A Latin link between Maltese and Welsh
On a visit
to Malta just before Christmas 2013, I came by chance across a sign including
the Maltese words “wirja ta' presepju”. The last word was immediately transparent to
me, because of its similarity to the Welsh word preseb, meaning a manger.
The Chrismas carol Away in a manger
is I orwedd mewn preseb in Welsh.
Both presepju and preseb have a common ancestor in Latin. Both come from Latin
praesaepe, literally "enclosure, stall, manger, hive," from prae- + saepire "to fence".
The crib on the island is
a beautiful tradition but not an ancient one. In fact, it is likely that the first crib
known in Malta goes back to the year
1826, and was probably an import from Sicily.
I think you should have mentioned Italian "presepio" "presepe" which gave birth to Maltese "presepju".
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot of Italian vocabulary in Maltese (together with Arabic words of course)
Felic Novi Jar
Joël Landais
Saluton
ReplyDeleteMi dankas vin pro la informo.
I don't speak Italian, so I had not seen the link to that language. I am grateful to you.