MARIO CASSAR (Malta) VESTIGES OF ARABIC NOMENCLATURE IN MALTESE SURNAMES Abstract. The most tangible living remains of the Arab period in Malta lie in the vernacular. It is now universally accepted by linguists that Maltese is derived from North African dialectal (pre-Hilālian) Arabic. Unsurprisingly, some of the oldest Maltese surnames have Arabic roots, which clearly reflect Arabic naming practices. These surnames, in fact, reveal residues of names which originally, in medieval times, functioned as a kunyah, an ism, a nasab, a nisba, a laqab, or a nabaz. The present paper hence examines the etymology of several extant Maltese surnames, which have survived in Latinized forms, such as Abdilla, Buhagiar, Cassar, Farrugia, Fenech, Micallef, Mifsud, Mintoff, Said, Saliba, Sammut, Scerri, Sultana, Zammit, and Zerafa, within the parameters of Arabic nomenclature. The linguistic heritage The most tangible living remains of the Arab period in Malta lie in the vernacular. In fact it is now universally accepted by linguists that Maltese is derived from North African dialectal (pre-Hilālian) Arabic.1 The Arabs brought with them a form of spoken Arabic understandably very close to the one then current in Tunisia and the Maghreb.2 In 870, the Aghlabids, who ruled over Barbary, Tripoli, and Tunisia, took Byzantine Malta by storm. Much disruption of normal life must have occurred, but it is impossible to judge its extent. According to the Maghrebin scholar al-Ḥimyarī, henceforth, the island remained an uninhabited hirba (ruin).3 In 910 the Isma‘ilite revolutionary ‘Ubayd Allāh Sa’id proclaimed himself caliph and founded the Shī’ite state. By 916 he had raided the Egyptian Delta, Malta, Sardinia, Corsica, and the Balearic Islands.4 The 1 The Banū Ḥilāl tribe first appeared in Ifrīqiyah in the early 13th century. Cf. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, III, Leiden, E.J. Brill, p. 385. 2 Cf. J. AQUILINA, “A Comparative Study of Semitic Maltese”, “Scientia”, IX, (1942), 9, pp. 89-96, 133-144. 3 Al-Ḥimyarī (d. 1494) wrote his Kitāb ar-rawd al-mi‘tār, a geographical encyclopedia, in 1461; however, these dates have been disputed. The Rawd segment concerning Malta is probably derived from al-Bakrī (1020–1094) and al-Qazwīnī (ca. 1203-83). Cf. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, III, pp. 675-6. 4 E. JENKINS, JR., The Muslim Diaspora: A Comprehensive Reference to the Spread of Islam in 7_Cassar_bz4.indd 77 25-10-2010 9:48:15 78 MARIO CASSAR Kalbites governed Sicily and Malta between 947 and 1050 as subsidiary rulers of the Fātimids. According to al-Ḥimyarī, after the year 1048/49, the Fātimid Muslims repeopled Malta from Sicily, and not directly from North Africa.5 It would hence be more accurate to state that their language reflected the sort of Maghrebin dialect which had evolved specifically on that island. In fact, the historical and geographical factors now decidedly point to Sicilian Arabic as the basic source of the Maltese language.6 Thousands of Maltese lexemes, normally linked to a somewhat primitive and rudimentary way of life, are of Arabic origin. The definite article, broken plurals, the diminutive form, the dual form, the comparative and superlative forms, the verbal forms, the construct state, the agglutinated pronouns, the mimated nouns, and the basic concept of triliteralism are all vestiges of Arabic morphology. However, following the expulsion of the Muslims in 1224, Malta gradually began to separate itself from the Arabic-speaking world. The replacement of Arabic as a written language first by Latin, then in the 15th century by Siculo-Italian and from the 16th century onwards by Italian, the close connection with Sicily which continued during the rule of the Knights Hospitalers of St John (1530-1798), and the influx of Romance speakers into Malta, all explain the importance which the Romance, and in particular the Siculo-Italian element, then acquired in Maltese. In the second half of the 20th century, subject to the all-conquering influence of English, the local tongue has been embracing new words of mainly Anglo-Saxon origin. As a result of this linguistic mixing Maltese has evolved into a separate and independent language.7 Maltese morphology remains essentially that of dialectal Arabic, somewhat modified and reduced. Foreign loan words from Siculo-Italian which Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas, I, North Carolina & London, McFarland & Co. Inc., 1999, p. 102. 5 It has to be said that the reliability of al-Ḥimyarī’s account has been doubted in some quarters. If the facts were to be trusted Arab effective rule in Malta would be reduced to a mere 42 years (1049-1091). Yet, for whole decades, during Norman and Swabian rule, no radical changes in the day-to-day running of affairs seemed to have occurred, as the Arabs were allowed to stay, and the disappearance of Islam from the Maltese islands was surely a long drawn out affair. The Maltese Muslims were finally expelled, probably, in ca. 1224 by emperor Frederick II. However, the decree of expulsion (which has not survived) seems to have applied to Muslims only not to ‘Arabs’ or ‘Moors’, to a religious not to an ethnic group. All this largely explains the survival of the Maltese language in the form it had taken during the centuries of Muslim hegemony, in spite of the steady entry into the islands of settlers from Europe. 6 J. BRINCAT, Malta 870-1054: Al-Himyarī’s Account and Its Linguistic Implications, Malta, Said International, 1995, p. 27. Cf. also D. AGIUS, Siculo-Arabic, London, Kegan Paul, 1996. 7 Maltese, today, is the only Semitic language written in the Latin alphabet. It is also the only European language of Semitic origin which enjoys the status of a national language. 7_Cassar_bz4.indd 78 25-10-2010 9:48:15 VESTIGES OF ARABIC NOMENCLATURE IN MALTESE SURNAMES 79 encroached the language later on, merely fitted into the morphological framework already established by Arabic grammatical rules. One can retain that since then the morphology of the language has remained more conservative than the Tunisian dialect itself, but the syntax has continued to change through the influence of Neo-Latin patterns of sentence construction.8 Arabic nomenclature In Arabic-Islamic usage the full name of a person is usually made up of the following elements: kunyah, ism, nasab, and nisba. A certain number of persons are also known by a nickname (laqab)9 or a pejorative sobriquet (nabaz) which, when the name is stated in full, comes after the nisba. From the end of the 9th century onwards, the use of an honorific title before or after the kunyah became more and more frequent with persons of high rank. 1. The kunyah is usually an honorific name compound with ’Abū (‘father of’) or ’Umm (‘mother of’): Abū Dāwūd, ’Abū Laylā, ’Umm Salim, ’Umm al-Ḥasan.10 It hence has the character of a teknonym, that is, a name of a human being making reference to that person’s child. The kunyah may be purely metaphorical and allude to some desired quality, like ’Abū l-Fadºl meaning ‘father of merit’, or ’Abū ’l-Ḥayr meaning ‘father of goodness’. However, the kunyah, not infrequently, may have a pejorative sense, as in ’Abū Gµahl meaning ‘father of ignorance’ and ’Abū al-‘Atahiya meaning ‘father of folly’, or point to some physical defect, as in ’Abū ’l-Basºir meaning ‘blind person’. Sometimes the ’Abū loses its original sense completely and becomes a synonym of dū meaning ‘the man with …’, hence acquiring a descriptive function, e.g. ’Abū Lihºya (bū lahºya) means ‘bearded person’.11 By extension ’Abū can also mean ‘the master of’, ‘the holder of’, ‘the possessor of’, 8 Cf. J. CREMONA, “The Survival of Arabic in Malta: The Sicilian Centuries” in The Changing Voices of Europe in Honour of Professor Glanville Price, Cardiff, 1994, pp. 281-94. 9 The Maltese word for nickname is incidentally laqam. 10 The kunyah is usually bestowed on the eldest son of the family, but this is not a hard and fast rule. Married ladies are, as a general rule, simply called after the name of their first son, e.g. ’Umm Ahºmad. However, kunyahs were often conventionalized. Cf. P. ROOCHNIK & S. AHMED, “Arabic and Muslim Family Names” in Dictionary of American Family Names, ed. P. Hanks, Oxford University Press, 2003, p. c. 11 Sicilian surname Buscemi derives < kunyah ’Abū Sµāmah meaning ‘the man with a birthmark’. 7_Cassar_bz4.indd 79 25-10-2010 9:48:15 80 MARIO CASSAR ‘the foremost of’, ‘the leader of’, ‘the first of’, etc. Hence, ’Abū (or Dū) ’lYaminayn means ‘the possessor of two right hands’, ‘the ambidextrous’. In other instances it denotes proliferation, especially obvious in the dialects, as in the North African appellative bū hamsa (‘five’). The kunyah is often applied to certain animals, e.g. ’Abū Faris (‘lion’), ’Abū Sulaymān (‘cock’), ’Umm ‘Āmir (‘hyena’); to certain plants, e.g. ’Abū Farwa (‘chestnut’); or even to all sorts of things which are in some degree personified, e.g. ’Abū Kubays, an oronym.12 2. The ’ism, also called ‘alam or ’ism ‘alam, is the individual’s personal or given name. It can be of several types. Some are ancient Arab names, mostly of pre-Islamic origin, and in form of adjectives (e.g. al-Ḥasān, ‘good’, ‘handsome’), elatives (e.g. Ahºmad, ‘the most praised’), substantives (e.g. ’Asad, ‘lion’), participles (e.g. Muhºammad, ‘praiseworthy’), or verbs of uncompleted action (e.g. Yazīd, ‘he increases’). Some are used with the article (e.g. al-‘Abbās, ‘stern’, ‘austere’), but normally they are not (e.g. ‘Abbās). In general, only the names of the Prophet (Muhºammad, al-Musºtºafa, etc.) or some of the figures of the early Islamic period (‘Umar, ‘Alī, ‘Utmān, etc.) have survived from among these ancient names. Others, such as Ibrāhīm (Abraham), Ishºāq (Isaac), Mūsā (Moses), Yūsuf (Joseph), and Ismā‘īl (Ishmael), are biblical names in their Quranic forms. Then there are compound names in two main patterns: (a) ‘Abd (‘slave [of]’) followed by Allāh or one of the divine names;13 (b) Allāh preceded by a construct substantive (e.g. Hibat Allāh, ‘gift of God’). Some names are drawn from old Persian history and legend (e.g. Husraw, Gµāmsˇı¯d, Rustam), as well as from other sources, especially Berber (e.g. Yidder). Finally there are names based on abstract nouns, sometimes with the suffix -ī (e.g. Tawfı¯k, Ḥikmet, Fikrī).14 3. The nasab is a lineage or pedigree name, comprising a list of ancestors, each name being introduced by the patronymic element ibn (‘son of’), e.g. ibn ‘Umar.15 Arab historians quote as many generations as they feel to be necessary and sometimes go back a very long way when dealing with an eminent person or in order to avoid confusion, but the usual practice 12 The Encyclopaedia of Islam, V, p. 396. The ancient theophoric names made up of ‘Abd and the name of a pagan divinity (e.g. ‘Abd Manat) have disappeared with Islam. Cp. Mal. surname Abdilla (infra). 14 The Encyclopaedia of Islam, IV, p. 179. 15 The second name of the series is preceded by bint, ‘daughter of’, if the f.n. is that of a woman, e.g. Fātima bint ‘Abbās. The nasab is always a patronymic; the only notable exception to this, a matronymic, was a special case: ‘Isa ibn Maryam (Jesus the son of Mary). 13 7_Cassar_bz4.indd 80 25-10-2010 9:48:15 VESTIGES OF ARABIC NOMENCLATURE IN MALTESE SURNAMES 81 is to limit the nasab to one or two ancestors. The Arabic ibn (also known as ma‘rifa) can sometimes refer to an ancestor rather than a parent, and be used as a kind of a surname, as is the case with the famous Ibn Khaldūn.16 In some cases, a person’s nasab expresses relationship with the mother, especially if the woman concerned was in some way remarkable (e.g. Ibn Fātima). Generally, the reference of the nasab is to the father’s ism, but sometimes it may be to his kunyah (e.g. ‘Alī ibn Abū ’l-Fazl) or to his laqab (e.g. Iqbāl ibn al-Aswad, Jamīla bint al-Nāsif).17 4. The nisba is an adjective ending in -ī, formed originally from (a) the name of the individual’s tribe, clan, sect, dynasty, school of law, or eponymous ancestor (e.g. al-Qurasˇī, ‘of the Kurashi tribe’; al-‘Abbāsī, ‘the Abaside’; al-Ḥusaynī, ‘the descendant of a Ḥusayn’, etc.); (b) the place of birth, origin, or residence (e.g. al-Mālitºī, ‘the Maltese’;18 al-Izmirī, ‘the Smyrniot’; al-Masºrī, ‘the Egyptian’; etc.);19 and occasionally from (c) a trade or profession (e.g. al-Sºayrafī, ‘the money-changer’; al-Ḥarīrī, ‘the silk weaver’; al-Tºahºhºān, ‘the miller’, etc.). A man may thus have several nisbas which are normally given progressing from the general to the particular and in chronological order of residence. The specialty is often indicated at the end without the suffix -ī (e.g. al-Ḥāfizº, al-Maws¸il). In Arabic the nisba is always preceded by the definite article al-.20 5. The laqab can be an honorific title or a distinctive epithet (e.g. alRasˇīd, ‘the rightly ruler’; al-Mutawakkil ‘ala ‘llāh, ‘he who entrusts himself to God’), usually placed after the nisba. But in its simplest form the laqab is a descriptive nickname with neutral connotations, usually referring to a physical characteristic (e.g. al-Tºawīl, ‘the tall [one]’; al-Atºrasˇ, ‘the deaf [one]’; al-Ḥamrānī, ‘the [deep] red one’; etc.),21 which follows the ism. These nicknames are felt to be less pejorative than the sobriquets (nabaz) such as al-Ḥimar (‘the ass’) and al-Abtar (‘the childless one’).22 Names of 16 Cf. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, IV, pp. 179-80; ibid., VII, pp. 967-8. ROOCHNIK & AHMED, op. cit., p. c. 18 S. CUSA, in his I diplomi greci ed arabi di Sicilia (Parte I, 1868, II, 1882), for example, mentions: ’Abū Bakr al-Mālitºī, ‘Isa al-Mālitºī, ‘Omor bin al-Mālitºī and his brother ‘Utºmān, Awlād (‘sons of’) al-Mālitºī, Mefrigˇ al-Mālitºī, Ni‘ma al-Gµawdisˇī and his brother ‘Alī. These names attest for the complete Arabization of the Maltese islands. 19 Such nisbas do not necessarily denote ethnicity; they might simply refer to a returning immigrant. Hence al-Hindī might have referred to a local who had just made his way back from India. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, VIII, p. 55. 20 Cf. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, IV, p. 179; ibid., VIII, pp. 53-6. 21 The termination -ānī is often used in an intensive or elative sense. Harmless signification of this sort was traditionally meant to avert the evil eye or the unwanted attention of jinns (genies) and other evil spirits. 22 Cf. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, IV, pp. 180-1; ibid., V, pp. 618-31. 17 7_Cassar_bz4.indd 81 25-10-2010 9:48:15 82 MARIO CASSAR animals and birds of prey are also common as laqabs (e.g. al-Fahd, ‘the cheetah’; al-‘Uqāb, ‘the eagle’). Hence, full Arabic names run like: ’Abū ’l-Fadºl Musºtºāfa Ibn Hālid alBag˙dādī, or ’Abū Zayd ‘Umar Ibn Salem al-Sºayrafī, or ’Umm al-Ḥasan Ahºmed Ibn Asad al-Rasˇīd. None of these components strictly speaking amounts to a surname, though as in the case of the ma‘rifa, even the laqab and the nisba are sometimes used to this effect. Kunyah surnames Kunyah nomenclature in Maltese onomastics has survived both in place-names and family names. Toponyms like Buġibba (< *’Abū Gµibba), Bubaqra (< ’Abū Bakr), and Buleben (< ’Abū Laban) are evident examples. Surname Buhagiar derives from ’Abūhagˇar; Hagˇar, meaning ‘stones’, ‘rocks’, is an Ar. given name.23 If in this case ’Abū stands for ‘holder’, ‘possessor’, then the composite term might refer to a thriving landlord, or to a proprietor of a stone-quarry. Psaila is probably Siculo-Arabic; either (a) < Ar. ’Abū Sala, whence contemporary Sic. top. Busala and medieval top. Rachalbusal (in which the second element is actually a Heb. given name);24 or else (b) < Ar. Abū Sayāl. The latter’s second element might be related either to sayāla meaning ‘a milky thornplant’, or to sayyāla meaning ‘flowing water’, ‘mountain current’.25 Saliba is an apocopated form of medieval Mal. surname Busalib(e), often linked with Abū ’l-Ṣalībī, meaning ‘crusader’, < ṣalīb meaning ‘cross’, ‘inter-section’, ‘cross-roads’.26 Alternatively the term could have simply referred to a Christian living in a Muslim community, the cross being the emblem of his religion. The final -a reflects the influence of Romance morphology.27 Otherwise it is a continuation of 23 G. CARACAUSI, Dizionario onomastico della Sicilia: Repertorio storico-etimologico di nomi di famiglia e di luogo, I-II, Palermo, Centro di Studi Filologici e Linguistici Siciliani, L’Epos Società Editrice, 1993, sub ‘Buhagiar’. Cp. Ibn Hağar al-‘Askalānī, Egyptian hadīth scholar, judge, and historian (1372-1449), The Encyclopaedia of Islam, III, p. 776. Hağar is a cognate of the Ethiopic hağar meaning ‘town’. It is still in use today as an element in the place-names given to ruins of preIslamic town sites in southern Arabia. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, III, p. 29. 24 CARACAUSI, op. cit., sub ‘Busala’. 25 A Romance derivation is also possible, if one considers the surname to be a corrupt form of f.n. Basilia (masculine Basilio), < Lat. Basilius, ultimately < Gk. Basíleios, < basíleus meaning ‘king’, ‘royal’. Cf. G. WETTINGER, Non Arabo-Berber Influences on Malta’s Medieval Nomenclature in Proceedings of the Second International Congress of Studies on Cultures of the Western Mediterranean, Algiers, S.N.E.D, 1978, p. 205. 26 Cf. S. FIORINI, “Sicilian Connexions of Some Medieval Maltese Surnames”, Journal of Maltese Studies, (1987-88), 17-18, p. 109. 27 Another pointer might be top. Salibi, < Sic. salibba, < Ar. saliba(h) meaning ‘water track 7_Cassar_bz4.indd 82 25-10-2010 9:48:16 VESTIGES OF ARABIC NOMENCLATURE IN MALTESE SURNAMES 83 Aramaic suffix ā which stands for the definite article; in that case Saliba merely means ‘the cross’. Surnames related to kunyah names with zoological connotations include: Buttigieg (< ’Abū l-Dağāğ(ī), comprising dağāğ [or diğāğ, duğāğ] meaning ‘chickens’, ‘domestic fowls’, hence referring to a thriving poulterer); and Ebejer (< ’Abū ’l-‘Abā’ir, comprising the pl. form of ‘abūra meaning ‘a one-year old goat or sheep’, possibly suggesting a goatherd).28 Kunyah surnames denoting proliferation include Busuttil and Busietta. Busuttil, in all probability, is a contemporary form of medieval Mal. surname Busittin, < Ar. *’Abūsittīn meaning ‘a master (or owner) of sixty (men)’.29 Busietta is perhaps a Sicilianized form of *’Abūsitta meaning ‘a master (or owner) of six (men)’.30 Otherwise the family name is perhaps an epenthetic form of Sic. surname Busetta, itself a form of Ar. ’Abū ’l-Sayyid,31 in which case it is related to Sem. surname Said (infra). A kunyah surname which has the status of a dū is Xuereb, <Ar. ’Abū šawārib, signifying ‘a man with a moustache’, as šārib means ‘moustache’.32 Ism surnames The most obvious ’ism surname in Malta is Abdilla, which relates to Siculo Arabic Abdella and Gk. Abdellas. All forms are derived from Ar. theophoric f.n. ‘Abdallāh, composed of the elements ‘abd meaning crossing the fields’. G. B. PELLEGRINI, Gli Arabismi nelle Lingue Neolatine, I-II, Brescia, Paideia Editrice, 1972, pp. 152, 271. The surname Saliba is still extant among the Christian communities of Lebanon and Syria. 28 J. AQUILINA, “A Comparative Study in Lexical Material Relating to Nicknames and Surnames”, Journal of Maltese Studies, (1964), 2, p. 154-5; A. DE SIMONE, “Per un lessico dell’arabo di Sicilia” in Languages of the Mediterranean: Sub Strata – The Islands – Malta, ed. J.M. Brincat, Malta, The Institute of Linguistics, 1994, p. 108. Cp. Mal. għabura (pl. għebejjer). 29 AQUILINA, op.cit. (1964), p. 154. Busittin could have been the leader of 60 militiamen assigned to guard the local coasts against piratical attacks. The derivation is supported by the occurrence of the surname Butletin (‘master of thirty men’) among the Muslim serfs of 12th century Sicily, then under Norman rule. FIORINI, op.cit., p. 109. 30 Cp. Mal. nickname Buħames meaning ‘father of five’. J. CASSAR PULLICINO, “Social Aspects of Maltese Nicknames”, Scientia, XXII, (1956), 2, p. 78. 31 CARACAUSI, op. cit., sub ‘Busetta’; DE SIMONE, op. cit., p. 81. Cp. Ibn Sayyid al-Nās (d. 1334), biographer of the Prophet. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, III, p. 932. 32 C.L. DESSOULAVY, “Quelques Noms Propres Maltais”, Journal of the Faculty of Arts, I, (1957), 1, p. 47; AQUILINA, op. cit. (1964), p. 156. Cp. Ibn Abī ’l-Ṧawārib, name of the members of a family, the Banū Abī ’l-Ṧawārib, which played an important role during the 9th and the beginning of the 10th centuries, and provided the Muslim empire with a succession of traditionalists, jurists, and qadis. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, III, p. 691. The al-Ṧawāribī were a family of Kalyūb, lower Egypt. Ibid., IV, p. 514. DESSOULAVY, op. cit., p. 47, also suggests another derivation: < Ar. šārib, šuraba meaning ‘great drinker’, possibly referring to a drunkard. 7_Cassar_bz4.indd 83 25-10-2010 9:48:16 84 MARIO CASSAR ‘servant, (mainly male) slave’33 + Allāh (< al-a‘lā) meaning ‘God (the Almighty)’.34 This sobriquet is compatible with the Islamic doctrine of total submission to God.35 The name is one of the many attributive titles of Muḥammad himself. This fact surely augmented the popularity of the given name within the Muslim world, already attested in pre-Islamic Arabia. Sammut derives < Ar. f.n. Samīt meaning ‘tacit’, < samt meaning ‘silence’. Among several extremist Shī‘ite groups, al-samīt is the designation of a messenger of God who does not reveal a new law, as opposed to al-natik, a speaking prophet.36 Zammit derives < Ar. f.n. Zamīt meaning ‘stern’, ‘grave’, ‘dignified’.37 In some quarters, the surname Mamo has been tentatively explained as a shortened and Latinized form of Ar. f.n. Muḥammad (or possibly Maḥmud), which survived as a surname in Malta only until the later 15th century. The transformation can be easily explained by the taboo on Muslim names prevailing in medieval Christian Malta.38 Hili could be traced to Ar. f.n. al-Ḥilī meaning ‘able’, ‘skilful’, ‘valorous’, ‘courageous’, < Ar. (and Mal.) ḥila meaning ‘ability’, ‘strength’.39 Bigeni is a Sic. surname < top. Bigeni, a commune in the province of Syracuse, and various other localities in Sicily, such as Bigini; Torre Biggini, commune in the province of Trapani; and Bigene, a former feudal domain (a.k.a. Casale Bigens). All names derive < Ar. f.n. Bīğanu meaning ‘withered’, ‘gaunt’.40 33 Other Ar. names comprising the term ‘abd include ‘Abd al-Rašīd, ‘Abd al-Salām, ‘Abd alRaḥmān, and ‘Abd al-Raḥīm. 34 CARACAUSI, op. cit., sub ‘Badali’; AGIUS, op. cit., pp. 403, 421. For legal purposes, converts whose natural fathers had not embraced Islam were conventionally given, especially in the Ottoman period, the nasab (pedigree name) Ibn ‘Abd Allāh. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, IV, pp. 179-80. Another Mal. surname related to the same Ar. ’ism, albeit in a somewhat cryptic fashion, is Vadalà (< Badalà). 35 The same notion features in other religions as well. As a matter of fact, It. (hence Christian) surname Servadio, Heb. (hence Judaic) Ovadya, and Indian (hence Hindu) name Devdas have exactly equivalent meanings. 36 Cp. al-Sāmit. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, VIII, p. 1046. PELLEGRINI, op. cit., p. 235, links it with surname Zambuto, itself a hypercorrect variant of Zammuto, < Ar. samūt meaning ‘silent’. 37 G. WETTINGER, Place-Names of the Maltese Islands ca. 1300-1800, Malta, PEG Ltd., 2000, sub ‘Ta’ Zammit’. Zammit is the fifth commonest surname in Malta [Census 2005]. 38 G. WETTINGER, “The Origin of the “Maltese” Surnames”, Melita Historica, XII, (1999), 4, 1999, p. 343; WETTINGER, op. cit. (2000), sub ‘Ta’ Mamo’. Mamou is the name of a nomadic tribe of Oujda, E. Morocco; the surname could hence have originated from a tribal nisba. WETTINGER has also detected Mamou as a Jewish surname in Tunisia. Otherwise it can be an It. occupational family name, < Neo-Gk. mámos, mámmos meaning ‘obstetrician’, < feminine form mammí meaning ‘midwife’. CARACAUSI, op. cit., sub ‘Mammo’. Locally the surname originated in Gozo. 39 AQUILINA, op. cit. (1964), p. 155; J. AQUILINA, Maltese-English Dictionary, I-II, Malta, Midsea Books Ltd., 1987-90, sub ‘ħila’. 40 Cp. Aḥmed Bīğan, Turkish mystic writer and educator who flourished in the middle of the 15th century. He led a very ascetic life and became so emaciated that he called himself Bīdjān meaning ‘the lifeless’. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, I, p. 1202. 7_Cassar_bz4.indd 84 25-10-2010 9:48:16 VESTIGES OF ARABIC NOMENCLATURE IN MALTESE SURNAMES 85 Surnames derived from Biblical names also prevail. Asciak/q must be the remnant form of Ar. f.n. Isḥāq (Gk. Isaak, Eng. Isaac), < Heb. Yitschak (Yishaq), a derivation of tsachak (shahaq) meaning ‘to laugh’.41 Musù (or Mousù) is sometimes linked with Ar. ism Mūsā (Eng. Moses), in which case it is related to Sem. surname Muxi (also extant in Malta), < Biblical Heb. f.n. Mushi, an alternative form of Moshe, itself of Egyptian origin.42 Feminine names can also be traced in the surnames Sultana, Manara, and Zahra. Sultana (as the Neo-Gk. Soultána) derives < Ar. fem. f.n. Sulṭānah meaning ‘queen’, ‘sultan’s consort’.43 Alternatively it derives directly < Ar. f.n. Sulṭan, < sulṭān meaning ‘king’, ‘sovereign’, ‘royal power’; the final -a reflecting the influence of Romance morphology.44 Manara is an Ar. fem. given name meaning ‘guiding light’, evidently related to manāra meaning ‘lighthouse’, ‘minaret’.45 Zahra, on the other hand, is Ar. fem. f.n. Zah(i)ra, either (a) < zahra meaning ‘(orange) blossom’, ‘blooming flower’, and by metaphorical extension ‘beautiful (girl)’, or else (b) < zahraa, < azhar meaning ‘bright’, ‘radiant’.46 Nasab surnames No overt trace of nasab nomenclature can be detected in Maltese family names. The words bin and bint were systematically proscribed from all surnames, probably because the locals considered necessary to distance them41 The medieval reference to Presbitero Bartholomeo de Aschac or de Ysac (1372) seems to confirm this interpretation. S. FIORINI, Documentary Sources of Maltese History, Part II: Documents in the State Archives, Palermo, No. 1 – Cancelleria Regia 1259-1400, Malta, Malta University Press, 1999, pp. 46, 136. However, AQUILINA, op. cit. (1964), p. 154, and DESSOULAVY, op. cit., p. 44, suggest another meaning: < Ar. ‘āshik meaning ‘lover’, ‘paramour’, ‘sweetheart’. The term ‘āshik originally applied to popular mystical poets of dervish orders. It was later taken over by wandering poets and minstrels. The Encyclopaedia of Islam: Glossary & Index of Terms to Vol. I-IX, p. 27. Cp. ‘Āshik Pasha, Turkish poet and mystic (1272-1333). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, I, p. 698. 42 Cp. ‘Abd Allāh b. Mūsā, the conqueror of the Maghreb and Spain, executed in 720. Ibid., I, p. 50. Otherwise Muxi may be a medieval rendering (x = sc) of It. surname Musci, (a) < Neapolitan and Apulian muscio meaning ‘flaccid, flabby’; or (b) < Sic. musciu meaning ‘lethargic, slowmoving, lazy’; or (c) < Calabrian musci meaning ‘rat’; or (d) < Salentine musci, musciu (Calabrian and Neapolitan muscia) meaning ‘cat’. 43 CARACAUSI, op. cit., sub ‘Sultana’. Cp. It. surname Soldano. 44 WETTINGER, op. cit. (2000), sub ‘Ta’ Sultan’. Cp. Salīma Sulṭāna Mughal, a poetess, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, VI, p. 488; Sulṭāna bint Aḥmad al-Sudayri, ibid., supplement, p. 305. Locally the surname Sultana surely originated in Gozo. 45 Otherwise a Romance origin is equally logical: < It. mannara, dialectal form of mannaia, < Late Lat. manuaria meaning ‘axe’, ‘hatchet’, (a) a metonym for a user, maker, or seller of such tools, or (b) a byname for a menacing, sinister person. 46 AQUILINA, op. cit. (1964), p. 156. Zahra was the nickname of Fāṭima, Muḥammad’s daughter. 7_Cassar_bz4.indd 85 25-10-2010 9:48:16 86 MARIO CASSAR selves from the widespread Arabic use of such words in personal nomenclature, during the re-Christianization period.47 The Arabic terms seem to have been at first replaced by the Latin de or Italian di and eventually dropped altogether. This means that ‘Maltese’ Semitic surnames do not have the equivalent of Jackson, O’Neil, Fitzpatrick, or Degiorgio, for that matter. However the surname Agius needs particular attention. Ibn al-‘Ağūz, meaning ‘son of the old woman’, is actually the epithet applied by the Arabs to the biblical prophet Ezekiel (Ar. Alīsa‘, Alyasa‘), due to his parentage.48 Admittedly, another sound conjecture, equally pointing to an Ar. origin, can be ventured. The term can be a syncopated form of surname Agegius, a Gk. form of medieval Siculo-Arabic surnames Caggegi, Chagegi, < Ar. surname Ḥaği, < Ar. ḥağğağ meaning ‘a frequent performer of the ḥağ or pilgrimage to Mecca and of the religious rites and ceremonies ordained for the occasion’.49 Otherwise nasab names have survived in local toponymy, as exemplified by Bin Għisa (< ‘Īsā), Bin Għali (< ‘Alī), and Binġemma (< Gemma, a nonSem. name). Nisba surnames No nisba surnames related to clan, tribe, or sect affiliation can be verified, barring the possible case of Mamo (supra). Otherwise provenance and occupational nisbas are quite copious. The commonest surname in Malta is Borg. It has been identified with Ar. al-burği,50 < Ar. burğ meaning ‘cairn’, ‘a pile of stones heaped up as a memorial tomb, or land mark’, and by extension ‘bastion’, ‘tower’, ‘fortified country house’,51 in which case the term refers to someone who hailed from a borgo or a walled town.52 47 WETTINGER, op. cit. (1999), p. 338. AQUILINA, op. cit. (1964), pp. 151-2; The Encyclopaedia of Islam, I, p. 404; FIORINI, op. cit. (1987-88), p. 113. In Islamic countries bordering on or near the Mediterranean, certain days of recurrent bad weather, generally towards the end of winter, are called Ayyām al-‘Ağūz, ‘the days of the old woman’. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, I, p. 792. Cp. Mal. għaġuża meaning ‘hag’. 49 AGIUS, op. cit., p. 262. Cp. Romanian hugiu meaning ‘pilgrim’. PELLEGRINI, op. cit., p. 69. 50 Medieval nickname (and surname) il Burgi (documented in a Militia List of 1419) confirms this derivation. 51 The Encyclopaedia of Islam, I, p. 1315; AGIUS, op. cit., p. 259. 52 The term occurs in many European languages, albeit carrying different shades of meaning. Gk. purgos, Lat. burgos, and It. borgo denote a walled town; Old High German burg refers to a fortification, while Old Eng. burc specifically indicates the site of a prehistoric hill fort. Hence the similarity of the local surname with North European forms (e.g. Scandinavian Borg, Berg) is not merely coincidental. Cp. Eng. surnames Burke and Burgh, Fr. surname Bourg, It. surname Borghi, and Sp. surname Burgos. 48 7_Cassar_bz4.indd 86 25-10-2010 9:48:16 VESTIGES OF ARABIC NOMENCLATURE IN MALTESE SURNAMES 87 Common surname Caruana is usually meant to be a Latinized form of al-karawānī meaning ‘a native of or an immigrant originating from Qayrawān’.53 Qayrawān is the Moslem sacred city south of Tunis, today known as Qairwan or Kairouan.54 The final -a reflects again the influence of Romance morphology. Alternatively the family name can be associated with an occupational nisba, as Siculo-Arabic caruana (also caruvana, caravana) meaning ‘a multitude of people or workers, especially of dockers or lightermen’, derives < Ar. harwā meaning ‘cortege’, ‘gathering (of people)’, probably added to the Berber suffix -ana,55 or directly < kārwān meaning ‘a caravan, composed of horses, mules, donkeys, and especially camels’, or < qayrawān meaning ‘caravan’, ‘train of people traveling together’, ultimately < Persian kārawān.56 Hence the term probably refers to a caravan man.57 Barbara is presumably derived from Ar. nisba al-barbarī meaning ‘Berber’, ‘an aboriginal inhabitant of Barbary, N. Africa’, in which case it is related to medieval Mal. surname Berberi.58 Curmi might be related to Ar. al-kurmī, < Kirim (Crimea), hence denoting a native of or an immigrant originating from the Crimea’.59 However one cannot ignore the possible link with Ar. karmī meaning ‘generous’, ‘noble’,60 or Ar. qurmiyeh meaning ‘tree trunk’.61 Cutajar is usually linked with Sic. top. Cutaia, itself < Ar. quttayah, a diminutive form of qatat, qitāt meaning ‘hill top’, ‘crest’. Ar. 53 Al-Kayrawānī was the sobriquet of a famous Ar. grammarian of the 5th century of the Hegira. AQUILINA, op. cit. (1964), p. 151. 54 AQUILINA, op. cit. (1987-90), sub ‘karwān’. The city, founded in 670 A.D., owes its name to the Berber tribe Takarwān. The Aghlabid governor established his authority there in 800 A.D. 55 CARACAUSI, op. cit., sub ‘Caruana’. 56 AGIUS, op. cit., p. 345. 57 Kārwān is ostensibly a word of Iranian origin, later Arabicized, whence Eng. caravan. Its early form kārbān, meaning ‘supervising work’, probably evolved in the Pahlavi period, but the more widespread meaning dates from the early Islamic period. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, IV, p. 676. A third derivation has been suggested: < Sic. caruana, carvana meaning ‘castor-oil plant’, < Ar. harwā. CARACAUSI, op. cit., sub ‘Caruana’; PELLEGRINI, op. cit., p. 188. 58 AGIUS, op. cit., p. 80. Ar. barbarī means ‘Nubian-speaking Muslim inhabiting the Nile Banks between the First and Third Cataracts’. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, I, p. 1028. Otherwise Barbara is an It. surname, < Imperial Lat. f.n. Barbaras, < medieval Gk. Barbára, < bárbaros meaning (a) ‘stammerer’, or (b) ‘stranger (who speaks in a foreign tongue)’. E. DE FELICE, Dizionario dei Cognomi Italiani, Milano, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1978, sub ‘Bàrbaro’. The term was originally an onomatopoeic word formed in imitation of the unintelligible babbling of nonGreeks. 59 FIORINI, op. cit. (1987-88), pp. 111-2. Kurmi (or Kormi) was actually an ancient city of Lycia, Turkey; the name, of uncertain termination. Otherwise Curmi is an It. surname < top. Curma, a locality Zaffarena; the name itself probably < a dialectal form (involving rhotacism) of It. colma meaning ‘high water (spring)’, < Lat. culmen meaning ‘summit’. CARACAUSI, op. cit. , sub ‘Curmi’. 60 AQUILINA, op. cit. (1964), p. 154. 61 CARACAUSI, op. cit., sub ‘Curmo’; DESSOULAVY, op. cit., p. 46. 7_Cassar_bz4.indd 87 25-10-2010 9:48:16 88 MARIO CASSAR raḥl quttayah actually means ‘village on a hilltop’.62 Saydon has been tentatively linked to top. Saida (or Sayda), the city and port in S.W. Lebanon, once the commercial capital centre of ancient Phoenicia,63 but it might be a Latinized form of Ar. name Zaydūn.64 Bugeja is supposedly derived < top. Bougie (It. Bougia), city and port of N.W. Algeria, now called Bejaia.65 Zarb is an apocopated form of Sic. surname Zarbo, < zzarbu meaning ‘barrier’, ‘boundary wall’, ultimately < Ar. zarb meaning (a) ‘cattle pen’, or (b) ‘hunter’s booth’, or (c) ‘hedge’, ‘thicket’, ‘enclosure’.66 In its present state it is unclear whether the original term indicated a specific location or a mere nickname. The most conspicuous provenance nisba surname in Malta is undoubtedly Gauci. It clearly derives from al-Ġawdišī meaning ‘Gozitan’, ‘a native of Gozo’;67 it is hence a medieval Latinized transcription of Mal. Għawdxi. Occupational nisba surnames are also quite common. Farrugia relates to al-farrūğ meaning ‘poultry man’, ‘chicken keeper’, < Ar. farrūğ meaning ‘chicken’, hen’.68 The final -a, again, reflects the influence of Romance morphology.69 Calafato is actually an It. surname, which is itself an offshoot 62 The excrescent final -r in the present-day form of the surname is an epithesis that does not antedate the 17th century and begins to appear only in documents from Valletta and the Three Cities. FIORINI, op. cit. (1987-88), p. 112. The suggestion that the surname Cutajar derives < obsolete Sem. Mal. ktajjar meaning ‘slightly numerous’, ‘quite abundant’, itself < kattar meaning ‘to multiply’, cannot be dismissed, either. Al-Kutayyir was a famous poet of the Omayyad period; his name is linked to Ar. katīr meaning ‘numerous’, ‘plentiful’. Cp. Ibn Kutayyir al-Ahwazi. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, VI, p. 351. 63 AQUILINA, op. cit. (1964), p. 155. The present designation is not regarded as a direct continuation of the ancient city of Sidon, but a development of post-Crusader times. Some have suggested that the name of the city means ‘fishery’. Others contend that it is related to saidān meaning ‘copper’, ‘gold’. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, IX, p. 100. If there is a connection with Saidan, then it is related to Said (infra). 64 Cp. Abū ’l-Walid Ibn Zaydūn (1003-1070), famous Andalusian poet. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, I, p. 591; ibid., III, p. 973. Ar. f.n. Zayd means ‘increase, growth’. Second element might be: (a) Ar. elative suffix -ūn; (b) Heb. dim. or patronymic suffix -ōn; or (c) Romance augmentative suffix -un (-one). 65 AQUILINA, op. cit. (1964), p. 154. The city has long been celebrated for the manufacture of bougies (wax candles); whence It. bugia meaning ‘candlestick with a saucer-like base’. J. AQUILINA, “Linguistic Poutpourri”, The Sunday Times [of Malta], 31 August 1986. There are, at least, two alternative derivations: (a) < Sic. surname Bug(g)ea, possibly < Gk. *boukéas, probably < boukaíos meaning ‘cowherd’, ‘herdsman’, or (b) < Sic. surname Buggia, < Salentine and Sic. bbuggia meaning ‘poacher’s bag’, a metonym for a poacher or for a maker of hunting bags. CARACAUSI, op. cit., sub ‘Bugea’ and ‘Buggia’. Otherwise the element Bu- (< Abū) might suggest a kunyah, but no conjecture to this effect has been put forward until now. 66 AQUILINA, op. cit., (1964), p. 156; CARACAUSI, op. cit., sub ‘Zarbu’. 67 AGIUS, op. cit., p. 80. 68 AQUILINA, op. cit. (1964), p. 155; CARACAUSI, op. cit., sub ‘Farrùgia’. 69 Farrugia is the third commonest surname in Malta. Farrūğ is a robe similar to the kabā’, but short in the back, worn in the Prophet’s time; its application as a name element has not been, 7_Cassar_bz4.indd 88 25-10-2010 9:48:16 VESTIGES OF ARABIC NOMENCLATURE IN MALTESE SURNAMES 89 of medieval Gk. kalaphátis; however, it ultimately derives < Ar. al-qalfāṭ meaning ‘ship-caulker’.70 Camilleri, the second commonest surname in Malta, is linked with It. cammelliere, < medieval Lat. camelarius or medieval Gk. kamelaríos, ultimately < Ar. qamillarī meaning ‘camel driver’.71 Seychell has been linked with Ar. al-sayqal,72 probably < sayqāl (pl. sayāqil) meaning ‘furbisher’, ‘polisher’73 Bajada (or Bajjada) has been linked with either Ar. bayyāḍ meaning ‘whitewasher’, or else bayyāḍa meaning ‘washerwoman’, or perhaps ‘cleaner of copper items’.74 Cassar is surely another occupational nisba, but various meanings have been proposed. The standard etymology of al-qaṣṣār suggests ‘a fuller or a bleacher; one who cleans, shrinks and thickens, or dyes cloth or newly shorn wool’.75 Other possible denotations are ‘stone-cutter’, ‘nattier’, ‘matmaker’ (if derived < al-ḥaṣṣār),76 and ‘a washer of clothes and also of the dead’ (if derived < ġassāl).77 maybe justifiably, pondered. The Encyclopaedia of Islam: Glossary & Index of Terms to Vol. I-IX, p. 104. Otherwise Farrugia may be another form of Calabrian and Sic. surname Farruggia, (a) < dialectal ferruggia meaning ‘staff’, ‘rod’, ‘bishop’s crosier’; or (b) < It. farro, < Lat. far, Medieval Lat. farru(m), a rarely cultivated kind of wheat. In the latter sense it is hence related to southern It. surname Farrusi. 70 CARACAUSI, op. cit., sub ‘Calafato’; AGIUS, op. cit., p. 380. Boat and ship-builders used to caulk (fill up) the seams and joints of wooden vessels with oakum and tar to make them watertight. 71 CARACAUSI, op. cit., sub ‘Camilleri’. Cp. Sp. camellero, ‘camel rider’. Otherwise Sp. camillero means ‘stretcher bearer’. The name of the old Mal. hamlet Ħal Milleri, located between Żurrieq and Mqabba, actually means ‘(Ca)milleri’s farmstead’. WETTINGER, op. cit. (2000), p. 284. Hence the surname is not an abbreviation of Ca(sal) Milleri, as has been suggested elsewhere. 72 WETTINGER, op. cit. (2000), sub ‘Ta’ Sejkel’. 73 Cp. Ibn al-Saykāl (1302), renowned man of letters and philologist. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, VIII, p. 805. Another possible derivation might be Ar. al-Siqillī, ‘the Sicilian’. 74 E. SERRACINO-INGLOTT, Il-Miklem Malti, I, Malta, Klabb Kotba Maltin, 1975, sub ‘bajjada’. Ar. geonym bayāḍ means ‘heath’, ‘moor’, ‘wasteland’. This derivation also explains the Sic. surname Baiada. CARACAUSI, op. cit., sub ‘Baiada’. WETTINGER, op. cit. (2000), sub ‘Il-Bajjada’, explains bajjāda as ‘whitish land, referring to the whiteness of the soil or rock’. Cp. Hanafī Kamāl al-Dīn al-Bayādi (d. 1687), Ottoman writer, and al-Bayāḍ, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, VI, p. 848. 75 The Moroccan scholar ’Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammed al-Kaṣṣār (1531/2-1604) is said to have been called al-Kassār (‘the fuller’) because one of his ancestors had had a fuller as his tutor. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, IV, p. 736. The work of the fuller was to scour and thicken the raw cloth by beating and trampling it in water. Cp. Eng. surnames Fuller and Walker. 76 CARACAUSI, op. cit., sub ‘Càssar’. It has to be said that another derivation has been proposed – the apocopated form of surname Càssaro, < Sic. càssaru meaning ‘main road’, ‘way (leading to a castle)’, < Ar. qaṣr meaning ‘castle’, ‘fort’, ‘palace’, ultimately from Lat. castrum. The accent on the first syllable confirms that, originally, this was a separate surname; it might have eventually merged with the former due to the orthographic similarity. Metonymically, the term might refer to a castellan, or a governor of a castle. 77 The latter is more known as ghāsil. The Encyclopaedia of Islam: Glossary & Index of Terms to Vol. I-IX, p. 115. 7_Cassar_bz4.indd 89 25-10-2010 9:48:16 90 MARIO CASSAR Laqab and nabaz surnames Laqab surnames conveying some sort of honorific title are Mula, Said, Chetcuti, and Sciberras. Mula might be derived < Ar. mawla (mullāh) meaning ‘lord’, ‘master’, ‘ruler’, a title of respect given by Mohammedans to religious dignitaries versed in theology and the sacred law.78 Said might be related to Ar. sayyid meaning ‘sir’, ‘lord’, ‘master’, ‘esquire’. Originally the term meant ‘chief of an Arabian tribe’; late in Islamic times, it became a title of honour for the descendants of the Prophet through his daughter Fāṭima and his son-in-law ‘Alī.79 But an ’ism derivation is also possible, if one considers Ar. f.n. Sa’īd (e.g. one of the most successful military commanders during the early years of Islam) meaning ‘happy’, ‘blissful’, ‘prosperous’. Saidi and Saidani are N. African cognate forms, but the surname was also adopted by Sephardic Jews in the Middle Ages. Chetcuti derives perhaps < Ar. kethuda (or kathuda) meaning ‘master of the house’, ‘head of the family’, ‘headsman’, ‘chieftain’, ‘steward’, ‘tithe-officer in a town’. The term can hence also qualify as an occupational nisba.80 Sciberras (or Sceberras, Xiberras) might be derived < Ar. Ṡihab er-Rās, wherein the first element is a given name meaning ‘bright star’ and the second element ras means ‘chieftain’.81 Surnames derived from nicknames are quite plentiful in Malta. Micallef, the seventh commonest surname in Malta, can be related to Ar. mukallaf, which in Muslim law denotes one who is obliged to fulfill the religious duties of Islam.82 However, most local scholars argue that the surname is a Sicilianized form of Ar. muḥallif meaning ‘judge’, agent derivative 78 Cp. Mal. Mulej, < Ar. Mawlāy meaning ‘my Lord’. FIORINI, op. cit. (1987-88), p. 106, suggests the term was also used as a given name. The title of function, dignity, profession, or rank is usually followed by another name. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, VII, p. 221. Otherwise the surname might be < It. mula, < Lat. mula meaning ‘she-mule’, or < mulo, < Neo-Gk. moulás, < Late Gk. moulos, < Lat. mūlus meaning ‘mule’ + agent suffix -âs, referring to a mule driver. CARACAUSI, op. cit., sub ‘Mulà’. 79 Cf. al-Sayyid al-Ḥimyarī, Shī‘ite poet (723-789/95). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, IX, p. 115. 80 The Encyclopaedia of Islam: Glossary & Index of Terms to Vol. I-IX, p. 193. Cp. Kathhudā Ibrāhīm Pasha (also known as Kathudā Pasha), governor of Egypt (active 1078-85). Ibid., I, p. 955. AQUILINA, op. cit. (1987-90), sub ‘ketket’, suggests another, albeit weaker, derivation: < Ar. katkūt meaning ‘newly hatched chicken’, perhaps a metonym for a poulterer. Cp. obsolete Mal. ketkuti meaning ‘one who calls fowls, or cackles, or laughs up one’s sleeve’. 81 . Other possible derivations are (a) Ar. xa‘b al-rās meaning ‘the spur of the headland’ – AQUILINA, op. cit. (1987-90), sub ‘Xiberras’; (b) Ar. ḥabb al-ra’s, related to Sic. cabbarasi, cabburasi, a kind of grass which grows in meadows and other humid places – CARACAUSI, op. cit., sub ‘Sciabarrà’; and (c) Ar. ashāb al-ras meaning ‘the people of the ditch (or well)’, a Quranic term, possibly alluding to infidels. The Encyclopaedia of Islam: Glossary & Index of Terms to Vol. I-IX, p. 26. 82 Cf. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, II, p. 79. In Egypt the term mukallafa was used to designate the land survey registers, which were prepared by a māsih and arrayed by villages. 7_Cassar_bz4.indd 90 25-10-2010 9:48:17 VESTIGES OF ARABIC NOMENCLATURE IN MALTESE SURNAMES 91 < alaf meaning ‘to swear (by God)’, in which case it would qualify as an occupational nisba.83 Theuma might be derived < Ar. al-tawm meaning ‘twin (brother)’,84 but Ar. al-tawmi also means ‘a grower or vendor of garlic’, < tūm, -a meaning ‘garlic’,85 which designates an occupational nisba. Scriha (or Sciriha, Schriha, Xriha) is related either (a) to Ar. šarīk meaning ‘friend’, ‘colleague’,86 or else (b) to Ar. šariq meaning ‘handsome lad’.87 Mintoff is a relatively recent and learned form of old surname Mintuf; it derives < Ar. mintūf meaning ‘plucked (feathers of fowl, hairs of eyebrows, etc.)’, probably referring to someone who had the habit of plucking his beard.88 If originally the term was preceded by the term ’Abū, it could have had the status of a dū name, meaning ‘the man with the plucked beard.’ Fenech is surely related to Ar. fanak (< Persian fanak) meaning ‘fox’, ‘marten’, ‘furred animal’,89 whence medieval Lat. alfanegue. The laqab might refer to a fleet-footed or timid person.90 Zerafa, on the other hand, relates to Ar. zarāfah meaning ‘giraffe’, probably referring to a tall (or longnecked) person.91 If originally these names were preceded by the term ’Abū, they could be considered as other kunyahs with zoological connections. Not all nicknames have a harmless signification; some are inversely invested with pejorative connotations. Mifsud has been coupled with either (a) Ar. mafsūd (p.p. of fised) meaning ‘rotten’, ‘spoilt’, corrupt’, referring 83 AQUILINA, op. cit. (1964), p. 155. Ar. muhallaf, meaning ‘left behind’, should not be ignored, either. Cf. CARACAUSI, op. cit., sub ‘Micalef’. The element -callef relates to Old Sic. surnames Callef, Caleffa/i, < Ar. al-halaf meaning ‘successor’. Pellegrini, op. cit., p. 386; The Encyclopaedia of Islam, VIII, p. 900. 84 Cp. Mal. nickname It-Tewmi meaning ‘the Twin’. It. surnames Toma, Tomè (diminutive forms of Tommaso), Fr. surname Thomé, and Eng. f.n. (and surname) Thomas, all derive < Aramaic byname t’ūma, also meaning ‘twin’. Lat. Thomae is the genitive case of Thomas. 85 AGIUS, op. cit., p. 86. This derivation has been repudiated by WETTINGER, op. cit. (1999), p. 329. The surname has also been linked with given names Thomea or Bartholomea. WETTINGER, op. cit. (1978), p. 205. 86 CARACAUSI, op. cit., sub ‘Scirica’. 87 Ar. al-šarqī meaning ‘the easterner’, rendering a provenance nisba, cannot be ignored, either. 88 AQUILINA, op. cit. (1987-90), sub ‘mintuf’ and ‘nitef’. The traditional Arab writer ‘Abd Allāh b. ‘Ayyāh, active in the 8th century AD, was nicknamed al-Mentūf because he had the habit of pulling the ends of his beard while speaking. WETTINGER, op. cit. (1999), p. 343-4. Locally the surname Mintuf originated in Gozo. 89 AQUILINA, op. cit. (1964), p. 155. 90 The fennec or fennek is a small, pale orange-brown, desert fox of North Africa and Syria. The term also refers to various animals whose pelt was greatly esteemed in the luxury fur-trade, such as the ermine and sable. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, II, p. 775. Mal. fenek means ‘rabbit’. 91 Alternatively, the surname might represent (a) Ar. f.n. Zarīfa meaning ‘pretty’, ‘gracious’, ‘smart’, related to zarf meaning ‘courtesy’, ‘elegance’ – The Encyclopaedia Islam: Glossary & Index of Terms to Vol. I-IX, p. 424 or (b) a voiced form of Ar. al-ṣarrāf meaning ‘money changer’; the final -a reflecting the influence of Romance morphology. 7_Cassar_bz4.indd 91 25-10-2010 9:48:17 92 MARIO CASSAR to an obnoxious person,92 or else (b) Ar. mafsūd (p.p. of fasad) meaning literally ‘bled’, figuratively referring to an ill-tempered, outspoken person.93 In other quarters, the surname has been interpreted as a personal name based on mafsūd meaning ‘lanced’, < mifsad meaning ‘lance’.94 Scerri (or Xerri) is considered to be the pl. form of Sic. surname Scerra, < sciarra meaning ‘brawl’, ‘dispute’, (a) < Ar. šarra meaning ‘evil’, ‘bad’, ‘wicked’,95 or (b) < Ar. širrī meaning ‘clandestine’, or (c) < Ar. šarrī meaning ‘bold’, ‘impetuous’. All derivations seem to refer to an ill-natured, quarrelsome person. Surname Tabone is usually linked with either (a) Sic. tabbuni meaning ‘fool’, ‘dullard’, ‘blockhead’, < Ar. tabūn meaning ‘vulva’, ‘female pudenda’,96 or else with (b) Sic. tabbuna, < Ar. al-ṭabūnī, < ṭabūn, ṭabūna meaning ‘dug-out hearth’, ‘small jar-shaped oven, (peasant) kiln low on the ground’,97 in which case it would qualify as an occupational nisba for a baker of bread, or perhaps for a potter. Conclusion Many names may be correctly interpreted simply by recourse to dictionaries of the older state of the contributory languages, but no proof of the authenticity of these readings is possible without a strand of documentary evidence taking the family name back to the days of surname-naming, and an ample supply of good early spellings that leave the first ‘meaning’ in doubt. Surnames have been pounded and contorted by generations of mispronunciations, mainly by meddling clerks, scribes, and priests susceptible to their idiosyncrasies. In spite of my seemingly streamlined typology, it must be emphasized that some surnames can, with equal lucidity, be allotted to a different category. Admittedly, in Arabic nomenclature itself the dividing line between isms and laqabs, and between laqabs and nisbas is quite fragile. Besides, as it transpires, some seemingly Semitic surnames, can be easily consigned a 92 AQUILINA, op. cit. (1987-90), sub ‘mifsud’. Cp. Mal. mfissed (same root) meaning ‘spoilt (child)’, ‘pampered’. 93 Ibid., sub ‘mifsud’. 94 Hanks (ed.), op. cit., sub ‘Mifsud’. 95 CARACAUSI, op. cit., sub ‘Sciarra’. 96 This transferred meaning is maintained in the Mal. equivalent term għoxx (vulgar). G. ROHLFS, Soprannomi siciliani, ‘Lessici siciliani’ 2, Palermo, Centro di Studi Filologici e Linguistici Siciliani, 1984, records the nickname Tabbiuni (p. 128) in Messina and the nickname Tabbuna (p. 129) in Agrigento, both meaning ‘simpleton’, ‘dunce’. 97 The Encyclopaedia of Islam: Glossary & Index of Terms to Vol. I-IX, pp. 389-90; CARACAUSI, op. cit., sub ‘Tabbone’. 7_Cassar_bz4.indd 92 25-10-2010 9:48:17 VESTIGES OF ARABIC NOMENCLATURE IN MALTESE SURNAMES 93 Romance, Greek, or even Germanic etymology with the same degree of reasonable judgment. This has prompted the author to omit other possible entries. In fact a handful of other surnames, such as Attard, Bencini, Bonaci, Briffa, Casha, Fiteni, Gellel, Mercieca, Muscat, and Musumeci might have a Semitic origin as well, but lack of sufficient philological evidence calls for more prudence than customary. It could be observed that almost all Maltese surnames cited in this paper are to be detected also in Sicily, which makes perfect sense, as Sicily itself bellies its fair share of Arabisms. In Girolamo Caracausi’s Dizionario Onomastico della Sicilia (1994) one encounters the vast majority of ‘Maltese’ surnames, either as they stand or else in some cognate or related form. Local surnames of Arabic stock are actually written in the Latin script; as for whole centuries, Siculo-Italian was the lingua franca of the professional ranks in Malta. Notaries, scribes, and priests, for want of an indigenous orthographic system, had no other way but to Sicilianize or Italianize the surnames they entered in wills, contracts, parish registers, and other official records. Accounts of the origins of many individual surnames, in the present state of our knowledge, contain an element of tentativeness; admittedly, some are more tentative than others. This paper contains a number of entries for which only vague conjectures could be suggested. The possibilities of error in the interpretation of surnames are innumerable, and it is necessary in every instance to trace back the name to the earliest known spellings. Some meanings (and origins) remain elusive, or inadequately explained; these stand as a challenge to future researchers. Symbols & Abbreviations * < Ar. Cf. Cp. d. Eng. f.n. Fr. Gk. Gmc 7_Cassar_bz4.indd 93 hypothetical/reconstructed form (derived) from Arabic Confer Compare died English first name French Greek Germanic Heb. It. Jew. Lat. Mal. pl. p.p. Sem. Sic. Sp. top. Hebrew Italian Jewish Latin Maltese plural past participle Semitic Sicilian Spanish toponym 25-10-2010 9:48:17 7_Cassar_bz4.indd 94 25-10-2010 9:48:17