Maltese Language Quotes

Hemm ċentimetru għoli fejn jegħreq il-ħsieb.

books that Uncle bought in Odessa or acquired in Heidelberg, books that he discovered in Lausanne or found in Berlin or Warsaw, books he ordered from America and books the like of which exist nowhere but in the Vatican Library, in Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, classical and modern Greek, Sanskrit, Latin, medieval Arabic, Russian, English, German, Spanish, Polish, French, Italian, and languages and dialects I had never even heard of, like Ugaritic and Slovene, Maltese and Old Church Slavonic.

Jogħġobni l-Malti. Ħossu ħassejtu jsaħħarni mill-ewwel darba li laqgħuh widnejja, widnejn ta' katavru jitbaskat sieket mal-kosta tal-Biskra. Kelmtu likkmitni, ħakmitni u bikkmitni. Għax il-Malti jixxeblek ma' xufftejk, imellislek ilsienek u jitbewwes ma' snienek. Qed tisma' kemm hu sabiħ? Il-Malti biċċa mużika qed tistenniek tikkomponiha. Il-Malti mhux tiktbu u titkellmu, imma tkantah u tiżfnu.

In a vast open-plan office, notable for its astonishing quiet (in an hour and a half not a single telephone rings), the Oxford lexicographers try to keep track of how the language is changing. Desktop screens flash with messages from lookouts across the English-speaking world, bringing news of new coinings. An informant has contacted them to report what she thinks is the first sighting of the expression ‘bad hair day’. It turns out to have been in a newspaper in Seattle. A correspondent in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has discovered a hitherto unknown early use of ‘Maltese’, predating anything in the dictionary. A subdued excitement follows.

Lillllllllllllllllllllllll Lil dawk li jċappsu subgħajhom fit-trab. Lil dawk li nħallu mill-katina tleqq. Lil dawk li sparaw il-ħruq ta’ moħħhom fuq is-sufani. Lil dawk li jaħdmu t-tarmak iswed tal-kwiekeb. Lil dawk li mmimaw il-ferħ ta’ ġenn fl-għanqbuta tal-mera. Lil dawk li staħbew fiċ-ċumnija ta’ qalbi. Lil dawk li tgħaqqdu fil-bellus tan-ngħas. Lil dawk li saru nemel u għebu fl-għoli xi mkien. Lil dawk li qatt ma raw is-silenzju tal-għasafar mitwijin fil-ħġieġ tal-ġenna.