Bartholomeus Biseti, a priest. Probable ethnic names also are Curmi and Dingli, the first possibly referring to the Crimea, the latter to Dongola down south of the Red Sea. We recently published a revised version of our, The most racist people have a surname that takes them back to the roots of the culture they are racist about, If you meet a Gozitan called Buttiie you can almost be certain that hes from Qala. These have been lost in the mists of time. The 2011 census collected a total of 19,104 surnames. ], Gualterius de Avaracio, Guido Resta, Dardanus de Famiya, Andreas de Messana, Johannes de Melacio, Nicolaus Grecus, Benedictus Xeni, Robbertus Yella [sic, Vella? 20, dated August 1003, in ibid., index entry on p. 312. or In the late fourteenth century it is recorded to have been held by Maltese Jews. The dating is fundamental to such studies. Diminutives were in fact favourite forms for surnames derived from names of foreign towns or showing ethnic origins; thus Pullicino from Polizzi, Majurkino from Majorca, Turentinu from Taranto [? gata, Agti; cf. of Zejn, beautiful, pretty, beauty, grace, only recorded as a surname once in 1419 at al Gargur. 795. One other explanation that needs serious consideration is whether it is not, after all, derived from Ambrogio, the name of one of the principal Fathers of the Church known throughout medieval Europe. ], Silvester Buruchus, Jacobus Bellus, Iugus Quairatus, Andreas Cafarnia, Bartholomeus de Rosicario, Leo Caleya, Raymundus de Cachuro, Maynus Picardus, Paschalis de Barba, Petrus Caniclenus, Jacobus Alayno [sic, Alaymo? Henri Bresc has written that there are indications of further Muslim political activity on Malta during the last Suabian years. I, doc. ), docs. Ethnic surnames which started off as nicknames include Armenia and Darmanin, Alban, Albanu and Albanisi, Calabru, Caschun from Gascon, Causiri (Cosyra, Pantelleria), Cuzin from Siracusa, Urdub or Corduba (from Cordoba), Ferriolu, Gaudixi and Gaudixanu, now Gauci (Gozitan), Grech, Harabi, (A)laman, Lumbardu, Luuki and Lukisi (Lucchese), Majurkino, Malf or Melfi, Maltisi, Navarru, Pisani, Ponzu, Pullichinu, Ragonisi, Santurinu, Sardu, Savoye, Scavuni, Spanu, Turentinu, Xiruntan (Florentine), Vinicianu (but Bindiki survived as a surname down to 1417). 479, Grima vedova del quondam Jocaro (? Pousal is possibly connected to the surname Psaila for which a totally different derivation has been advanced by others. Jacobus Ssuavi witness Ignoring Hasmundo (=Asmundo) and Siriha (=Sciricha), already noticed in 1277, one finds the appearance of well-known Maltese surnames like Cuskerius and Burdino, the latter of which however has not survived to the present day. The royal commissioner Giliberto Abate reported that Malta then had a total of 681 Saracenic households compared to the mysteriously small number of Christian ones: 47. [8] It is interesting to find the surname Ramia, itself undoubtedly giving rise to the Siggiewi place-name Raal Ramija, now arramija. I have never seen a chick come out of a shell, my laughter is more bear-like than a tinkle, but I like to pretend that I am master of the house. In Catalan vella means old (fem. xix, same date, p. 117. [36]. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This History Blog, a project run by VASSALLOMALTA.COM, is designed to provide an insight on Maltese History and Heritage. Bin Werrad), Caruana from Karwan, Farrugia from Farru, and others have already been discussed. 68 and 69 dated 1065, 1066, in ibid., and Adelgrima, doc. [37] Annemarie Schimmel, Islamic Names, Islamic Surveys, Edinburgh 1989, p. 30. Internationally-renowned tenor Joseph Calleja probably got his surname from a Greek derivation and not from Spain as is most commonly believed. It was immediately apparent from its occurrence in late fifteenth century notarial records from Malta and Gozo that its proper and original form was Mintuf. By the late middle ages, the majority of typical Maltese surnames were already well established not only such obviously Semitic ones such as Abdilla, Agius, Asciak, Bajada, Bugeja, Buhagiar, Borg, Busuttil, Buttigieg, Caruana, Cassar, Chetcuti, Ebejer, Farrugia, Fenech, Micallef, Mifsud, Saliba, Zerafa and Zammit, but many others which are clearly of European extraction (mainly Sicilian, Italian, Spanish, and Greek) like Azzopardi, Baldacchino, Portelli, Brincat, Bonnici, Cachia, Cardona, Cilia, Dalli, Darmanin, Debono, Formosa, Gatt, Galea, Grima, Aquilina, Mallia, Pace, Falzon and Vella. The following surnames ending in a-have been omitted because they obviously originated from the name of a locality with that final letter: Alagona, Agusta, Asti, Bezzina, Bugeia, Calava, Carduna, Catania, Daiona, Damiata, Davula, Franza, Galata, Licata, Mazzara, Mollica, Muntana, Saguna, Sardigna. (LogOut/ Other less marked, but equally clear concentrations are manifest in the cases of Carabott in Marsaxlokk, Sacco in Kirkop, Bezzina in Gargur, Abdilla in Safi, and Manduca in Mdina. Again it would not appear that any of these persons had any blood relationship with any of the recently converted Maltese or Gozitan Muslims. Dionisius de Barba, Guillelmus de Asmundo, Leo de Ayaco, Jacobus , Albertus de Farlo, Girardus Machaliphus, Marcus de Asmundo, Robbertus de Bidoso, Nicolaus de Friderico, Nicolaus de Capua, Michael de Assante, Dominicus de Vetulo, Jacobus de Messana, Simon Schiucha [sic, Schiricha? Rogerius de Alamanno notary Thus we find patronymics of this type in Bartolo from Bartolomeus, Brincat from Pancratius, Bastianu from Sebastian, Attard from the identical Germanic personal name, perhaps Gerada from Gerardu, perhaps Clairo from Calogero, Basili, Blingkeri, Bonanno, [24] Bonavia, Bernardu, Hili (Sp. [27] For Accio see: Codice diplomatico della Repubblica di Genova, Fonti per la Storia dItalia, Roma 1942, III, doc. Of course, those whose father was a Christian convert adopted their fathers Christian name as a surname. And they always developed in parallel with the language. You can search this blog using the search box below. ), Capua, Mistretta, Messina, Far(o), Milazzo, Alaymo (?). Agath. Unfortunately these particular records have not survived. This differed radically from the one that had been growing up and spreading throughout Europe since the year 1000 AD and was then being spread to the recently Christianized lands of Andalusia, the Balearic Islands, Sicily and Malta. I, 173. [4] Ibid., doc. It is not clear what actually happened then, except that the Maltese language, derived from Arabic, certainly survived. [25] However, it should be noted that innumerable Christian names never became patronymics in the Maltese islands during the Middle Ages so far as is known: Angeli, Blasi, Bringeli, Dimitri, Johanni, Paulu, Jacobu, Pasquale, Georgi, Dominicu, Agustinu, Philippu, Stephanu, Gregori, Ximuni, Julianu, Manfre, Marcu, Andrea, Rugeri, Martimu, and so many others. A total of 178,018 people 44 per cent have surnames which make it to the top 25 list. 44, p. 120: Azo Rovedus, Azo Borel, giugno 1197; and Azo de Pangiano, Azo, Salvaticus, Azo Rovedus, and Azo de Avolasca in ibid., doc. But if you have a coat of arms, beware: it does not necessarily depict the true meaning of the surname. Tristanus de Actardo witness. s.v. Clara de Rocca, uxor Gullielmi de Malta 5 (1968), examples on p.33. [2] Anyhow there is no doubt that by the beginning of Angevin times no professed Muslim Maltese remained either as free persons or even as serfs on the island. Laurencius Crendi of Gozo, in S. Fiorini (ed. Was that because there were so few second generation Christians at the time when surnames were introduced officially and formalised in the islands? On the other hand, as has been said by the present writer on several occasions, it has been possible to take the origin of the surname Mintoff back to tenth century Baghdad or thereabouts. Thanks for this Heritage website. I was not then aware of its presence in this particular list. [11] Asmundo, Ayaco, Farlo, Bidoso, Capua, Vetulo, Ramia, Buruchus, Bellus, Quairatus, Cafamia, Rosicario, Cachuro, Picardus, Caniclenus, Avaracio, Resta, Famiya, Xeni, Yella and Mistretta. See also: sua moglie Falegrima, abitante in Taruasi, doc. 25 (1971), 253. It is said that the Abbassid Khalif El-Mansur one day asked his minister Rebi to promise this scholar a rich recompense if he stopped the habit. Others were disguised so to speak. Penza, for example, is an overwhelmingly Luqa surname. One may add that the words bin and bint were obviously carefully proscribed from all surnames, so that the Maltese surnames do not have the equivalent of Stephenson, Johnson, OBrian, Prichard, Fitzgerald, and so on. Ogerius Aopardus figures among witnesses to a notarial deed in Genoa on 4 August 1201: Giovanni de Guiberto (1200-1211), a cura di M.W. There are also some peculiar trends in Malta, such as the strong showings of Abela in ejtun, Aquilina in Gargur, Bugeja in Marsaxlokk, Magro in Qrendi, Dalli in Gudja, and Busuttil in Safi. Could that have happened in Malta where Muhammad survived surprisingly as a surname well into the fifteenth century but then mysteriously disappears, while Mamu, although missing from the Militia Lists, appears before the end of that century and waxes strong ever since. I, 223. By far the larger number refer to localities of origin: Ayaco (Ajaccio? Faro. [23] G. Wettinger, The Distribution of surnames, s.vv. [15] A similar number of surnames seem to have died out during the course of the last eighty years of the fifteenth century, and an unknown number must have already disappeared between ca. (LogOut/ However it must be emphasized: the real background of the government requirement was the then still prevailing survival of Arabic naming customs. Henricus Cuskerius witness That explains why the list does not include any surnames of Arabic derivation. The list represents precisely the type of Christian settlers on Malta one expects in post-1127 times, those who reintroduced their religion into the island which was otherwise apparently still solidly Muslim until well into the thirteenth century. dated 14 May 1403. Google Chrome Probably, the oldest documented surnames in Malta are Grech, Calleja, Falzon, Attard, and Lentini. The surname Far which has been hitherto regarded as deriving from an Arabic or Maltese nickname meaning exactly a field rat is most probably derived instead from the place-name near Messina called to Faro: [7] it led to the formation of the place-name Raal Far, now al Far. Cf. [13] H. Bresc, Malta dopo il Vespro Siciliano, Melita Historica, VI, 3 (1974), 313-321. None of the other surnames has survived into much later times. Tartarini] from Tartar (only surviving in the place-name Rahal Tartarni). Nicolaus de Lentini notary 1250 and 1419, being purposely discarded perhaps for prudential reasons during times when delation to the Inquisition could have led to exile and the confiscation of their property. This is a list of submitted surnames in which the usage is. The Prime Ministers surname Muscat is Italian or French and dates back to the late middle ages. 1360. [19] This would mean that the Arabic or Muslim surnames would largely antedate the year 1300 by a number of decades. However, Nuwwara, blossom, flower, and its plural Nuwwar, as well as Zahra and Zahira both became surnames, only Zahra surviving to the present time. ), raising the possibility that it replaced an original nickname xi, old (masc. [30]. [12]. Barba has been dealt with already. Several of them can be found in the present surnames of Malta as patronymics, usually preceded by the possessive word de, but these are all either later formations or intrusive surnames which did not form part of the islands surnames during the late middle ages. Seeing that its presence in this list antedates Maltas connection with Spain by a few years, he could very well be right. [33] See Boni Senioris Cachi, 3 October 1225, in Lanfranco (1202-1226), a cura di H.C. Krueger and R.L. It was fashionable in the 19th century to commission someone to make you one most of them were devised in an arbitrary fashion, Dr Cassar warned. The surname Assant, now Sant, is recorded once in the place-name Casali Tamim Assant, al Tmin. This, he said, probably shows a degree of inbreeding. Burlkis cognome in Grecia. [22] Grima moglie di Donadeo, doc. Niolunus de Hasmundo witness If you meet a Gozitan with Buttiie as a surname you can almost be certain that hed be from Qala, Dr Cassar said. xv, 115. For Calleya a Greek origin has been claimed by no other than Commendatore Abela. What are we to think of the surname Mamu? Since then, barring latter-day English influence, the dominant cultural driving force in Malta has come from Sicily, Italy and other European, mainly Mediterranean, countries, Dr Cassar said. It will be noticed that these persons belonged to the wealthy class and they obviously did not include any serfs or peasants. An important point to make is that few if any Arabic female names ever seem to have led to the formation of surnames. [36] Rohlfs, Dizionario storico dei cognomi nella Sicilia orientale, Palermo 1984, 37, s.vv. [19] However, the place-name Temim Assant (al Tmin), probably an anthroponym, could indicate that at least occasionally Muslim pre-names remained in use among Christians, since Temim is apparently the pre-name and Assant the surname in this place-name. surnames Buongiorno and Bonanno; Limera = (Ca)limera, similar to Milleri = (Ca)milleri. [25] Most of these can be found in the Militia List of 1419 and it is not possible to tell whether they were actually created in Malta or alternatively when they entered the island from abroad. Fortunately, an official copy of the list of 38 names and surnames has survived, drawn up and authenticated by Notary Antonius de Cappillerio, Martinus Calleya, the baglio Benedictus de Chaggio, Andreas de Calemera and Symon de Bonanocte (witnesses), providing the first direct evidence of the surnames then current on Malta: [6]. Early in Angevin times, less than half a generation from the proscription of Islam from Malta, government officials were repeatedly enjoined to keep personal records in the form of names and surnames. Submitted names are contributed by users of this website. We have no control over the nature, content and availability of these sites. [12] This is of course not true of Calleya, Michallef and Grech or Mejlaq. All these instances of Grima refer to personal names. The figures for Gozo are 155 Saracenic households and 203 Christian. 833, dated 1190, in ibid., p. 223, Sikelgrima, figlia del giudice Aldenaro e moglie di Urso, docs. To the ethnic surnames one might add those that refer to Sicilian or other European towns, such as Agusta, Avula, Catania, Girgenti, Xortinu, Palermu, Madiona, Mazzara, Mullica (i.e. VII, 4 (1936), 506, doc. 7, 8: index entries on p. 296 in Ministro dellInterno, Pubblicazioni degli Archivi di Stato, XXV, Abbazia di Montevergine, Registro delle Pergamene, a cura di G. Mongeli, OSB, vol. Cachia meant (someone) cruel. I read somewhere that Cachia is nothing more than Qagqija. [35] However: Il toponimo infatti gi attestato nella forma Caluxium almeno nel 1177 La sua origine pi probabile va infatti ricercata nel gentilizio latino Calusius, review by Aldo A. Setta of J. Vignano-G. Ravera, Il Liber decimarum della diocesi di Ivrea (1368-1370), Roma 1970, in Rivista di Storia della Chiesa in Italia, vol. Independent journalism costs money. Neither Gajxa and Mejmuna, names, incidentally, of two of the wives of the Prophet, nor alima, Muhammads fostermother or nurse, ever became surnames in the MalteseIslands. [1] Ibn Khaldun puts the expulsion of Islam from the Maltese Islands to the year 1249. 463. Modica), Naso, Oluna, Platamuni, Pontremulu, Pulisi, Ravellu, Rigio (ie. [3] He had similarly to note the names and surnames of the serfs who had servile duties to perform towards the royal estates, together with those of the other members of their families of both sexes together with their ages. [24] For Bonanno, see Henrici de Bono Anno, 26 June 1210, in Lanfranco (1202-1226), a cura di H.C. Krieger and R.L. (LogOut/ So it is understandable that Selvagi does not figure out in this article. Today one also has to factor in other European and international family names which accumulated through recent ethnic intermarriages. [2] H. Bresc, Societ e politica in Sicilia nei secoli XIV e XV, Archivio Storico per la Sicilia Orientale, vol. Reynolds, Notai liguri del secolo xii e del xiii, VI, Societ ligure di Storia Patria, Genova, 1953, vol. It was clear that the Maltese Mintuf family originated on Gozo, where it can still be found firmly established in one little area between Garb and ebbu roughly in the neighbourhood of Gasri. 358, Grima moglie di Giovanni, doc. They would also include surnames resulting from occupations: Balestrera, Camilleri, Carbone, Cassar, Caxaru, Feraru, Baldachinu, Balzan, Millahi. It is clear that there was a consistent effort during the later Middle Ages to move away from the more obvious Arabic and Muslim names. [18] G. Wettinger, Place-names of the Maltese Islands, xvii-xviii. The surname Borg, which disputes with Vella primacy of occurrence among Maltese surnames, could have resulted from the Sicilian town of Burgi, itself perhaps from the Greek pyrgos. It is here presumed that all Christian parents whether belonging to Old Christian families or to New Christian ones would normally strictly avoid giving Muslim prenames to their offspring, and that therefore all new surnames with such an origin would have been conferred on sons of Muslims. All rights reserved. Here one must also consider that Dejf itself was not originally the Maltese or Arabic word meaning lean but the Arabic word meaning guest in the theophoric personal name Dejfullah. Try again later. Copyright 2022 Times of Malta. [28] This arises from the consideration that Dejfullah is a normal Arabic and Muslim theophoric name while dejf, meaning lean, has not been found in the dictionaries of Arabic or Muslim personal names. Cf. [38] Finally, the nickname has been found in Mesopotamia sometime in the lifetime of Khalif El-Mansur (136-158 A.H./753-774 A.D.). The common idea that it is derived form the Italian word vela, sail, seems particularly pointless. [34] See Giovanni de Cachia, cittadino abitante di S. Maria, 15 May 1322, in P. Egidi, Codice diplomatico dei Saraceni di Lucera, Napoli 1917, 396, doc. It might be taken that these merely implied that the use of nicknames would not be tolerated, as would be the case had the directions been made in our times, when it is still a commonplace that, in several parts of the Maltese islands nicknames, are popularly perhaps more widely used and known than the surnames themselves. Bonnici: da Bonmici = Bonamici (De Felice 82)?; however, cf. Possibly it is a mere defect of our documentation. [20] Idem, The Distribution of Surnames in Malta in 1419 and the 1480s, Journal of Maltese Studies, No. Does the Maltese surname Gatt derive simply and solely from the Italian gatto, a cat, or is it ultimately derived from Agata, gr. Hall-Cole et al., Notai liguri del secolo xii, V, Genova 1940, doc. Other Jewish surnames might be Parnis, Refalo, Cagege, Sansuni, Episcopu, the latter frequently resulting from the conversion of a rabbi. Hall-Cole et al., Notai liguri del secolo XII, vol. is designed to provide an insight on Maltese History and Heritage. ), Documentary Sources of Maltese History, II, Documents in the State Archives, Palermo, No. He could have been the leader of 60 militiamen assigned to guard the local coasts against piratical attacks, said Dr Cassar. Johannes Bonichi in Oberto Scriba de Mercato (1186), Notai liguri del secolo xii, IV, a cura di Mario Chiaudano, Genova 1940, doc., 220, 81 and Hospinelli Bonichi, 9 November 1203 in Giovanni de Guiberto 1200-1211, a cura di M.W. They had no direct connection with the recently converted peasants largely or completely reduced to the status of serfs. "walks like a wealthy person, walks with confidence", Apply this search to the user-submitted names, the letters in the pattern are compared to the letters in the name, search for an exact phrase by surrounding it with double quotes, this field understands simple boolean logic, force a term to be included by preceding it with a, force a term to be excluded by preceding it with a, sounds can only be searched in names that have been assigned pronunciations, syllables can only be counted in names that have been assigned pronunciations, names without pronunciations are excluded from results, the "relationship" is how the name relates to its parent name. Some are not recorded to have made it to the status of surnames: Masri, Ginui, Sindiwa, Cerkes, Tartarni. Other surnames not of pure Arabic extraction showing a final -a, which might explain the propensity of notaries to favour such an ending, include Aquilina, Barba, Barbara, Briffa, Cachia, Calleja, Cassia, Ciappara, Cusburella, Formosa, Furmica, Grima, [22] Manduca, Michola, Pirera, Petrella. Either the number of Christians was far larger than Giliberto had indicated, and they themselves already spoke Maltese, or a large proportion of the Muslims themselves accepted baptism and stayed behind. Each one of these Semitic surnames is borne by a significant aggregate of families, whereas many of the more modern Romance and European surnames are less numerous, he said. Werethe figures given by Giliberto Abate after all more precise than what most historians have allowed for? Raynaldus de Barba judex Gaudisii Melacio refers to the Sicilian town of Milazzo and seems to have been modified eventually to form the Maltese or Gozitan surname of Mejlaq, morphologically an Arabic diminutive form. ], Tartarni [ie. The top 10 are: Borg, Camilleri, Vella, Farrugia, Zammit, Galea, Micallef, Grech, Attard, Spiteri and Azzopardi. ), the final -a ending being the one frequently associated with surnames. Any Sherlock can detect a number of things from my surname. That such theophoric names frequently drop the second and divine element is also extremely common. This means that three-quarters of the whole population carry the top 100 surnames, while the remaining 23.98 per cent 97,076 people share the remaining 12,210 surnames, Dr Cassar said. For Julio), Laurenzu, Luchia, Manueli, Marinu, Nastasi, Nicolachi, Valent, Tonna, Theuma from Thom not a nickname from tewma, garlic, Ursu, Federicu, Franciscu, Frendu and Ferrandes (Catalan or Castilian for Ferdinandu), Gomes, Gusman, Micheli, Narda, Pericuni and Petrella (from Petru), Ponzu, Refalu, Ristainu. As late as 1241 Islam was still numerically strong in the MalteseIslands. Thus Tabone can be found throughout Italy at the present time and seems surely to be of Italian origin. [18] Buskieken might be represented by the surname Biscone. But here is the stunning news: 76 per cent of the population 307,886 people share the same 100 surnames. After the Norman invasion, the indigenous Muslim population, although subjected to Christian rule, still kept its cultural and linguistic heritage. There is no strong heraldic tradition in Malta. Grech of course is still a very common Maltese surname, unlike Picardus, another ethnic surname. What is certain is that our surnames are very indicative of our countrys multicultural history. Its obviously an Italian name. A notarial document of 1324 provides another short list of surnames: [14], Caterina Greca You can search this blog using the search box below. Chone de Lerro witness The field of study might range from medieval Baghdad to Renaissance Italy and Spain and involve linguistic research both of Indo-European languages as Latin, Greek, Spanish, Sicilian and Tuscan Italian as well as of Semitic tongues like Arabic and even (in a very few examples) of Hebrew itself. [17] G. Wettinger, The Distribution of Surnames in Malta in 1419 and the 1480s, Journal of Maltese Studies, No. How can I get him to agree to your offer? The same nickname was held by two others. A former teacher whose surname was Cachia, like mine was told me that the surname Cachia was of Greek origin. 16-17, doc. The expulsion of the Muslims in the 13th century, and that of the Jews in the 15th century, however, brought about the final rupture of the powerful cultural ties which had bound Malta to the North African Arabo-Berber world. Leo de Puntetremulo notarius Saliba, burgensis Accon, an inhabitant of Acre, 16 September 1264: A. Zammit Gabarretta and J. Mizzi, Catalogue of the Records of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem in the Royal Malta Library, Malta, 1964, vol. 616 dated 1177, in ibid., p.173, sua moglie Gaytelgrima, doc. Latinised version De Agatiis. Do all these point to foreign origins for such surnames of non-Arabic origin? In 1277 the authorities in Naples ordered the release of the widow, son and two daughters of the late castellan Robbertus Caffuri, and of their goods which had been distrained in view of an investigation into Caffuris alleged extorsions, but directed that a number of sufficiently wealthy persons should stand surety on the familys behalf, listed by name and surname, nomina et cognomina. Fredericus de Burdino witness, Benedictus Camilla witness In the circumstances it would seem that the normal way the ex-Muslims could have been provided with surnames was to use their fathers name as a new family surname. [20] To these one may also add Zejne, fem. Thus surnames like Muhammed, Xara, Canzuhuc (whatever the latter meant), Razul, Cahalun, Duhamuri, Gibasal, Hafaride, Harabi, Muzangar, Busalib, Zumahac dropped out almost completely by 1500. Behind each one there is particular significance. [23] The final -a in Abdilla has a different origin seeing that it is derived from the word Alla, God. The Greek connections may be vague in some cases, in others quite strong. On the other hand was their scarcity merely the result of a psychological reluctance to adopt Christian names as patronymic surnames in preference to other types of surnames, such as those derived from locational or nickname sources? I (Roma 1956). dated 3 May 1277 inserted in doc. Micallef is also still a very common Maltese surname. Also Debono and Tabone were very likely interchangeable at one time. The name is widely found in Italy and Spain. Calimera means Good-morning in Greek; cf. This however would not explain its lack of occurrence in Sicily itself. Prince of the Believers, the vizir answered, He gets greater pleasure from pulling out his beard than if he obtained kingly power. Chetcuti is a clear indication that my ancestors bred cackles of baby chicks or that they used to laugh gently like giggling chickens apparently or that they used to be masters of the house. 120. It immediately became imperative to discover what mintuf could have meant, since it is inconceivable that a person could be plucked except metaphorically, even if his surname was really Butigieg, Farrugia or Chetcuti. In the MalteseIslands a certain permanence and stability of surnames was established as early as 1300 except for the progressive elimination of Arabic or Muslim connections. But cf. Yet tabuni, its earliest form in Malta, means a peasant oven or kiln low on the ground which is still to be found, for example on Djerba Island in the pottery industry. Both seem far-fetched. Possibly this was the result of a desire to distance themselves from the universal Arabic use of such words in personal nomenclature.