Editing Maltese language (section)

=== Romance (Sicilian and Italian) ===
An analysis of the etymology of the 41,000 words in Aquilina's ''Maltese–English Dictionary'' shows that words of Romance origin make up 52% of the Maltese vocabulary,{{sfnp|Brincat|2005}} although other sources claim from 40%<ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/european_languages/languages/maltese.shtml |title=Languages across Europe – Maltese, Malti |website=BBC |access-date=12 January 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170913054653/http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/european_languages/languages/maltese.shtml |archive-date=13 September 2017}}</ref> to 55%. Romance vocabulary tends to deal with more complex concepts. Most words come from [[Sicilian language|Sicilian]] and thus exhibit Sicilian phonetic characteristics, such as {{IPA|/u/}} rather than Italian {{IPA|/o/}}, and {{IPA|/i/}} rather than Italian {{IPA|/e/}} (e.g. {{lang|mt|tiatru}} not {{lang|it|teatro}} and {{lang|mt|fidi}} not {{lang|it|fede}}). Also, as with Old Sicilian, {{IPA|/ʃ/}} (English ''sh'') is written ''x'' and this produces spellings such as: {{lang|mt|ambaxxata}} {{IPA|/ambaʃːaːta/}} ('embassy'), {{lang|mt|xena}} {{IPA|/ʃeːna/}} ('scene'; compare Italian {{lang|it|ambasciata}}, {{lang|it|scena}}).

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Maltese
! [[Sicilian language|Sicilian]]
! [[Italian language|Italian]]
! [[English language|English]]
|-
| {{wikt-lang|mt|skola}}
| {{wikt-lang|scn|scola}}
| {{wikt-lang|it|scuola}}
| school
|-
| {{wikt-lang|mt|gvern}}
| {{wikt-lang|scn|cuvernu}}
| {{wikt-lang|it|governo}}
| government
|-
| {{wikt-lang|mt|repubblika}}
| {{wikt-lang|scn|ripùbblica}}
| {{wikt-lang|it|repubblica}}
| republic
|-
| {{wikt-lang|mt|re}}
| {{wikt-lang|scn|re}}
| {{wikt-lang|it|re}}
| king (''Germanic'')
|-
| {{wikt-lang|mt|natura}}
| {{wikt-lang|scn|natura}}
| {{wikt-lang|it|natura}}
| nature
|-
| {{wikt-lang|mt|pulizija}}
| {{wikt-lang|scn|pulizzìa}}
| {{wikt-lang|it|polizia}}
| police
|-
| {{wikt-lang|mt|ċentru}}
| {{wikt-lang|scn|centru}}
| {{wikt-lang|it|centro}}
| centre
|-
| {{wikt-lang|mt|teatru}}
| {{wikt-lang|scn|tiatru}}
| {{wikt-lang|it|teatro}}
| theatre
|}

A tendency in modern Maltese is to adopt further influences from English and Italian.
Complex Latinate English words adopted into Maltese are often given Italian or Sicilian forms,{{sfnp|Brincat|2005}} even if the resulting words do not appear in either of those languages. For instance, the words ''evaluation'', ''industrial action'', and ''chemical armaments'' become {{lang|mt|evalwazzjoni}}, {{lang|mt|azzjoni industrjali}}, and {{lang|mt|armamenti kimiċi}} in Maltese, while the Italian terms are {{lang|it|valutazione}}, {{lang|it|vertenza sindacale}}, and {{lang|it|armi chimiche}} respectively. (The origin of the terms may be narrowed even further to [[British English]]; the phrase ''[[industrial action]]'' is meaningless in the United States.) This is comparable to the situation with English borrowings into the [[Italo-Australian dialect]]. English words of Germanic origin are generally preserved relatively unchanged.

Some influences of [[African Romance]] on the Arabic and [[Berber languages|Berber]] spoken in the [[Maghreb]] are theorised; these may then have passed into Maltese.{{Sfn|Kossmann|2013|p=75}} For example, in [[calendar]] [[month]] names, the word {{lang|mt|furar}} 'February' is only found in the Maghreb and in Maltese – proving the word's ancient pedigree. The region also has a form of another Latin month in {{lang|mt|awi/ussu}} < {{lang|la|augustus}}.{{Sfn|Kossmann|2013|p=75}} This word does not appear to be a loan word through Arabic, and may have been taken over directly from Late Latin or African Romance.{{Sfn|Kossmann|2013|p=75}} Scholars theorise that a Latin-based system provided forms such as {{lang|mt|awi/ussu}} and {{lang|mt|furar}} in African Romance, with the system then mediating Latin/Romance names through Arabic for some month names during the Islamic period.{{Sfn|Kossmann|2013|p=76}} The same situation exists for Maltese which mediated words from [[Italian language|Italian]], and retains both non-Italian forms such as {{lang|mt|awissu/awwissu}} and {{lang|mt|frar}}, and Italian forms such as {{lang|mt|april}}.{{Sfn|Kossmann|2013|p=76}}