' tel-four. 'Tarxien (Ab. 78). Le mot fait penser a Tarsan, dans Griff. '348. Tillirixi (n. de f. 'Ab. 280). Ce nom se rattaclJerait-il au n. 'de l. palestinien, Tell er Ri~eh(mont de' la plq.me, P a. '260), 'Wady er Riseh (vallee de la plume, Pli. 262)? Torba(monceau, Ab. 63), cf. 'Turbeh,PIi. 28. Usif("Ab.18, 72), cf. EI Oucif en AIgerie. 'Wied il~Għasel GAb. 51,293, 303), pourrait, avec la' H~ttre sin, signifier "vallee du miel" tout commele Wady el 'Asl en Palestine (Pa. 34, 39, 98). 'Par contre si lemot devait s'ec!,ire, avec le, sad, le sens serait "vaU~e du rhododendron" ('A~l, Pa .. 155). ,s.;r la prononciation maltaise du mot 'Wied, comparez t'lJ\lgetien Oued. Wied l-imdina (vallee .de la cite,Ab. '264), cf. ''Wady el Medineh, Pli. 335. Wied Musa tAb. 19: vallee,'de MOlse), .cf. Wady Musa, Pa. 248. Wied il':Għajn (Ab. 1~,' 79), cf. Wady el 'Ayun (vallee des eaux, Pli. 194). 'Wied il-Għamiq (Ab. 15, 60), cf. Wady el Ghamiq (vallee profonde, Pa.35, 99, 118, 194). 'Wied er-Rum (?:vall:ee des Byzantins,Ab. 19). Vinterpre­ tation ordinaire est bQnne, notez cependant le Wady er E.umlJ (Vallee de la Lance, Pli. 249). Sqaq il-Wati (Ab.70). Żqaq, ou sikak: (Pfi. 285) signifie 'rue' etc. Cf. Bir el Wata (puits ,du niveau, Pa. 292). Welġa, ou, WiJġa (Ab .. 74, 78), cf. Weleġeh, Pa. ,338, Ouldja, Algerie. Xiberras (Ab. 244, 316), pourxegħeb er-ras, .cf.. ~a·b ez-za'rur, Pa. ,407, ib.241, 323. Xagħb a tantot re sens de contrefort de montagne, tantot celui. de defile. En Af­ gerie le mot dans les noms propres s'emploie a l'etat construit., par exemple, Chabet akra., Chabet el Ameur,'etc. Xibiexi (.Ab. 21), Eximiexi (Ab. .64). J e cr~ que ces noms pourraient aller avec le mot xemx (soleil). ,!A notel': 'Ain sems.lyeh, Pa. 198. Xkora (Ab .. 74); en Maltais ce. mot signifie un sac, mais notez le palestinien _sekareh, (Pa,,:418), plateau 'entoure de gorges. Xlendi (bateau, Ab. ,91, 92),cf. eS Selendi, Pa,· 423. Xewk (Ab. 75), Xwejki (Ab. 62, 80), cf. &tweikeh. (chardons, Pa.', 325); ,Xwereb (Ab. ,16" 44), mot' qui signifie' Itmoustaches", "bu:veurs", Notez Abu Swarib, Pa . .61. ,Żemżem {Vassalli, nom d'un puits), cf. Wady Zemzem, Pa. 60 ..Blata Zwejqa (Ab. ,92), entre autres choses ce pourrait etre pour' suwaiqah; soit dans le' sens "'petite jambe~, 50it dans de Sens "petit marche·; notez Bab Souika a Tunis, et Suwaikeh, Pa. il2. ]~n finissant je rep~te que tout ce qui prec~de est hypothetique et nul­ lement certain. Pour ~tre certain du sens des noms i1 faudrait les avoir cn caracceres arabes et, meme alors: un doute resterait puisque re meJlle mot arabe peut avoir signifi~ autre chose en dt autres temps et dt autres -lieux... 48

THE DECAY ,OF,THEEMPIRg ,AND,FALL,OF ·ROME ,IN ,SAINT -jEROME'iS LETTERSA:Nf)ILfvES OF THE, llERMlTS·

By E. CoLEIRO

Although, before A.Do 410 nothing may have been further from J erome's mind than the imminence, indeed the possibility, of the capture and fall of Rome, the Letters PUt before us facts and deeails which are a faithfrll echo of the growing,despondency and of the current pessimism concerning the fate of the Empire as a wholeo The moral corruptionwhich Jerome sees around him seems to be only, one aspect of the ttoubled state of affairs which, was wea.kening the fabric of the imperial edificeo There is nothing to dispel the atmosphere of imminent danger, and the thought of recent and continued failure at home and abroad hangs upon everybody's mindo

As far.back as A.D.396 inLXo150 16t, Jerome is convinced that an era of disasters has s~t in for the Empireo Intrigue and bloodshed disgrace the imperial court: able mjnisters and generals like Abundantius, Rufinus and Timasius are put to death or finish their days in exileo Imperial pres­ tige has fallen low and treachery and mutiny have crept lnto the army. Jerome recalls how Valentinian was strangled by one of his officers (in 392) and how the army betrayed Gratian (in 383), Subject peoples are allowed to make bold to devastate the lands of their neighbours, as when the Isaurians make, in force, a depredato!y inroad into Syria and Palestine (CXIV,l), Not onlyare Roman armies defeated but Emperors themselves fall in battle, as IS the case of Julian and Valens, Usurpers like Proco­ pius, Maximus and Eugenius disttact the Roman world and humble the imperial majesty assumed by them for a short while by a shameful capri­ vity before they are actually put to deatho ,The fr~tiers of the Empire are constantly broken through. The whole of the North seems to have scented the difficulties of the Empire and tobe on a scramble for conquest and plunder.

'" This is Chapter IV of Part II of a thesis endcled St ] erome's Letters and Lives of tbe Hermitswitb reference to (i)A,..e and Style;(ii) Social and Historical Significance" submitted for a Ph,D, in London University, t References to Tbe Letters are n!ade in Roman characters according to the num­ ber of the Letter and the paragraph in the Corpus ScriptoTUm EcclesiasticoTUm LatinoTUm (Vienna). When the paragraph is not quoted the Letter is prefixed by 'Ep'. References to the Lives of tbe Hermits are prefixed by 'H' for Vita Hilario­ nis, and 'M' for Vita Malacbi, in Migne, P. L. XXIIt E. COLEIRO: mE FALL OF ROME IN ST JEROME 49

Jerome distinguishesfour distinct phases in the barbarian invasions. The first one, covering the years 370-396, is summarised in LX.16, and includes the repeated invasions of the Danube basin, especially that of Greece by Alaricin 395-396. 'The second, coveringthe years 397-406, is hinted at in CVn.2 and Ep. CXVIII. 'The third, dealing with the great invasion of Gaul in 406-409, is recorded in CXXIII.16. :The fourth, the invasion of Italy in 40B~4IO and the capture of Rome in 410, is dwelt upon in CXXIII.16 and CXXVII.I2-13. , In LX.I6, written in A.D.396, Jerome reviews collectively the move­ ments of the barbarians in the three wars in the Eastern part of Europe during the previous twenty years: the invasion of Pannonia by the Sarmati, Quadi and Marcomanni in 374; that of Macedonia and Thrace in 377 by the Goths of Fritigern and their allies, which ended in the carnage of Hadrianople in 379 and the great invasion and' temporary occupation of Greece by Alaric in 395-396. , It is the first big sweep to destroy the Empire, and the thrust is made into the Balkan peninsula. From the Julian Aips, says Jerome, down to Constantinople along ,the ,banks of the Danube, Dalmatia, Pannonia" ..; Epirus, Thessaly, Achaia, Macedonia, Thrace, Dacia, ,Scythia, the Troad are overrun, pillaged and plundered by Goths, ,Sarmathians, Quadi, Alans, Huns, Vandals and Marchmen. Although Constantinople itself does not fall, they penetrate as far as Athens, Corinth and Sparta. In 395 the Huns, coming from distant Maeotis (Sea of Azof), midway between the Tanais and the lands of the Massagetae, cross the Caucasus and overrun Armenia and Asia Minor as far as the Halys, to the West, and inro Syria as far as Antioch, spreadingpanic and bloodshed wherever they went (LXXVII. B). : Although, they did not proceed further south, Palestine, Arabia and Egypt were panic-stricken presumably because there was no army to meet them (LX.16, LXXVU.B).In the south-east, the Saracens have already penetra­ red north as far as Syria and occasionalIy make an inroad into Palestine (LX. 16). ' Of these invasions i1' was probably that of Greece by Alaric which brought home to thinking Romans the seriousness of the situation: in the letters written before 395 there is no reference to the misfortunes that the Empire had already been experiencing for some time. In CVU,2, written in 403, Jerome hints at the restlessness of the Goths and says that they are proving themselves a match for the Roman armies. In CXVIll.2, wrii:ten in 406, he hints at the devastation of Dalmatia pre­ sumably by Alaric in 400-401 on his way to attack Italy from the Julian Alps. In QXXIll.15,writtenin 409, he recalls the invasion of Gaul bya host of barbarians that had e:scaped the fate of thelr king Radagaisus at 50 E. COLEIRO

Florence. Although Spain is yet untouched, Gaul appears to Jerome prac­ tically lost to the Empire, Quadi, Vandals, Sarmatians, Alans, Gepidi, Herules, Burgundians, Pannonians have united in devastating it as far south as the Pyrenees. Jerome adds also the Saxons and the Alamanni although they are not known from other sources to have joined in the con­ quest. Jerome gives a graphic picture of what the people of Gaul had to go through .. The once noble dty of Moguntiacum (Maintz), he says, has been captured and destroyedo In its churches many thousands have been massacred. The people qf Vangium (Worms), after standing a long siege, have been extirpated. J:be powerful dry of Rheims, the Ambiani (Amiens), the Atrebatae (Arras), the Belgiflns, Toumay, the Nemeti (near modern Speyer) and Strasbourg have fallen to the Germans; the provinces of Aquitania and the nlne nations, Lyons and Narbonne are, with the ex" ception of a few dties, one universal scene of devastation, and those whom the sword spares famine destroys (CXXIIL 15). In the Danube regions·, the provinces of Noricum and Pannonia, already devastated some years previously, are still in the hands of the barba­ dans, and Jerome considers them as permanently lost to the Empire (CXXIIL 16). Jerome is probably referring to the occupation of Pannonia, Vindelida and Noricum by the Alans and the Vandals in 401, to which Honorius, on the advice of Stilicho, had to acquiesce contenting himself with a nomip.al sovereignty over them .. The culmination comes for Jerome when !taly itself is invaded, Rome twice besieged and on the second occasion captured and sacked by Marie (CXXJJL16, CXXVII.l2-,13). Jerome gives a few but vlvid details of its capture. In CXXVIL12 he says that a dreadfuI rumour came from the Wes!. Rome had been besieged and ii:s citizens had been forced to buy thei! freedom with gold (A.D.408). Then thus despoi1ed they had been besieged again, so as to lose not only their possessions but their lives as well. The ciry which had taken the whole world was itself taken, says Jerome with evident .emotion .. The siege had been long, and famine had tortured the inhabitants to the point of frenzy. But that was not enough to reduce the dry: treachery was needed~ When the barbarians pene­ trated into the dry by night, pillage and arson engulfed many parts of it (CXXVIIt5), and the smoke could be seen far out to sea (CXXX.7). Chur­ ches are desecrated, homes invaded (CXXVIL 13), lofty buildings burnt down to a heap of dust and ashes. (CXXVIIL5), mOll:asteries broken into and their virgins torn away from them (CXXX 7). The incident on which Jerome dwells more in detail is that of Marcella. Her palace on the Aventine was invaded by soldiers asking for booty. She was badly beaten and taken to the basilica of St Paul along with the young Principia when mE, FALL OF RQME IN ST JEROME 51

, she had convinced her captorsthat there;~was no money in the h~use. '. As we know from other sources\ a number of churches had been granted the right of asyluril. From In Ezech., ProL, one may gather that Marcella died soon after, possiblythrough her rough handling by the barbarians. As the dty was taken during the night, in the darkness and confusion many succeeded in escaping to Ostia and from there took ship to other parts of the Mediterranean (CXXX.7), but many were killed or made captive (CXXVII.12), amongthem several friends of Jerome (CXXVIIL~), 2 e.g. Pammachius •. The news of the sack of Rome was a great shock to a world which.was already despondent through, continued ,disasters: Fifteen years beforf!; in writing Ep. LX, Jerome had given utterance to thatdespondency: 'Oh,he had said, if we could get 'up -into a watch~tower so high that from it we might behold the whole world, nation warring against nation and kingdom in collision with kingdom: some men tortured, others put to the sword, some swallowed by the waves,othersdragged awayinto slavery.'(LX.18) But Rome's' capture has now struck the world dumb.Jerome confesses that he was perfect1y confounded and that for a long time he had remained sHent knowing that ie was time to weep (CXXVL2); and whenever he re­ calls the disasrer his sobs choke the utterance. The repeared mentlon that Jerome makes of the event and the emphasis he puts on it clearly indicate that. Indeed, three or four years later, in A.D.412 and 413, he still feels so troubled at, the disaster that he cannot concentrate on his work (CXXVL2, CXXVIIL~)3. It is clear that Jerome did not consider Rome's disaster as a transient episode but as a c10sing page of an era of history. ,When in CXXVIIIS he looks to the future he sees no ray of hope: 'Such are the times when our litcle Pacatula is bom .... she is des­ tined to know of tears before laughter and to feel sorrow rather than joy. , Hardly does she come upon the stage when she is called upon to make her exit. Let her then suppose that the wodd has always been what it is now ,Let her know norhing of the past' , That in this attitude Jerome was genuinely echoing the general feeHng throughout the Empire is con~ firmed by Augustine who found,h necessary a few years later to write his City of God to cheer up Christians and defend them from the allegation that Christianity had been responsible for the disaster. Di11 4 and Hughes5 thought that Jerome unduly exaggerated the disaster,

lCfr. Augustine, De Civ. Dei., L l 2Cfr, also In Ezech. Pool. 1-2. 3_CJC. In Ezech. 1, Prol. ,and In Ezech. 1-2. 40ill, S., Roman Society in the last Centuryof the Westem Empire, 2nd ed. Lon­ don, 1899, p. 307. ' 5Hughes, L., The Chvistian Chu?ch in the EpiSiiles 0/ St J er01ne, London,' 1923. i 52 E. COLEIRO

The description of the capture of Rome in CXXVIL12-13, may.be rhetoric­ aIly embellished especially in its details of cannibalism, butit must be true in its basic implications of a siege fraught with terrible hardships, of adesperate resistance which the Romans put up until they were be­ trayed, and.of the extensive sack with the inevitable arson and destruc­ don It was of course. difficultto destroy or even to plunder completely such a vast place as Rome was at that -time ..We have seen in our own time that vastdties like Berlin and Cologne, althoughsystematically laid in ruins by the thorough weapons of modern warfare, can go on, bat­ tered and sha~tered, evell if they have ·litde _prospect of quickly heeling their wounds.Whatever·the contidence of Rut:ilius Namatianus6 theremust have been a systematic sack, andpillage must havebeen very extc:msive especiallyinthe housesof·therich. -No ·doubt when the hordes of Alaric left the dry the profan~m·vulgus·helped-itself to what the Goths had not carried -away ·from ·thedesertedpalaaesofthewealthy, otherwise·it ·is difficult·toexplain·why·thenoble·refugeesdid not ret11rn especially when in the same year Alaric ·qie

Effects of the Invasions

Jerome·givesafewvivid·impressions of the general effects of the bar- baricinvasions·on-the Empire. . . As all the invasions -developed ·more ·or ·less ·concomitantlywithin ·the same -space of ·aboutthirry years, ·down ·to ·the capture of ;Rome, ·t1:ieeco­ nomic ·disaster must have -been of -immense proportions .. The --economic

"efc. Dill, op. cit., pp. 258-259. lHA FALL OF ROME IN ST JEROME 53 structure of the Empire, especially in the cides, was centered around the wealthy families with their numerous slaves, clients and dependantso Ie was these families that were principally hit, astheirwealth was in large measurederived from ·their extensive county estates (CXXX.6). In CXVIIL2, writing ·to Julian, Jerome assumesthat in the complete over­ running of Dalmatia and in the generaldevastation his private property, which had been cons~derable, had been destroyed, his herds and flocks driven off, his slaves either taken captive or slain. ·The same tale is re­ peated in the letters to Rusticus (CXXII.4), to Geruchia (CXXIIL 17), and to Proba (CXXXJ). Again andagain Jerome emphasizes theloss of their possessions. In CXXVIL 13 he saysthat the sack of Rome left Marcella penniless. For it was not only the cities that the barbarians plundered, . The countryside with its flourishing farms scattered all round was system­ atically left in ruins. Even such a tlny place as Stridon, Jerome's birth­ place, is blotted out beyond recognition and in LXVL14 Jerome betrays wonder that some farms belonging to the family, although left in a ruinous state, had not been completely destroyed by the barbarians, When one considers' that since the time of the Antonines in all the lands of the Empire .industry had been gradually transferred from the cities to the vi llages, thus giving an essentially agrarian character to the general economy on which the Imperial fabric was sustained, and that agri culture remained throughout antiquity the mosttypical economic activity, and land 7 the most important fOIm of wealrli , one can safely conclude that by A.I? 410 when Dalmatia, Gaul,Spain and other lands had been overrun, laid waste and practically lost to the Empire, the economic disaster was complete. Such conclusions are amply confirmed by J erome's repeated 8 allusions to the financial ruin caused by the invasions • Besides, the devastations often left in their wake pestilence and famine (CXXIIL17), and spread confusion, panic anddespair far and wide (CXXIIA). FamiHes were divided as ,was the case of Rusticus who had been separated from his wife when bothhad to fly for the.ir Iives from the barbarians (CXXIL4). The Church had !ts share .in the calamity, Bishops, says Jerome, were made captive, ·many of ·the clergy were put to death, churches were des­ troyed, horses were stabled by the altars of Ouist, relics of martyrs dug up, monasteries destroyed and the!r virgins made the sport of ·the barbarians (LX, 16).

7 Walbank, F. W., The Decline of the Roman Empire in the West, London, 1946, pp. 19-21 and 34-.37. sefr. Baynes, 'The Bankruptcy,of the West', p.34, }ouma[. of Roman Studies (1943). 54 E. COLEIRO

Those who succeeded in escaping with their lives wandered along the shores of the Mediterranean often to face new disasters, This was par­ ticularly the case of the Roman nobles who succeeded in getting out of Rome at its c.apture and in. sailing to Africa and other places as far as Palestine (CXXVIIL5, CXXX.4)9 ..The hardships that awaited Proba and her company in Africa are one of the many instances .. Heraclian, the governor of that province, had mustered a force of Syrian slave-dealers and as the refugees landed in his province expecting to find refuge and protection, he sold them into slavery if they had not the means of ransom­ ing themse1ves at a high.price. Proba, says Jerome, with difficulty suc­ ceedeci to ransom herself and her company and that at a great price (CXXX.7) .. Indeed, so. great wa~ the general despondency that the refugees caught at any$ing in order to have something to console themse1ves with. The rejoicing of Demetrias's family at her taking of the veil, although, no dOllbt, rhetorical1y coloured by· J erom.e, can best be explained in that way (CXXX.6). Reason for the Decline and F all10

Like many of his contemporaries Jerome gives three main reasons for the decline of the Empire in the last decades of !he fourth century and the fall 9f.Rome in 410: moral degeneration and vice (LX.17); loss of morale (GXXIII.16); treachery of the barbarian chiefs in whose hands the Emperors frequ~ntly left the!r armies (CXXIV.16). In all of them Jerome shows that he takes a narrow and incomplete view of the issues involved ..The moral corruption of society may have helped in some way to bring about the disaster but it can hardly be classified as one of the determining factors. The society of J erome's time was n~t more corrupt than that depicted in Cicero's Philippics, in Ovid's erotical works, in Juvenal or Mardal, when Rome was practical1y at the height of its power and strengrh. And ie is the extravagance of the rich that Jerome is continually bringing under his lash: he gives little evidence that their corruption was shared to any degree by the middle and lower classes

9 Cfl:. also In Ezech. IIL ProL 79-80, 'ue rota Orientis, Aegypyi, Africae litora oHm dominatricis urbis servorum et ancillarum numero complerentur'. 10 These few considerations suggested by Jerome's Letters are not gi ven here as an attempt to solve the intricate problem of the decIine and fall of the Empire. The complexity of that problem is indeed such. that one can hardly expect to Hnd a comprehensive solution in the works of any one author, even the most illumi­ nated. We have limited ourselves·to a discussion of Jerome's views about itand of any confirmation that the Letters may give, direcdy or indirecdy, to some of the many concomitant reasons suggested by historians. mE· FALL OF ROME IN ST JEROME 55 which formed the bulk of the peoples of the Empire, Nor was Jerome, after all, blind to the life of moral integrity led by many, Christians and non-Christians alike. As regards the second reason, no doubt, there is much to support Jerome's contention that 'praeter paucos senes omnes in captivitate et obsidione generati non desiderabant quam non noverant libertatem' (CXXIIL16). Nodoubt peoples with a great history like the Corintbians., the Athenians, the Lacedaemonians, the Arcadians must have been greatly shaken in their morale at seeing their cities overrun by barbarians (LX. 16). But" good leadership could easily ha ve remedied that, Jerome himseIf, perhaps unconsciously, provides the prooL He mentions the stout defence that some of the cities of Gaul, left to their own resources, made against the hosts of the invaders. The people of Vangium were overp:ower­ ed only after standing a long siege (CXXIII.15); Toulouse inspired by its bishop Exuperius successfully withstood the barbarians (CXXIII.15). Jerome -.stresses that Rome itself had stood two sieges (CXXIIJ.16, CXXVII.12), and was captured in the second on1y because its gates were opened by treachery during the night (CXXVII.12). It is evident that ,the peoples of the Empire could make a stand and win their way through if proper1y led, His third reason that the Roman armies were betrayed by their barbarian chiefs is perhaps more adequate. To the low~born adventurers, provin­ cials and barbarians who officered the Roman armies in the fourth cen­ tury (H.21, CXXXXVII.16) the memories of the glorious past could hardly be an inspiration at alL Personal motives must have often outweighed any other consideration in such generals. But had not the Roman armies been sintilarly office.red for·more than a hundred years, and had not a con­ siderable number of the Emperors themselves, within the lasthundred and fifty years, been anything but Roman 01' Italian? Alaric himself would have preferred to pass to history as the master of the horse of Rome's forces and the upholder of its Emperors than the one who, mostly to gr:atify a personal grudge, put it to the sack. Still it was no doubt a very dangerous policy to trust to barbarians or semi-barbarians Rome's military forces 50 completely as the Emperors did at the close of the fourth century and the begin,ning of the fifth, and when Jerome dubs Sti1icho a traitor for inducing the Roman Senate to pay a subsidy to Alaric and thus increas­ ing his capacities for making trouble in the fuqJ.re (CXXIIL 16), he is just recording what almost everybQdy thought of Stilicho at the time. And there is hardly any dOllbt that Stilicho's secret negotiations with Alaric had all the appearance of treachery. Jerorn<; is therefore wrong not so much in his condemnation of Stilicho as in the Qarrowing the principal 56 E. COLEIRO bla me for Rome's clisaster to thatsingle issueo Caryll considers as one of the fundamental, reasons for the decline in the third and fourth centuries the enfeeblement of the frontiers through the general military insubordination and the recurrent civil warso At least in one instance this is directly confirmed by Jerom~. In LXXVIL8 he says that because of the civil war in Italy in 395 the Eastero defences had been leftunmanned thus giving a good chance to the maraucling Huns to force the Caucasus and plunder Syria and Asia Minor. In LX,17 he Jaments that 'plus paene bella civilia quam hostilis mucro (Romanum exercitum) consumpsit'; and when in CXXXIIL9 (written in A.D. 415) he calls Britain 'fertiHs provincia tyrannorum' he is perhaps referring to the revolrs of 12 Maxim,um in 383 and of Constantine in 407 • Lack of effective control by a central imperial administration may h~e emboldened Heraclian, the goveroor of Africa, in his dealing with the Roman refugees (CXXXJ). Military insubordination is evident in LX.15 where Valentinian -is quoted as being strangled by one of his officers and Gratian betrayed by his army. Such behaviour is of course no worse than the innumerable instances of similar insuborclination, mutiny and anarchy of earlier ,centuries, but 11: did contribute in some measure to the forma­ don of that complex situation which the barbarian invaders no doubt turoed to their profit. Another factor which_lerome's works under review suggest as concurring to bring about the disaster is the complacent attitude that had been allowed to develop that the Empire could not really come to grief, The Romans generally thought of their security too much in terms of pastt: achievements and they fatally relied on the myth that no foreigner, indeed not even Hannibal or Pyrrhus, had dared to attack Rome. Jerome shares such an attitude as is apparenr from CXXIII.16 where he looks back on that mythical pas! and asks who wotild hereaftercredit the fact that Rome had to fight within her own borders not for glory but for life itself Indeed, the Prol., to Book XI of 'the commentary on Isaiah makes it dear that J erome's comments made in his Commentary on Daniel 2.40 in A.D.407 on the weakness of the Roman Empire had been resented in high quarters, 13 probably at the imperial court itself • And, indeed, even Jerome himself, in spite of his despondency, is so engrossed in the idea of the perpetua-

11 Cary, M., A History 0/ Rome down to the Reign of Constantine (Macmillan) 1935, p. 779. 12In Dan. 2.40 Jerome again mentions civil war as one of the factors contributing to thedecline of the Empire. "efc. l'.teemantle, W.H., The Principalworks of St Jerome translated (Selection of letters and other works) in a select L.ibrary, of Nicene and Post-NiceneFathers of the Christian Church, Vo1. VI,New York, 1893, p.498; and Kelly, M.J., Life ·1HE·FALL OF ROME IN ST.JEROME 57 rion of the Empire that even after the sack of Rome, writing in A.D. 414 he asserts that the J ews will for ever be under the domination of Rome (CXXIX, 7). One may p~rhaps connect with this complacency the state of milirary unpreparedness suggested by the' works under review. Although scattered detachments are kept for policing purposes at the frontier outposts (M.3 and 10), they seem utter1y inadequate to deal with the acrual boundaries of the Empire. So the Saracens range unhindered in the .desert of Chalcis (M.4); J erome's inonastries are attacked and wellnigh destroyed seeming­ ly without any hindrance fr;om local authorities (Epp, CXXXV, CXXXVI, CXXXVII); die Isaurians overrun and plunder the. whole of Syria, Phoe­ nicia and Galilee in 405 (CXIV.l); the .aefences of cities are neglecteel: . at the sudden irruption of the Huns Antioch hastily patched up its walls (LXXVII 8), and a.t that of the Isaurians an attempt is made torepair the wal1s of J erusalem which had been a.llowed to fall into deca.y (CXIV.1). The unprep;uedness is aggravated by the occasional lack of lnitiative. sa in A.D. 407 the cities of Gaul are left to fight one by one a lone battle (CXXIII.15). This lack of initiat.ive could hardly have escaped the notice of conremporaries. The apology which Jerome makes quite undeservedly for both Emperors (CXXIIL 17) for standing aloof while Rome was being besieged by Alaric is indication enough that at the time they must have been blamed for inactivity.

and Times as revealed in the wr1ungs of St Jerome exclusive -of his Letters, Catholic University of America, Pauistic S~di'e$"Washington, 1944, p. 100. 58

SURVEY .OF 'QNITED .STATES CATHOLIC LETTERS IN THE TWENTIETH CENT

By .JOHN PICK

The year 1900 is merely an arbitrary date, and it is practically impos­ sible for ariy outsider to evaluate American Catholic letters in the past half century without considering the historiċal and cultural background out of which they were born .. Itwould be exalting l!1ediocrity to contend that Catholic letters -at least unti!. very recently - flourished in America with. any vigour or con­ tinuityo True, .<\merican Catholicism constitutes a minority culture in the mldst of a vast society, predolllinantly secularized. But at the same time we are by far the largest single group in the United States . .out of a total population of 150 mi11ion, there are nearly 30 mi1lion' Catholics. Y.et, as on~ looks back oyer the panorama of the history of letters in America, it is woefully apparent that our contributions to literature, at least in the Pflst, have been for the most part very slight and very undistingulshed. The ~tholic Q1Urch.is,of course, the oldest organization in this coun­ try" In the year 1776, when the United States gained its independence and was born as a nation, the Church was nearly 1,776 years oId. Yet a Catholic culture has never flourished here if we take literature as a cri­ terion, Although Columbus and his crew sang the Te Deum on the shores of the New World,and although the early Spanish .and French settlements left thelr memories in terms of missions and place names which are re·· miniscent. of' the great Catholic saints" these ear1y begirinings never bIossomed into a culture crowned with. a Catholic literature, Even such Catholic centres as New .orleans, BaJtimore, and St Louis have contr!· bllted Htde to Catholic letters .. The truth is that the literaty .ascendaocy was to be that of Virginia and thea of Puritan New England, which.&>wered in a very different culture in the early nineteenth century .. Across the sea, such countries as England and France had thelr nine· teenth. century Catholic revivals which no literaiy or:social historian, of whatever creed, would dare to over~ook. ·:Net .soin America. It is', there" fore, really impossible to speak of a revival, or renascence, or 'Second Spring' of Catholic letters in America .. There had flourished no earlier Catholic culture.. There was nothing to be reborn .. * This paper was read in the Aula Magna of the Universi ty on 19th January 1956. J. PICK: XX CENTURY CA1HOLIC LETTERS IN 1HE UNITED STATES 59

The reasons for the long delay in the emergence of a Catho1ic culture are not far to seek when one rea1izes that until fifty years ago we were still a'pioneering and missionary church. , During the seventeenth and eighteenth centurles we were primarily a missionary church; and it is even more important to recognize that in the nineteenth century, with the tremendous tidal waves of Catholic immi­ grants reaching the New World, we were even more of a missionary church. ,Instead of being able to play her traditional role as Mother of'the Arts, the Church in America by necessity devoted her time, her energy, her slender funds (most of which until nearly half a century ago were still supplied by faithful Europeans), and all of her efforts to keeping the faith alive. , After an early period of working heroical1y among the Indians, she had to absorb all the Catholic newcomers to our shores. ,What she needed desperately were priests, priests, and more priests; sisters, whole con­ gregations of them; schools, orphanages, hospitals, chapels and churches. She had to dedicate all of her attention to ministering as directly as possible to the immediate needs of an ever-increasing membership. The newcomers had to batcle against pressing poverty, against social inferiority, and against prejudice as their growing numbers began seriously to challenge the ascendancy already in estab1ished command. Culture, letters, leisure, patronage, the arts - these were luxuries. ,This histot!c tragedy left its mark on the Church in the United States for many decades, and even now we are only beginning to recover. Its marks are sdIl to be seen on our instutitions and on our people. Dur of this situation, with a feeling of social and financial inferiority, grew a withdrawal-- certainly understandable but at the same time unfor­ tunate -inro what some European commentators have called a 'Catholic ghetto' A provincial defensiveness grew and developed. Without a tra­ dition of cultural leadership, Catholics devoted themselves to the rough warfare of establishing themselves. Europeans sometimes fail to realize that during these difficult years American Catholics were building up a unique educational system which burdened them with double, taxation. It has not been unti! recently that Catholic colleges and universities have managed to rise above medio­ crity, and the absence of generations of educated Catholics has meant that until only yesrerday each generation has had to start anew at the bottom of the culturql laddero' Then, too, American Catholic cultural life was deeply affected, as were European COllntries, by the tragedy of the Reformation which split the unity of Western Christendom, ,This meant that for centuries the Church, especially in Protestant cOllntries, was on the defensive and in a state 60 J.PICK of siege, and its mainammufi1tlon had to be apologetic, sectarian, and didacti~:'!he effort on Catholic art was profoun

At the turn of the cenrury . there was no Catħolic literary movement, and it is significantthatsuchpeople as Louise Imogen Guiney, Henry Harland, and F . Marion Crawford had withdrawn to Europe to find a more congenial Catholic literary atmosphere. We shall speak of them later. In surveying Catho1ic letters since 1900, genre by genre - poetry, fiction, biography, the essay - it will be found that time winnows, decade by decade, and that of the first two decades very little of significance has survivedo . Year by year various writers have been hailed as important Catholic poets, novelists, or essayists, but with the perspective of another generation they have disappefl;red and are no longer read, and mention of them will be found only in Catholic Hterary history or Catholic anthologies of interest to the historian of Catho1ic letters rather than to the critic who demands intrinsic liierary merh.. As one nears 1950,more and more names may be mentioned in each field, not because they are necessarily those that will survive in the future but because the winnowing process of time has not as yet taken place,. Long ago Matthew Amold warned that the 'personal estimate' rather than the 'real estimate' of writers is especially a danger in reference to one's contemporaries, and each.generation of Catholic critics since 1900 has been prone to the pitfalls of the personal estimate. Undoubtedly as we near the Catholic writers of to-day, we ourselves are subject to the same tendency to exaggerate their importance. As authors recede into the past, greater objectiviry is possible, What poets, then, of the brst two decades - or roughly throq-gh the years of the first WorldWar-have triumphed o~er time and are stil1 recognised as significant? . Certainly the sonnets of John Lancaster Spalding or the verses of Charles Wanen Stoddard, hailed in their day, are no longer read. Nor are Shaemus O'Sheel, the prolific Hugh Francis Blunt, or Michael Earls. Maurice" Francis Egan, the author of some t:v:0 dozen volumes and the objece of praise by his contemporaries as "educator, poet, novelist, critic, and diplomat' and as 'the most distinguished Catholic layman of his time', is to-day only a memory. Agnes Tobin, greeted by Yeats as the finest poet America had produced since Whitman, is no longer known .. Padraic Colum transplanted himself to America, but his work has re­ tained its Irish roots, and he is hardly a part of American literary history .. The work of two minor poets does survive from this period: that of Louise Imogen Guiney, who, however, after withdrawing to Oxford in 1904, tumed to criticism and editing and produced very litde poetry be­ tween that da te and her death in 1930;. and, better known, that of the con­ vert Joyce Kilmer, killed in action in 1918. There are those who believe 62 J. PICX that he would,have become a poet of real statUre hadhe,survived. Aline IGlmer, his .wife, who survived him, is in the :opinionof some a poet af least as goodas her better-known hilsband.. By:themiddleof the 1920's thenumber of minorpoets:had:grown,almo.s1!: to the dimensions'of a:movement. During a period of a few years, such. people as ·the 'followirig establishedthemsleves: John Bunker,Francis Carliri, Raymon&Larsson, ,Sister Madeleva, .J. 9>rson Miller, KBenjamiri Musser, -Charles L. 9'Donnell, Daniel Sargent, ,A,~;$Ul1lVan, ·and, Thomas Walsh. These are scill:miriot poets, and the !iSt is uneven to qu;i;Y', but poets they:are. :However, lt: must be admiti:edthat almost all of them are read-iri so far as theyhave a publiċ-exc!usively:by:Cfitholiċs.: In the .interval sirice then the names of stil! more .mirior poets may,be added -and some of them have produced only: a sirigle volume: Alfred 'Bauett, . Fra Angeliċo Olilvez, John' 'Ouffy; Leonard Feeney, ,Clifford Laube, John W. ~ynch; 10hn Frederiċk Nlms; and a group of sisters: Jessiċa Powers {Sister Miriam of the Holy: Spirit),SisterMaris Stella, SisterM.Jeremy; SiSter Mifiam, R.S;M., Sister M. ~ura,Sister M. :.tberese. : Undoubtedly ;some'of,thepoetsiri these lists have 'notbeen sufficiently: appreciated. ,90 .the other'hand, 'such:a review as the following'of William Thomas ·Walsh!s Lyric Poems,appearirig iri Spirit and written by.a fellow poet whose name appeai:s above - such:a review, I say; miġht. 100k exag­ gerated_ to an objective eye: Not in years has so large a sweep of Catholiċ·lyriceloquence been brought berween book covers. :The sheer Catholiċ upsurge of ,these psalms and siġhirigs .breaks uponthemindlike an impetuousand poundirig surf. :The plunge is that of iritensity hamessedto truth-:;: The metriċal counterpoint is a5 ħne-spun and gracefulas recessive ocean spray. And the lyi:iċal review goes on: It is not'too much:.to saythatmanyof these poems, parciċuHuly:the loogerones, rise tomajesty: :1'hey:shatter completely:the noticinthat modem Oltholiċpoetry:is minorand fragmentary. ~hon himself, could a Catholiċ vision have illumiriated him, might have been proud to writ.e such:liries as these ... It·mustsuffice to say:that everysyllable iri this book is Catholiċ, 'every: line melodicius anduntrammeled; 'that here there is poetry whiċħ. takes Biġht bravely; soars supei:bly and keeps its nesting"place securely.upon the hiġh lledge of Christian revelation. : Hi.spanist, bidgrapher, novelist and historian, ·\fil1him . Thomas Walsb: bas cercifiedby tħis beautiful book that Catholiċ poetry is as sure­ wirigedas it ever was. : Much:of th'e Catbolic'poetry:outside of this select Hat-and even some XX'CENWRY CA1HOLIC LETTERS,IN 1HE UNITED STATES 63 in it - suffers from what may be caIled academicism and from blind tradi­ tionalismo ,Experimentalism and vitality are needed ii Catholics are to speak to their contemporaries. ,There seems much uncomfortable truth in a comment of H. Marshall McLuhan in the Kenyon Review: 'The Catholic reader comes ... with, a mechanism of sensibility which came off the line in 1850:, The same might be said of many of the writers themselves. , To write good religious poetry is, of course, an extraordinariii difficult task. T.S. Eliot - probably the one major religious poet of our time -once asked the question, 'Why is most religious verse so bad, and why does so little religious verse reach the highest levels of poetry?' His answer is: The capacity for wricing poetry is rare; the capacity for religious emotion of the first intensity is rare; and it is to be expected that the existence of both capacities in the same individual should be rarer stilL People who write devotional verse are usually writing as they want to feel, rather than as they do fee!. Perhaps the greatest difficulty is the confusion of didacticism, pole­ mics, apologetics, piety, or propaganda and poetry. ~The resuli is degene­ radon into shallow religiosity .. There is a tendency for us to call our propaganda poetry, but to call other propagandistic verse merely propaganda. An editorial in Sp i rit, the official organ of the Catholic Poetry Society of America, well said: There are too many who would violent1y condemn the Communist's use of poetry to advance economic or atheiscic propaganda, while tossing their hars lnto the air because Brother John of the Holy Angels has embodied a lengthydigest of St Augustine's City 0/ God in a loosely constructed epic in blank verse, which, could not bear anyactual analysis as poetry. Dr as another writer in the same source expressed it~ It is difficult to estimate whether the bulk of bad 'communist' poetry outweighs. the bulk of bad 'religious' poetry, or bad 'scientific' poetty. The good poer who attempts to load his lines with excessive argu­ ment, however, is menacing his talent and betraying his trust, and time wil1 punish .him. Too much that parades itself as religious poetry simply is not poetty at alL Good intentions do not necessari1y result in good poetry. ,The nature of poetry is to be poetry .This cannot too often be repeated. For the encoutli.gement of our best talent and for its careful critical guidance, much credit must be given to the Catholic Poetry Society of America. lbrough, i:J:s periodical, Spirit, edited by John, Gilland Brunini and founded fifteen years ago, ie has raised both the quality of religious F9<;G;Y IlU([ it5 aDDreciation Wh@D OD@ i'e.. ds through.tħc tħcee anchologies 64 J. PICK

gathered from back numbers, From the Four Winds, Drink from the Rock, and From One Word, one cannot help being impressed by the religious poetry which. it has fostered. And when one studies the col1eccion from the same magazine of editorials and critical articles gathered a few years ago under the title Retum to Poetry, one realizes how very genuine has been the contribution of this group to the advancement of Catholic letters in this country.. Tomday, the greatest hopes are particulady concenttated on three con·· verts, Thomas Merton, Robert Lowell, and Allen Tate. Thomas Merton, whose name in religion is Father Louis, is now a Trappist at Gethsemani in Kentucky and has four volumes of poetry to his credit: Thirty Poems, A Man in the Divided Sea, Figures for an Apocalypse, and Tears of the 8.lind Lions. The crucial point is whether he is a grow" ing and developing poer or not. Robert Speaight, who recent1y wrote the foreward to a selection of Merton's poems for a London publisher, .remark" ed: 'I have been interested to observe, in making a selection from his first three published volumes of verse, tha\: the third and latest volume, al~ the poems of which were wrttren at Gethsemani. is inconl:estably the best.' If this is true, then American Catholics may well look with greai:er and greater anticipation to Merton. Robert Lowell has been widely acclaimed by the serious reviews, both Catholic and non~Catholic, and has f.irmly establrshed himself His first book, Land of Unlikeness (1944), was followed by Lord Weary's Castle, which received the Pulitzer Award for Poetry in 1947 ~ the first time, I believe, that the prize has been given to a Catholic poet His.most recent volume, The Mills of the Kavanaughs, appeared in 1951 Whether he will grow into America's greatest Catholic poel: is latgely dependent on whether the deep personal confl.icts of his life are resolved in Catholic i:erms .. The recent reception (1950) of Allen Tate into the Church has meant the addition of one of the most distinguished of coni:emporary edito!s, critics, and poets .. li: is not difficult in going back over his poetry to ,see in it his gradual approach. to the Church At this date h is impossible to predict what his poetry will be like in the future, but it may well be th~t his name will be among the few that will survive in the future history of Catholic poetry in America These three men, Merton, Lowell, and Tate, are all converts, and there arises the question -often raised in England -as to why lt is that our best writers are so frequendy those not born within the Church, At all events, up to the present .time, the condition and status of Catholic poetry seems probably our most solid conttibution to American Catholic letters, . xx CENTIJRY CAllIOIIC LETTERS IN llIE UNITED STATES 65

The novel, at any rate, has not fared so well, in spite of the fact that in our contemporary world ie is easily the most popular and most widely read of the literary genres. It would seem that Catholics spill at least as inuch ink as others (and in America there are numerous Catholic book clubs and even an organization called 'The Gallery of Living Catho1ic Authors'), and yet the history of the Catholic novel in America is not one of which .one can be proud Of course, it is a commonplace of literary hisrory that the novel was the last genre to develop; it was born after the Reformation was well under way. In the words of one critic: 'It was secular; it had never been baptized,' And it is significantthat in the Catholic revival-no matter what country one studies -it had been the last of the literary types to emerge, Even on the Continent and in England ie took the novel a long time to become Catholic in the very deepest sense: to treat of the fullness of all the realities which.a Catholic life throws open to the novelist. In France it final1y appeared in the work of such men as Bloy, Bernanos, and Mauriac .. In England it took longer .. The novels of Benson, Baring, or Mackenzie, or Kaye-Smith - significant contributions as they are - can hardly be called great Catholic novels in the same sense, However, very recendy the work of Waugh and Greene has given at long last to England what Undset and the Frenchmen I have mentioned above gave to the Con­ tinent. Back in 1928, Francis X. Talbot, then 1iterary editor of America, wrote: 'Never before in English 1iterary history havethere been so many and such. brilliant Catholic novelists, In technical excellence they are easily the equal of their contemporaries, , But this optimistic assertion can hardly be applied in America, . Theemergence of outstanding Catholic novelists in modern England and France has not been paral1eled here, Just a few years ago the British critic and wrher George Orwel1 remark­ ed: 'A fairly large proportion of the distinguished'novels of the last few decades have been written by Catholics and have been describable as Catholic novels.' But again, he could hardly have been thinking of the American Catholic noveL We seem poor and barren indeed in comparison with the riches of the European Catholic nove1ists of the past two gene­ rations. One American Catholic critic, deeply devoted to the cause of Catho1ic culture in this country, hassummed up the situation severely and succinctly:' 'The great bulk of American Cath61ic;fiCtion is unintelli­ gent and unreadable. '. A great number of critical studies have treated the problem of the con­ temporary Catholic novel in the United States, All of us, .J think, know 66 J. PICK the usual cricicisms levelledagainst Catholic fiction, even though.we may not go so far as to agree with the Catholic publisher who declared that Catholic novelists have got themselves such a bad name that even the Catholics avoid them. The difficulties, undoubtedly, are many, but the following are significant among them: first, a failure to deal with Catholic life on anything but the most superficial levels; second, the failure sufficiently to realize that the novel is an art form and that it cannot be overloaded with. an obtrusive thesis; third, an emasculation" a false prudence" and a Puritanism which has even been called Jansenisdco. All three defects are regrettable, though understandable in terms of the cultural hi story of Catholicism long on the defensive in America. It would be a grave error to place all the burden of such criticisms on the novelists themselves. Their Catholic readers and the state of Catholic criticism - these are at least as much to blame. Catholics are likely to be very inrent upon, and enthusiastic over, writ­ ing about a religious view of life without understanding the humble, patient, and arduous discipline that the craft of writing demands and without which we are doomed to mediocrity. Every work of art expresses an attitude towards life, but the theme must become part of the whole, inextricably we1ded and fused with the life presented - otherwise the result is mere propaganda and not a work of art.. Jacques Maritain has urged the Christian painter to stop all work on the tabernacle and to concentrate for a long cime on the creation of grapes and fish. The implication, of course, is that we be humble andintelligent enough to discipline ourselves in an art form. The danger of the ordinary enthusiast who is told the need for Catholic literature - and the need is tremendous -is that he will rush immediately into the world of explicit dogma without the humble preparation needed. He probably realizes that men's differences are ultimately theological. No world··view can stop at philosophy. The avid young writer pl~nges into apologetics .. The result is a k"ind of pseudo-art in which. even the theology is berrayed by the shoddiness of its medium inro well-meaning but quasi-heretical sentimen­ talsim. All great novels have been bui1t around conflict, and the peculiar dis­ ease of die Catholic writer seems ro be his timidity, his reluctance to treat of sin. When the problem of sin is avoided or treated on superficial levels, then correspondingly the treatment of virtue tends to become empty and lacking ~n vita1ity. The American Catholic novelist may learn much from the Continental Catholics, though I am ful1y aware that it would be stultifying if we mere- XX CENTIJRY CATIlOLIC LETTERS IN TIlE UNITED STATES 67 ly produced American Mauriacs or Undsetso There is an American way of presenting the universal Church, just as there is a French or an English way> Nevertheless, the advice and counsel of these writers may be end­ lessly helpful, I can think of no sounder approach to the treatment of evil in the novel than the words of Mauriac: I am far from sharing Gide's opinion that good Literature cannot be made out of fine sentiments, and that the worse the characters the better the book. Nevertheless, it certainly is not easy lto make good literature with only good sentiments, and it is almost impossible to isolate the good from the bad so as to make an edifying portrayaL The ambition of the modern novelist is to apprehend the whole of human nature, including its shifting contradictions. In the world of reality you do not find beautiful souls in' the pure state - these are only to be found in novels and in bad novels at that. :What we call a beautiful character has become beautiful at the cost of a struggle against itself and this struggle should not stop until the bitter end.. The evil which the evil character has to overcome in itself and from which it has to sever itself, is a reality which the novelist musE accO'O!nt for. If there is a reason for the existence of the 'novelist on earth. it isthis: to show the element which holds out against God in the highest and noblest characters - the innermost evils and dissimul­ at:ioils; ~nd also to' light up the secret source of sanctitj:in: creatutes who seem to have failed. Sigrid Undset, likewise, emphasizes the necessity of a truly realistic attitude in viewing life on the part of the Catholic novelist: Tell the truths you have to. Even if they are grim, preposterous, shocking. After all, we Catholics ought to acknowledge what a shoch ing business human life is. Our race has been revolting against its Creator since the beginiIingof 'timeooo But remembe,r, you have to' tel1 other and more cheerful truths, too: of the Grace of God and the en~ deavour of strong and loyal, -or weak but trusting souls, and also of the natural virtues of man created in the Image of God', an image it is very hard to efface entirely. We seem, for instance, to be afraid to produce an American satirist. Yet the Catholic -as several Eng1ishmen during the past few decades have brilliant1y demonstrated - in our modern world is in a peculiarly advanta­ geous posicion as a satirist. Yet we in America have handed over satire to such a man as Sinclair.Lewis> Ronald Knox has observed: 'No country, I suppose, has a greater n'eed of satirists than the United States; no coun­ try has a greater output of hUInour, good and bad, which is whol1y devoid of any satirical quality.' 68 J. PICK

Our survey of the novel takes us back to 1900. At that cime, F.Marion Crawford and Henry Harland were being acclaimed.. Both of them were 1iving abroad; both wrote romancic tales, usually with Italianate back­ gtounds. The Cardinal's Snuff-Box was Har1and's most popular tide, and it is occasionally reprinted, white Crawford's The White Sister, Marzio's Crucifix, and Saracinesca, among his thirty novels, were 10ng cherished by Catholics~ Both. Harland and Crawford enjoyed tremendous sales while they were living; to-day they are barely remembered.. Each decade has had its Catholic novelists who have been highly suc­ cessful in sales and have ofren attained wide popularity among a general reading public. Such a list - down to our own day - includes such novel­ ists as Maurice Francis Egan, Michael Ear1s, Frank Spearman, E1izabeth Jordan (who wrote some forty volumes), Kathleen Norris (whose Mother sold half a mi1lion copies and who has seventy novels to her credit), LuciUe Borden, and Frances Parkinson Keyes. These frequently attained the national best seHer lists. However, the cricic who is interested not so much in sales statistics as in the lasting qua1icies of great literature will realize that it is highly improbable that any of these writers will continue to be read by future generations .. The same may be said of Henry Morton Robinson's The Cardinal, which. had a fantastically great circulation only a few years ago Especial1y interesting among the serious novelists of the younger gene­ ration to-day are Richard Sullivan and Harty Sylvester, though the latter's novels have often made Catholics uncomfortable by their outspoken cri­ cicisms of the c1ergy and of Catholics. Julian Green has so identified himself with France, where he has lived for many years, that he hardly belongs to the story of the American Catholic noveL Two recent war books are notable, The Weight of the Cross, by Robert O. Bowen, and The Gallery, by John Home Buros. Bums' second book, Lucifer with a Book, a novel of life in a private school, has much.of the stark realism of his war novel. 1hree other recent novels seem outsranding: Crawford Powers' The Encounter, Caroline Gordon's Strange Children, and Brendan Gill's The Trouble of One House. Richard Sullivan, Harry Sylv~ster, and Brendan Gill are also among our best short story writers, and :occasionally they have their stories collect­ ed into a volume such.as Richard Su1livan's Fresh and Open Sky. But for the most part, the short story writers appear inmagazines, often the better non-Catholic ones, because we as yet have no quality Catholic periodicals which .devote themselves to serious fiction. Most Catholic magazines print short stories no better than the secular 'slicks'. Indeed, one Catho- xx CENWRY CATIlOLIC LETTERSIN TIlE UNITED STATES 69

!ic critic said: The Catholic magazines patronize the same mentality, with a subtle philosophy of Iife co.nspicuously inore liarmful. . They seem to sajt: 'lf you say your prayers (especially if they are repeated on nine suc­ cessive days), if you are good and do the right things, then you shall have a job, succeed in your,ambiii6ns, ,be crowned with the good things of this world' -a kind of back-stairs entrance to materialism, parii·cu­ larly eniicing because its easy steps are padded and comfortable with . a righteous piety. Since the better Catho1ic short stories may be found only in widely scattered magazines, anthologies of them are especially useful to non­ Americans who want to judge for themselves the best of American Catho- 1ic fiction. Outstanding among the anthologies are three edited with short and incisive introductions by Sister Mariella Gable: ThE!Y are PeopZe Ca later title for the same book was Great Modern Short Stories), Our Father's House, and Many Coloured Fleece. Here may be found the work of such.writers as Paul Horgan, whose novelette, The Devil in the Desert, has recently been reprinted and whose novel, The Fault of Angels, ought also to be read, Fra Angelico Chavez, Richard Coleman, John Fante, Brendan Gil1, W.B. Ready, Richard Sullivan, Harry Sylvester, and J.F. Powers. The last named is probably at the very top of the list of our Catho1ic short story writers. His stories have been col1ected in a volume entitled The Prince of Darkness, of which there is even an !talian ediiion. Uniil now, J.F. Powers has devoted him'self to the short story, but at the moment he is compleiing his first novel; and if it has the quality of his shorter fiction, then he may be America's first really great Catholic novelist and a writer one would not hesitate to put alongside some of the great Euro­ pean Catholic ficiionists. A genuinely significant Catholic novel may, of course, come from some distinguished convert yet to join the Church. We are always proud, and rightly so, of the converts to the Faith, but perhaps we too often blind ourselves to the tragic fact that among writers in America some of the greatest - at least technical1y - of our age were born in to the Church and left it: f. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Katherine Anne Porter, James Farrell, Theodore Dreiser, Eugene O'Neill. Almost any one of the se would have been capable of a great Catholic novel. Competence rather than greatness has characterized our work in bio­ graphy and lives of the saints, though there has been no lack of quaniity .. Agnes Repplier has graceful1ywritten Mere Marie of the Ursulines, which was a national best seHer.. The most productive of our biographers, how- 70 J. PICK ever, is Theodore Maynard, Not quite so prolific is Katherine Burton. Daniel Sargent has done good work, and so has the Hispanist William Thomas Walsh with.his IsabelZa, Philip lI, and Teresa of Avila. But al­ most all of these have aimed at a popular level. . There have been numerous autobiographies by leading Catholic writers and innumerable stories on conversion,Only a few have a lasting quality. The most recent spiritual odyssey has been The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton. It has appeared in special editions in England, France, Germany, and ltaly, and non-Americans have had the opportunity of judg­ ing it for themselves. It is a difficult book to evaluate, because so 1i~tle attention has been paid to it as literature. Its significance is probably seen most objectively through the eyes of a European, Evelyn Waugh, who wrote in the introduction to the British edition, which bears the title Elected Silence: It remalns essentially American Despite a cosmopolitan childhood, Thomas merton - F ather Louis, as he is now named - is typical of what is newest and best in his country. Columbia not Cambridge form­ ed his style. His spirituality, thoughFrench.in discipline, is a flower of the Catholic life of the New World. Americans no longer become expatriates in their quest for full cultural development. They are learning to draw away from what is distracting in their own civiliza­ don while remairiing in their own borders. Here in frest>., simple, colloquial American is the record of a soul experiencing, first, disgust with the modem world, then Faith, then a clear vocation to the way in which.Faith may be applied in the modern world. Two of our most important Catholic historians are converts,. Carleton J.H. Hayes -his books have had a wide influence through. their use as texts in many colleges and universities -and Ross Hoffman. Peter Guilday's work as founder of The Catholic Historical Review and of the American Catholic Historical Society as well as his own work as an American Churchhistorian has had a widespread effect through.the influ­ ence of generations of his students at the Catholic University of America •. American Catholic drama has been for the most patt undistinguished, and many of the same criticisms that have been levelled at the American Catholic novel have been applied to ie. Too ofeen the kind of mentaTio/ that would like to form a Dogma-of-the-Monm Club has been dominan~, and too seldom has the question been raised to arustic merits. Recent exceptions may be found in the plays of such. men as Philip Barry (made famous by his Hotel Universe), whose Here Come the·Clowns and Joyous Season are notable; so also in Emmet Lavery's First Legion, xx CENWRY CAmOLIC LETTERS IN mE UNITED STATES 71 which .has been widely translated and produced abroad, and in Leo Brady's and Walter Kerr's Brother Orchid. There have been several attempts to found a vigorous Catholic theatre movement. In 1937, Urban Nagle, a leader of Blackfriars Catho1ic Theatre movement, ,and Walter Kerr founded the Catholiċ Theatre Conference, which has met annually and on which great hopes have been pinned. It is doubtful, however, whether it has had an increasing impact, although genuine efforts have been made at several Catholic universities. , Two books grew out of Richard Dana Skinner's 'position as dramatic critic for Comm~nweal: Our Changing Theatre and Eugene O'Neill-A Poet's Quest. The leading Catho1ic dramatic critics to-day are Walter Kerr of Com,monweal and Euphemia van Reneselaer Wyatt of the Catholic World. In the field of the essay, john Lancaster Spalding {with, twenty-five volumes), Maurice Francis Egan, Charles Warren Stoddard, all populan: in the early decades of the century, are passed over by readers of to-day. Louise Imogen Guiney, Joyce and Aline Kilmer are superior in other fields. James Daly has probably been overrated (an English prosethat is, in its genre, so flawless and delightful that we dare any 1iving writing in our language to match it). Leonard Feeney has been popular for his whimsy and his occasional insights. , The truth .is, however, that Catholics did contribute one informal essay~ ist who won a first-rank position early in her life and held it for fifty years umiI her recent death: Agnes Repplier. Though, her work was in this minor genre, yet she must be recognised as' one of the live writers of genuine quality we have had, She was given honorary degrees by Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Marquette, and the University of Pennsylvania.It is safe ·to 'predict that she will always have a place in anthologies. It is difficult to overescimate the importance of a strong cricical move­ ment among Catholic writers. Sound criticism not only means that Catho­ lic writers will not be praised for the wrong reason -or conversely, de­ precated on the wrong grounds -and thus that the creative writer will feel that his work is brough~ before the court of intelligent appreciation, it also means the preparation of a larger and larger body of Catholic readers, a public for the serious Catholic novelist and poet. The best Catholic criticism in America wil1 be found notin books but in some of the leading periodicals, in the reviews of such people as John S. Kennedy in The Sign, of Harold C. Gardiner in America, of Kathe­ rine Bregy in the CatholicWorld, and in the work of many of the laymen in Commonweal. One of the best introductions to the qual~ty of criticism: by Catholics at 72 J. PICK

the present is a volume edited by Harold C. Gardiner, in which he has col1ected a series of critical appraisals by various American Catholiċs that have appeared in America. It is entitled Fifty Years of the American Novel, 1900-1950. ' Chief among the younger critics is Wallace Fowlie, who devotes him­ self principally to French literature. His most recent book, Pantomine: A Journal of Rehearsals, is very deserving of high .recognition. Our. most distinguished art critic probably is James Johnson Sweeney. Allen Tate's recent reception has brought into the Church.one of America's most dis­ criminating 1iterary critics, a man respected and well established. In the fields of philosophy and ,theology there are several strange para­ doxes. Our most distinguished philosophers, such as Jacques Maritain and Yves Simon, are Frenchmen. ,By an odd shift an American, Anton Pegis, is president of the Medieval Institute at the University of Toronto, while its former president, Gerald Phelan, a Canadian, now heads the Medieval Institute at the University of Notre Dame. , In the fields of philosophy and theology there is a seeming meagreness of publication, and yet there is avigorous intellectuallife which.is often envied by Europeans -when they get to know it.. In comparison with, that of twenty-five or fifty years ago, the situation has vastly improved. How can one explain this situation? Probably in terms little appreciated by outsiders: almost all the Americans have ,teaching posts where the demands of their classes far exceed those of Europeans, and there' is very 1ittle time left for the painstaking production of books. The work of even so great a man as John Courtney Murray is to be found in ·the form of articles. It is in the periodicals, therefore, that one must look for signs of acti~ vity, in such periodicals as Theological Studies, FranciscanStudies, The Thomist, . The Schoolman, and The New Scholasticism (the quarterly joumal of the American Catholic Philosophical Association). , :aishop Fulton Sheen, who produces a volume every year, is the most widely known preacher and popularizer of theology and philosophy, his Peace of Soulhaving been a recent best-seHer. And Thomas Merton's Seeds ofContemplation, which, has appeared in Eng1ish, French, and Italian editions, his Waters of Silenc.e, a histi>ry of the Trappists"andhl$Ascent to Truth, on the life of contemplation, have been widely read and discussed.. Popular also recently have been Fulton Oursler's The GreatestBook Bver Written and The GreatestStory Bver Told, retellings of the Old and New Testaments respectively .. They have been national best sellers, though, they have not been assessed from the literary standard. Contributions from America to the liturgical revival have been particu- xx CENnJRY CA11:IOLIC LETTERS IN 11:IE UNITED STATES 73 lariy on the popular leveL Principal contributors include Paul' Bussarcl" William Busch, Gerald Ellard, Martin B. Hellriegal, Virgil Michel, and H.A. Reinhold. The wellspring of the movement has been the Benedictine establishment, St J ohn's Abbey at Collegeville, Minnesora, where the Li turgical Press publishes, among other things, a monthly magazine Worship (until recently called OrateFrates), devoted to the liturgical movement. One American Catholic, not usually optimistic or giveo. to exaggeration, has gone so far to say that 'Orate·Frates, conducted by the Benedictines to foster liturgical observance, has (though the fact is not widely realized) completely revolutionized devotional literature.' Nar should one underestimate the very impressive accomplishment; especial1y in the past decade or two, of the Liturgical Arts Society and its quartedy Liturgical Arts, edited by Maurice Lavanaoux; andthe·Catho­ !ic Arts Association with its periodical Catholic Arts Quarterly. There is perceptibly a steady evolution - certainly not a revolution -in the various Catho1ic Arts, including music, painting, sculpture, and architecture .. It will seem a paradox to Europeansthat our really important periodi~ cals continue to fight valiantly for a sufficient circulation to support them~ selves in spite of the fact that there are thirty mil1ion Catho1ics in the United States. The fact remains that they have lived so long without an intellectual and cultural tradition that the very best of our periodicals survive on a sHm support. For forty years the weekly America has given leadership on the par t of the J eSJ,lits. Our oldest magazine, the monthly Catholic World was founded in 1865 and therefore its bound volumes constitute a continuous picture of American CathoI1c literary life. Its uneven quality has been a reflection of the uneven calibre of Catholic culture activity; notable among its recent editors was James Mattin Gi11is, whose editorship was characterizrd by vigour and forthrightness. The Commonweal is almost unique in that it is ron by Catholic laymen. and its opinion is respected by many of the non-Catholic intellectual leaders.'Founded in 1924 by Michael Williams and others, it has had dif­ ficulty in surviving, though.a recent subscription drive was well supported even by secular periodicals.For those who find back issues of 'The Commonweal unavailable, the calibre of the magazine may be judged by a recent anthology drawn from its bound·volumes, The·Commonweal Reader. .TheSign .is aimed at a w.i.der and less literarily discriminating Catholic public. : Thought, which is published ar Fordham University, is the most import­ ant of our general quarterlies that maintain a highJevel of quality .. 74 J. PICX: xx CENTIJRY CAmOLIC LETTERS IN mE UNITED STATES

A few more recently estab1ished journals should be mentioned because they indicate vigour and evidence of vitality _ Cross Cu"ents, a quarterly, performs an important service for Americans in reprinting from continental periodicals important articles which would not be available to those far removed from large libraries . .Renascence: A Critical Journal of Letters is devoted to a critical evaluation of the Catholic revival of letters both here and abroad. As one looks back over the panorama of fifty years of Catholic letters, one realizes that, in spite of ~any qualifications, conditions have vastly improved in America, and that we are just now in a better position than ever before. Only ten years ago, GeorgeN. Shuster, possibly the leading Catholic layman in the United·States to-day, wrote: tAs at present constituted, the Catho1ic body in America has virtually no use for intellectuals .... · The educated Catholic has never been so much alone in the midst of his fel1owmen. Onecannot help feeling that even in the last dedtde there has ~be-~n an advance, smal1 as it may be .. True, in fitty years we have not produced major figures -- a Claude)., a Newman, a ·Bremond, a Hopkins, an Undset, or a Greene. In fact, a non­ Catho1ic American, -T.S. Eliot, has written greater criticism, greater reli­ gious poetry, and greater religious drama than any American Catholic writer. And DeathComes for the Archbishop, -by WillaCather - another non-Cath6liċ - would seemto be a greaterAmerican Catholic noveI than any of us has produced. _ But the fact also remains that Catholic 1iterature in America has never been in so vigorous a state as right now and - even more important - the air is full of promise. 75

ON ·RE-READlNG SHAKESPEARE'S 'ROMEO AND_ JULlET"

By DONALD E. SuL TANA

To re-read Shakespeare is like returning to a great city and discovering afresh the ·splendour of its palaces and art. Itmatters not that other big cities have been visited in the interval; the new beauties only serve to confirm the supremacy of the old. Even Time does not damage its fame for it more than holds its own against the higher standards that come with. the years .. Whether judged in respect of craftsmanship or of poetry or of drama or of characterizacion Romeo and Juliet Ieaves an impressive sense of achievement which is thrown inro bolder relief by the knowledge that it was one of Shakespeare's ear1y plays -though not his first, as Hazlitt would haveus believe! Indeed, its ear1y date cannot escape the percep­ cion ot'a reader who is familiar with other playsof Shakespeare, especial­ ly those which.have certain features of style in common with it,. One of the pleasures of re-reading Shakespeare, in fact, is to arrive at some es­ cima te of the chronology of his plays through similarities and dissimilar­ ities in their style, Romeo and Juliet's lyricism and rhyme remind one of Richard lI, its parallelisms and compound adjectives of Richard III and its antitheses of the sonnets. It is a work so unmistakably of the Renaissance in its style and romanticism and yet it bears the mark of mediaevaIism in some of the ideas which Shakespeare incorporated in the play. To read of Fate which is spoken of as Fortune, or of the courtly love with which Romeo is first afflicted, or of the theory of 'humours' in which the characters implicitly believe is to be reminded of the continuity between the old world and the new in certain ideas prevalent in Shakespeare's time, This observation may ·come as a slight surprise because Shakespeare is so typically a writer of the Renaissance in his versati li ty , in his power of doing things on a large scale, in the fecundiiy 'of his inventiyeness, and in the colour and vitality of his imagery, but he was also a represen­ tative Eliżabethan writer and as such he could not but reflect the many mediaeval beIiefs and traditions which .survived among his contemporaries. His audiencel however Protestant, sdll uttered such oaths and adjuraa tions as 'Marry', Byr Lady', 'Sblood', 'Mass', 'by the rood', which. they heard, with strict realism, on the lips of his characters. In this, as in other;·things, Romeo and Juliet, like Shakespeare's other 76 D. E. SULTANA plays, is so English, however Italian may be its story and setting- Its Englishness is conveyed to the reader by the puns and quibbles - the hallmarks of Elizabethanwit - which are heard on the stage even before the action is launched. No wonder so comic a character as the Nurse seems no incongruiry -on the contrary, so natural a creation -in a tragic story of two lovers hounded to death by,Fate. Being English, she seems to hold her position in the play by right and in defiance of the classical rules which were drawn from art not from Nature, She seems so unmistak" able a cousin of Chaucer's Wife of Bath, and so promising a foremnner of the great comic characters that followed in Shakespeare's other plays. So native is she to an EngHsh brain that one understands why Dr J ohnson proclaimed that Shakespeare had an easier genius for comedy than for tragedy. , Irrespecrive of whether J ohnson was right or wrong, what ,seems certa in is that ,Shakespeare's audience expected comedy so often, even in a tra­ gedy like Romeo and Juliet, and, as is proved by the comic interludes in rhis play, he ,was certainlynot the man to disappointthem. It is difficult­ and for the student of English, foolish - to detach. Shakespeare from _his times. He is so much of his age in spite of Ben Jonson's prophecy that he was for all time. To re"read a play like Romeo and Juliet is to be re­ minded of his stage in scene after scene and to have one's attention - and admiration - focused on his craftsmanship in the light of what the stage historians have discovered about his theatre. In this task a reading of the text must be supplemented by imagination which can visualize the action as it probably took place on his stage for which the plays were originally written, His technique is then revealed in full, especially in the last two acts of Romeo and Juliet which show how much, he had the peculiar features of the Elizabethantheatre -ourer and inner stage, curtain, balcony, etc. :-in mind when writing the play. In this light he emerges as dramatic to his finger tips and as the exemplar of technical qualities which must surely be missed by those teachers­ and they are many -who do not consider the stage at all when reading or lecturing on his plays. , Indeed, they are not alone; even the oId critics, Johnson and Hazlitt among ,them, ignored this aspect with, the result that their criticism, how­ ever valuable, is incomplete and has to be supplemented by the observa­ dons of later critics, Granville-Barker among them, who had the benefit of Victorian and modern research in to the history of the theatre and the production of Shakespeare's plays. Equipped with this knowledge one can then join battle with those pundits who would rather read Shakespeare than see him acted, ON RE-READlNG' SHAKESPEARE'S 'ROMEO AND JULIET' 77

The text itself seems ·to pulsate with action, so much so that·the reader on encountering a long speech like that of Mercutio about Queen Mab seems to be taken by surprise at finding Shakespeare holding up the ac~ tion in order to put·a long, magnificently poetic, butundramatic, speech in the mouth of one of his ·mos!: brilliant characterso It is, of course, pleasing to subscribe to thefancy. that·Mercut1o -w.it, poet, satirist, man ·of ·thewor1d, brilliant . ta Ikel' -was ·to some extent a mirror of the young.Shakespeare himself when he wrote Romeo and fuliet just as ie is intriguing to wonder how much Hamlet is an image of the latet Shakespeare when he was in no mood to relish. the humour he had given to Mercutioo To generalize about Shakespeare the man from single chaltacters is as dangerous as to infer that he was 'the poer of Nature' from the naturalness of his comic characters 01' to argue, on the contrary, that ·he was romantic and not realistic on the evidence of his plots or the doings and utterances of characters like Romeo and Ju1iet. Certainly these two lovers belong out and oui: to romance and they re~ mind the reader that·the twentieth. century, accustomed as it is to 'super· realism' on stage and screen, does not go all the waywith the eighi:eenth ceni.my view, asexpressed by Dr Johnson, i:hat·Shakespeare was the poet of Nature ..his good,in facl:, that Johnson's phrase·lays suess on 'poee as well as on 'natute' because undoubtedly m Shakespeare the poei:ic lS really inseparable ffOm the natural or the dramaeic and it is often not easy to tell which has the upper hand. lt is not difficub to show thal: Romeo andJuliet in the 1as!: two acts of the play are eminentiy dramat!c in spiee of the poe€ic conception of the!!' story or the poedc language in which they play out the!r li:ragedy just as it is easy to pmve mat ~hey are more poetic than d!'ama~ic in, the opening scenes of the play Itis like" wise very easy to provemai: ·Shakespeare is as 'natura!' as any modem writer if the Nultse orMefcutto on1y are taken 101:0 account· Wha4. is ceil:~ tain is that all these characte.\:s a!'e the pKOduct of the imagination and as such they w.iH inevitably not corfespond absolui:ely to realh.y when \:aken out of the·theatte fo!' which they were created Admittedly had he written Romeo and-]uliet lal:er than he did, he would probably haveshed some, if notall, of the rhymed dialogue which gives a few of the scenes such .as Romeo's confession of love to Friat-Lawrence a ramer artificial·toucho But the whole conception of Romeo as·the courtly lover moping for Rosaline is artificial in the extreme and only shows Shakespeare's dependence on his source, Arthur Brooke's poem, which was itself dependent essentially on a long-established mediaeval con" ventiono As the courtly lover what impresses in Romeo is not naturalness but 78 D.E. SULTANA the verbal resourcefulness of Shakespeare which. in its turns of words and balanced antitheses recallsthe facile technique of the sonnets. loe danger of all this word-play ·is obvious. :Shakespeare mns the r.tsk of making all his ·characters, or almost all, at some momentor other Eliza­ bethan ·wits'. It·cannor·be affirmed that he avoided this pitfall altogethe~ indeed, lt is distressingto see him plunginginto it in certain vital·pass­ ages of the play, aswhenRomeo on hearing of his banishment can only express his hysterical ·sorrow by means of a cheap pun -a lapse into which .Ju1ietalso flills when the Nursebrings her the news of Tybalt's death iand·Romeo's exile. Indeed, it is not hard to understandwhytheseverbal extravagances­ and ·with: them may .beincluded the ·extreme examples of his loved 'con­ ceits' t_ drew upon him the . sharp, though perhaps exaggeraced, criticism of d'assi"caI schoHu!S: lik:e Ben. ]onson, Slimuel Johnson .and A.E. Hous­ man. So fantasic a line as thadn Romeo andJuliet describing!the sheath of a dagger as 'his house' tempts the reader to wish that Shakespeare had blotted, if not a thousand, at least some·lines .. Apparently these infelicicies are of a piece with. theastonishingverbal virtuosity of which he had become master by thecime he' wrol:e Romeo·and Juliet;indeed, they are more than redeemed by phrases and lines which. may be quoted as models of themost felicitous expression. To dothe an abstract scene oridea with. a graphic, concrete image seems to be for him the easiest of labours and this faciHty of his throws his occasional lapses into bolder reliet He has perfect touch:at .his best but nDt abso· lute sureness, Again, he reveals somelack of sureness in his handling of the Prologue who disappears altogethet' after giving anunneceSSary explanation at the beginning of thesecond act Ie is significant for pu!poses of chronology that the two speeches of the Prologue aKe in sonnet form and contain, in fact, all the princIpal sty1istic and mettical features of S?akespeare"s sonnetsequence .. Metrical1y, it: is perhaps the blank verse that -impresses mo.re than the rhyme, for the ·formeris splendidly controlled and modulated, especially in the more dramatic and passionate scenes where the metre is inextric~ ably connected with the drama" One ·scene that:comes to mind in proof of this is the outburst: ofCapulet on hearing of his daughter's refusal to marry Paris .. The decasyl1abic linebecomes in Shakespeare's hands a perfece instrument for the display of 'the fluctuations of passion', in Hazlitt's memorable phrase .. TIle abusive language of the tyrannicalCapulet recalls the massive vituperation of Richard III and affords further proof of the 'prodigious ON 'RE-READING SHAKESPEARE'S 'ROMEO AND JULIET 79 vocabulary' of Shakespeare who could in one and the same play put the mildest as well as themost offensive language on the Ups of his characters .. However, it is not always easy for the general·reader to understand the language of Shakespeare because many of his words, phrases and idioms have become obsolete or have undergone radical changes of meaning. It is becoming -increasingly necessary for the non-philologist to keep a glossary handy for a proper understanding ofShakespeare and it is per­ haps not fanciful·to imagine a scholar in the not too distant future trying to 'render' Shakespeare in the ·modem idiom, as scripturalscholars have been driven to do in order to keep thebible intelligible! It cannot be said that .Shakespeare has not been tampered' with for, apart from textualcorruption and emendation which constitute a perennial problem, he hasbeen pretty badly mutilated by school editors for the sake of 'respectability'. Certainly they can congratulate themselves on having succeeded in making Shak:espeare look remarkably ~ċlean' to gene.~ rationsof pupils only a minority of whom learn, usually on going to a university, of the·smutty jokesirl which.almos't f.!very play of his abounds .. There is proof of thisin the opening ·scenes of this play' in theverbal exchanges of the servants, and, indeed, more of it in Mercutio who would not have been a representative Elizabethan wit without his bawdry .. To plead, as Robert Bridges did, that .Shakespeare wasmade to write bawdry by his audience is to suggest that he had no taste. for it, but all the evidence of his thirty-six plays is against this suggestion. It is more reasonable to believe that·bawdry was one of the chief fearures of popular theatrical entertainment aslicentiousness of another kinfl was the staple ingredient of ReSitoration Comedy, and that Shakespeare catered for it in thesame way ·that he catered for high andeminently respectable in tel­ lectualand spiritualdemandso . In Romeo and Juliet he seems to be exploiting the theme of lċve tdum­ phantto which.he was to retum in middle age in Antony and Cleopatra, but there is no realsuggestion of tragedy in the latter, as there is in the former; nor are there recurrent al1usions to Fate in the later play, as there are in the ·ear1ier. The young lovers of Verona may be rash, impe­ tuous and secretive and.·as such. responsible to some extent for their doom but.it was obviously Shakespeare's intencion to exonerate them from responsibility and to represent them, in the opening words of the Prolo­ gue, as 'star-crossed'. In ·this light Romeo and Juliet is not a typically Shakesperhintragedy irithe·?sens(3·that :Hamlet for ,·!tfacbeth is, Jor.in ,the later tragedies it is Responsibility that-is stressed more thanFatality .. Yet there are some who see a resemblance to Hamlet in the· character of 80 D.E. SULTANA

Romeo, presumably in the analytical, introspective bent of the young lover who throws off, like Hamlet, though. to a less marked extent, brood­ ing observations on his own feelings and those of others. But Hamlet has a far more complex Ċharacter than Romeo and is also very different in several qualities ..Thereis no sign in Romeo of Hamlet's incessant self­ reproach: or of a morbid self-examinaclon which paralyses action; on the contrary, Romeo, like Juliet, acts with.striking speed, especially in the dramatic scene before the .catastrophe when his servantbtings to Mantua the news of Juliet's reporred death. Indeed, the impetuousfervour of the lovers accelerates the action of the play which. is unfolded by Shak:espeare in a strictand tighcly con­ st1Ucted sequence of quick-moving events.. The tempo rises after the secretmauiage and the whole tragedy is played our in a handful of days .. There is no sub-plot, as in some of Shak:espeare's plays, to slow down the main action so that the followers of classical practice cannot com,­ plain that Shak:espeare violates Aristocle's ru1e on the unity of action, . They may, with. some reason. point to the incongruity of the English: names and nicknames which he gave to the servants in a play which is laid in Italyand which has ·halian names for most of its principal charac-­ ters, but this only confirms the Englishness of Shakespeare's comic cha~ racters as well as his historic indifference to small details of geography and hi story . . He was careful enough, however, w make Mercutto joke about Romeo's 'French.slop' and-to indude an allnsion to a 'double t' so that, ta.kiog three hints a1>

Nurse whom Sh"akespeare seems to have ·conceived as certainly middleb aged, if not as oId as sheis sometimes represented on me ·stage, .on "me other hand, theparts of the male low characters, being so Elizabeman in conception and dialogue, still seem to have been wrii:ten expressly for Shakespeare's coni:emporary actors, especial1y me part of Peter wilo is obviously the Fool in Romeo and Juliet and who, accorlling to me schol~ ars, was played by me popular comedianWilliamKempe, one of the pro~ minent members of Shakespeare's company. He must have brought to the audience not onIy laughter but also a very familiar Eng1ish. touch with his snatches of songs, which:are almost inva.riably omitted from modern produccions. " . lt is good thatneither he nor Mercurio havetoo many of .those topical alluslons common enough.in Shakespeare's plays but cqmpletely unintel~ Hgible to me modem reader_ However, it is sdIl possible to visua1ize how effective they must have been on his stage·because they often served not oniy for broad or sophisdcated comedy buta~so for satire aimed at con­ i:emporary customs,. characters and foibles which fell within me range of Shakespeare's sharp eyes. A touch of this is provided by Mercutlo in his scathlng remarks aboutthe affectarions of Tybah: whose French and tech~ nical i:ermsmusi: obviously have meant far mm:e to Shakespeare's audience than" to the modem reader. Yet il: is deaf mal:: even in these topical allusions Shakespeaxe was compiehensive enough. to appeal to bom me vulgar and sophisi:icat:ed membe11'5 of his aumence who could nOi: charge him wim wr.iring 'sectional dfama' 01' with, bein g, like Lyly, a playwdght for the "COUl'Ii: Of, like Ben J00500, a playwdght for: 5cholarso It15 a measure of Shakespeare's uni~ versali~ that a play like Romeo and Juliet, wh,i.;hhad wide appeal when ii: was fUS!: ac€:ed, still continues to draw crowds not onIy in England but also in many. parts of the world and this not onIy on the stage but aIso on the Scteen. NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

Aquilina, J. : PrĊ>fessor of Maltese in the Royal University: of Malta .. Author of several books of linguistic and literary interesto :Editor of Lehen il-Malti.

Cassar Pullicino, J. : Royal Universit}r of Malta Librarian. :Author of An lntroduction to Maltese Folklore and several folklore and historiċal publications. :Editi:>r of Melita Historica.

Coleiro, Rev. 9tnon E.: Professor of Latiri in the Royal University of Malta. :EditorofThe Classical Joumal, organ of The Virgil: Society (Malta Branch) .. Dessoulavy, Rev. c.J:. .. Author of Maltese-Arabic Word-List (Luzac) and Gate of the East (Luzac). Contributed several articles on the Maltese language to TheSundial, a Maltese undergraduate~.'literary review..

Piċk, John .. Professor of English,: Marquette University, Milwaukee .. Editi:>r of Renascence: A Critical Joumal of Letters. Author of G.e,ra,rd Man1ey Ho.pkins,. Priest and Poet (O.U:p .). : - Sultana, Donald E. : Lecturer in English:iri the Royal University of Malta. : Sutcliffe, Rev. E.,. S.J. Professor of Old Testament Exegesis and Hebrew at Heythrop College, Oxford. :Author of A Grammar of the Maltese Language (O;U.P,). :