Native to Emirate of Sicily Writing system Arabic alphabet Glottolog None | Era 900–1100 ISO 639-3 sqr | |
Language family Afro-Asiatic
Semitic
Central Semitic
Arabic
Arabic proper
Maghrebi Arabic
Siculo-Arabic | ||
Siculo-Arabic (or Sicilian Arabic) was a variety of Arabic spoken in Sicily and Malta between the end of the ninth century and the end of the twelfth century. It is extinct in Sicily, but it has developed into what is now the Maltese language on the islands of Malta.
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Arab conquest of Sicily
During the seventh and eight centuries, Sicily was raided from Tunis. The eventual Muslim Arab conquest of Byzantine Sicily was piecemeal and slow. The region was a frontier zone even after the fall of Taormina in 902, which completed the invasion. By that time, Arabic had become the main language of the island. Its mixed population of Muslims and Greek-speaking Orthodox Christians continued to use Arabic even after the Norman conquest of the island (1061–90).
In the post-conquest period, both Arabic and Greek were sometimes used by the new rulers. However, Arabic was dropped as a language of government in 1117. It was revived in 1132 and subsequently used in the king's fiscal administration, which managed royal lands and men in Sicily and Calabria. This chancery office operated in Arabic, Greek and Latin. The many documents that it issued are one of the main and most important sources for Arabic in Sicily.
Although the Norman rulers employed Arabic and some were attested as Arabic speakers themselves, the dynasty died out after only a century and their successors expelled the remaining Muslims in the 13th century.
Arabic influence is present in a small number of Sicilian words. Most of these terms relate to agriculture and related activities.
Maltese language
Although Siculo-Arabic died out in Sicily, it survived on Malta, with additional influences from Sicilian, Italian, French, and, more recently, English. Some items of Siculo-Arabic vocabulary are comparable with later items found in Maltese. The Sicilian language absorbed many Siculo-Arabic words, with those shown in the table a small sample.
These include: