{{Short description|Arabic dialect spoken in medieval Sicily}} {{Infobox language | name = Siculo-Arabic | altname = Sicilian Arabic | nativename = {{lang|sqr|العربية الصقلية}} | states = Emirate of Sicily | era = 9th–13th centuries<ref>{{cite web|title= ISO 639-3 Registration Authority Request for Change to ISO 639-3 Language Code |url= https://iso639-3.sil.org/sites/iso639-3/files/change_requests/2008/2008-039.pdf |access-date=18 April 2024 |quote= Siculo Arabic is the term used for the variety (or varieties) of Arabic spoken in Sicily under the Arabs and then the Normans from the 9th to 10th centuries.}}</ref> | familycolor = Afro-Asiatic | fam2 = Semitic | fam3 = West Semitic | fam4 = Central Semitic | fam5 = Arabic | fam6 = Maghrebi | fam7 = Pre-Hilalian<ref>Martine Vanhove, [https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00009708/document « De quelques traits prehilaliens en maltais »], in: ''Peuplement et arabisation au Maghreb cccidental : dialectologie et histoire'', Casa Velazquez - Universidad de Zaragoza (1998), pp.97-108</ref> | dia1 = Maltese | dia2 = Cossurese {{Extinct}} | script = Arabic alphabet | iso3 = sqr | glotto = sicu1235 | speakers2 = developed into Maltese | fam8 = Pre-Hilalian Tunisian Arabic<ref>Azzopardi-Alexander, Marie; Borg, Albert (1997). Maltese. Routledge. p. xiii. ISBN 9780415657150. "The immediate source for the Arabic vernacular spoken in Malta was Muslim Sicily, but its ultimate origin appears to have been Tunisia. In fact, Maltese displays some areal traits typical of Maghrebi Arabic although during the past 800 years of independent evolution it has drifted apart from Tunisian Arabic".</ref> }} {{Sicilian language|state=expanded}}
'''Siculo-Arabic''' or '''Sicilian Arabic'''{{efn|{{langx|ar|اللَّهْجَة الْعَرَبِيَّة الصِّقِلِّيَّة|al-lahja l-ʿarabiyya ṣ-ṣiqilliyya}}}} is a group of Arabic varieties that were spoken in the Emirate of Sicily from the 9th century, persisting under the subsequent Norman rule until the 13th century.<ref>{{cite web|title= ISO 639-3 Registration Authority Request for Change to ISO 639-3 Language Code |url= https://iso639-3.sil.org/sites/iso639-3/files/change_requests/2008/2008-039.pdf}}</ref> However, only one dialect of Siculo-Arabic is still spoken: Maltese. Siculo-Arabic dialects descend from Arabic following the Abbasid conquest of Sicily in the 9th century and gradually marginalized following the Norman conquest in the 11th century.
Siculo-Arabic is designated as a historical language that is attested only in writings from the 9th–13th centuries in Sicily.<ref>{{cite web|title= 639 Identifier Documentation: sqr|url= https://iso639-3.sil.org/code/sqr }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title= ISO 639-3 Registration Authority Request for New Language Code Element in ISO 639-3 |url= https://iso639-3.sil.org/sites/iso639-3/files/change_requests/2008/2008-039_sqr.pdf }}</ref> of which present-day Maltese is considered to be its sole surviving descendant. Maltese evolved from one of the dialects of Siculo-Arabic over the past 800 years and a gradual process of Latinisation that gave Maltese a significant superstrate influence from Romance languages.<ref>{{cite web|title= ISO 639-3 Registration Authority Request for New Language Code Element in ISO 639-3 |url= https://iso639-3.sil.org/sites/iso639-3/files/change_requests/2008/2008-039_sqr.pdf }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=So who are the 'real' Maltese|date=14 September 2014 |quote=The kind of Arabic used in the Maltese language is most likely derived from the language spoken by those that repopulated the island from Sicily in the early second millennium; it is known as Siculo-Arab. The Maltese are mostly descendants of these people.|url=http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140914/local/So-who-are-the-real-Maltese-.535578|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312063245/http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140914/local/So-who-are-the-real-Maltese-.535578|archivedate=2016-03-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Brincat, 2005|title= Maltese – an unusual formula |quote= Originally Maltese was an Arabic dialect but it was immediately exposed to Latinisation because the Normans conquered the islands in 1090, while Christianisation, which was complete by 1250, cut off the dialect from contact with Classical Arabic. Consequently Maltese developed on its own, slowly but steadily absorbing new words from Sicilian and Italian according to the needs of the developing community.|url=http://macmillandictionaries.com/MED-Magazine/February2005/27-LI-Maltese.htm}}</ref> By contrast, present-day Sicilian, which is an Italo-Dalmatian language, retains relatively little Siculo-Arabic vocabulary; its influence is limited to some 300 words.<ref>{{cite book|author1= Ruffino, Giovanni|title= Sicilia|pages=18–20 |date=2001| publisher=Editori Laterza, Bari }}</ref>
==History== ===Introduction to Sicily=== {{main|Muslim conquest of Sicily|History of Islam in southern Italy|Muslim Sicily}} During the 7th and 8th 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 962, which completed the invasion. Romance languages, such as African Romance, and Byzantine Greek continued to be used in the island well after the Arabic conquest.<ref name="HaspelmathTadmor2009">{{cite book|author1=Martin Haspelmath|author2=Uri Tadmor|title=Loanwords in the World's Languages: A Comparative Handbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HnKeVbwTwyYC&pg=PA195|date=22 December 2009|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-021844-2|page=195}}</ref> Its speakers were largely made up of Sicilian Muslims. However, based on the foundation charter on the Church of Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio (written in both Greek and Arabic), it can be speculated that Siculo-Arabic was also the mother tongue for many Sicilian, in this case Palermo’s, Orthodox Christians.<ref name=agro>{{cite thesis |url=https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/handle/2142/22630|title=The architecture of the church of SS. Pietro e Paolo d'Agro, Sicily |last=Nicklies|first=Charles Edward|date=1992|website=Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship|publisher=University of Illinois|access-date=7 February 2017}}</ref>
===Norman kingdom of Sicily=== When the Normans entered Sicily, the island was divided into two main non-Latin linguistic groups: * Arabic speakers, mostly in Palermo, Agrigento, Butera, Enna and Noto * Greek speakers, mostly in Messina, Taormina, Cefalù, Catania and Syracuse
In 1086, the Normans managed to secure the conversion of the last important Kalbid ruler of Enna Ibn Hamud.<ref>The Age of Robert Guiscard, 2000, Page 171</ref> This conversion along with the Norman adoption of many Arab governing customs resulted in the emergence of a Christian Siculo-Arabic language. During the Norman era the chancery office operated in Arabic, Greek and Latin.<ref>Siculo Arabic, Dionisius Agius, 1996, pp. 79–88.</ref>
[[File:TabulaRogeriana upside-down.jpg|thumb|350px|The modern copy of the ''Tabula Rogeriana'', upside-down with North oriented up.]] The ''Nozhat al-mushtaq fi Ikhtiraq al-afaq'' ({{langx|ar|نزهة المشتاق في اختراق الآفاق}}, lit. "The Excursion of One Eager to Penetrate the Distant Horizons"), most often known as the ''Tabula Rogeriana'' (lit. ''The Book of Roger'' in Latin) is a description of the world and world map created by the Palermo-based Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi in 1154. Al-Idrisi worked on the commentaries and illustrations of the map for fifteen years at the court of the Norman King Roger II of Sicily, who commissioned the work around 1138.<ref name=houben>Houben, 2002, pp. 102–104.</ref><ref name=harley>Harley & Woodward, 1992, pp. 156–161.</ref>{{clarify|date=November 2018}}<!--no relation to the article topic is mentioned-->
===Decline after 1200=== In the post-conquest period, both Arabic and Greek were sometimes used by the new rulers and subsequently used in the king's fiscal administration, which managed royal lands and men in Sicily and Calabria.<ref>Paolo Collura, Le Più antiche carte dell'Archivio capitolare di Agrigento (1092–1282), 1961, pp. 120–126</ref> The many documents that it issued are among the main and most important sources for Arabic in Sicily. However, when the Hohenstaufen replaced the Normans, Arabic was dropped as a language of government in 1198<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/298058515 |doi=10.31826/9781463240004-002|chapter=Language and the Written Record: Loss, Survival and Revival in Early Norman Sicily |title=Multilingual and Multigraphic Documents and Manuscripts of East and West |year=2018 |editor-last1=Mandalà |editor-first1=Giuseppe |last1=Metcalfe |first1=Alex |pages=1–32 |isbn=9781463240004 |s2cid=198864444 |editor-first2=Inmaculada Pérez |editor-last2=Martín }}</ref> and the Hohenstaufen expelled the remaining Muslims to Lucera and North Africa in the 13th century. Due to the expulsions, the only remaining Siculo-Arabic speakers were Christians.<ref>S. Gleixner, Sprachrohr kaiserlichen Willens, 2006, pp. 412–413</ref>
When the Aragonese took Sicily, they introduced Catalan nobility, made Latin the only official language; Greek and Arabic official records in Sicily ceased to exist by the 14th century.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsEurope/ItalySicily.htm | title=Kingdoms of Italy – Sicily }}</ref>
Arabic influence continued in a number of Sicilian words. Most of these terms relate to agriculture and related activities.
The last non-Maltese dialect of Siculo-Arabic went extinct around the start of the 19th century if not before.<ref name="Brincat Matese">{{cite book |last1=Brincat |first1=Joseph |title=Maltese and Other Languages |date=2011 |publisher=Midsea Books |location=Malta |pages=86–96}}</ref>
==Maltese language== {{main|Maltese language}}
[[File:WIKITONGUES- Keith speaking Maltese.webm|thumb|A Maltese speaker, recorded in Malta.]] The modern language derived from the Siculo-Arabic spoken in Malta is known as Maltese. While "Siculo-Arabic" refers to the language spoken before 1300, hardly any records exist from the 14th century, and the earliest record in the Maltese language is ''Il-Kantilena'' (''Xidew il-Qada'') by Pietru Caxaro (late 15th century), which is written in the Latin script.
Maltese evolved from Siculo-Arabic through a gradual process of Latinisation following the re-Christianisation of Malta (which was complete by 1250).<ref>{{ cite book|author1=Brincat, 2005|title=Maltese – an unusual formula|quote=Originally Maltese was an Arabic dialect but it was immediately exposed to Latinisation because the Normans conquered the islands in 1090, while Christianisation, which was complete by 1250, cut off the dialect from contact with Classical Arabic. Consequently Maltese developed on its own, slowly but steadily absorbing new words from Sicilian and Italian according to the needs of the developing community.|url=http://macmillandictionaries.com/MED-Magazine/February2005/27-LI-Maltese.htm|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208063739/http://macmillandictionaries.com/MED-Magazine/February2005/27-LI-Maltese.htm|archivedate=2015-12-08}}</ref> Some items of Siculo-Arabic vocabulary are comparable with later items found in Maltese. Although Siculo-Arabic has had a relatively minor influence on modern-day Sicilian, this language shares many words of Arabic etymology, which may originate either in Spanish or Siculo-Arabic itself. Some examples are shown in the table;
{| class="wikitable" |- ! Maltese ! Sicilian<br />(Arabic etymology) ! Spanish<br />(Arabic etymology) ! Arabic<br />(Modern Standard) !Tunisian Arabic ! English |- | {{wikt-lang|mt|ġiebja}} | {{wikt-lang|scn|gebbia}} | {{wikt-lang|es|aljibe}} | {{wikt-lang|ar|جابية|جَابِيَة}} (''{{lang|ar-Latn|jābiya}}'') |جبية ''(jēbya)'' | reservoir |- | {{wikt-lang|mt|ġulġlien}} | {{wikt-lang|scn|giurgiulena}} | {{wikt-lang|es|ajonjolí}} | {{wikt-lang|ar|جلجلان|جُلْجُلَان}} (''{{lang|ar-Latn|juljulān}}'') |جِلْجْلَانْ ''(jeljlēn)'' | sesame seed |- | {{wikt-lang|mt|sieqja}} | {{wikt-lang|scn|saja}} | {{wikt-lang|es|acequia}} | {{wikt-lang|ar|ساقية|سَاقِيَة}} (''{{lang|ar-Latn|sāqiya}}'') |سقا ''(saqa)'' | canal |- | {{wikt-lang|mt|żagħfran}} | {{wikt-lang|scn|zaffarana}} | {{wikt-lang|es|azafrán}} | {{wikt-lang|ar|زعفران|زَعْفَرَان}} (''{{lang|ar-Latn|zaʿfarān}}'') |زعْفْرَانْ ''(zaʿfrān)'' | saffron |- | {{wikt-lang|mt|żahra}} | {{wikt-lang|scn|zàgara}} | {{wikt-lang|es|azahar}} | {{wikt-lang|ar|زهرة|زَهْرَة}} (''{{lang|ar-Latn|zahra}}'') |زهرة ''(zahra)'' | blossom |- | {{wikt-lang|mt|żbib}} | {{wikt-lang|scn|zibbibbu}} | {{wikt-lang|es|acebibe}} | {{wikt-lang|ar|زبيب|زَبِيب}} (''{{lang|ar-Latn|zabīb}}'') | زْبِيبْ (''zbīb)'' | raisins |}
== See also == * Varieties of Arabic * Tunisian Arabic * Maghrebi Arabic * Pantesco dialect, a dialect of Sicilian spoken on the island of Pantelleria which has Maltese / Arabic influence. * Norman–Arab–Byzantine culture
==Notes== {{notelist}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Sources == {{refbegin}} * {{Cite book |last=Agius |first=D. A. |title=Siculo Arabic |publisher=Kegan Paul International |year=1996 |isbn=0-7103-0497-8 |location=London}} * {{Cite book |last=Johns |first=Jeremy |url=https://archive.org/details/arabicadministra0000john |title=Arabic Administration in Norman Sicily. The Royal Diwan |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2002 |isbn=0-521-81692-0 |location=Cambridge |url-access=registration}} * {{Cite book |last=Metcalfe |first=Alex |title=Muslims and Christian in Norman Sicily: Arabic-speakers and the end of Islam |publisher=Routledge |year=2003 |isbn=0-7007-1685-8 |location=London and New York}} {{refend}}
==External links== *Agius, Dionisius A. [https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/bitstream/handle/10036/38016/WhoSpoke.pdf "Who Spoke Siculo Arabic?"], ''XII Incontro Italiano di Linguistica Camitio-semitica (Afroasiatica), ATTI a cura di Marco Moriggi'', Rubbettino 2007. 25–33. {{open access}}
{{Languages of Sicily|state=expanded}} {{Varieties of Arabic}}
Category:Arabs in Italy Category:Emirate of Sicily Category:Maghrebi Arabic Category:Languages of Sicily Category:Languages attested from the 9th century Category:Languages extinct in the 13th century Category:9th-century establishments in Europe Category:13th-century disestablishments in Europe Category:Articles containing video clips Category:Culture of Southern Italy