A Brief History on the Maltese Language
The Maltese language – il-Malti – is the national language of Malta and one of 24 official languages of the European Union. The Republic of Malta has three official languages: Maltese, English, and Maltese Sign Language; Maltese however remains the sole national language.
Until 1934, Italian was an official language in place of English. The dominance of Italian and English led to the linguistic and political debate known as the Language Question, which formed the basis of Malta’s modern two-party political system.
Maltese is a Semitic language, descended from Siculo-Arabic (i.e. Sicilian Arabic), yet heavily influenced over centuries by Romance and Germanic languages, especially Italian, Sicilian, French, and English. This makes Maltese a truly unique linguistic hybrid: it maintains a Semitic grammatical structure while drawing a lot of its vocabulary from European languages. It is the only Semitic language in the world written in the Latin script (i.e. a, b, c, etc.), and the only such Semitic language that is an official language of the EU.
Today, Maltese is spoken by approximately half a million people, both in Malta and within Maltese communities abroad. Malta has significant diaspora populations in Australia, the United Kingdom, North America, and more recently in Brussels, themselves amounting to over half a million – more than Malta’s own native population.
The modern Maltese alphabet was officially adopted in 1924. This alphabet, based on the Latin script, includes specific letters with diacritics (like ċ, ġ, ħ, ż) to accurately represent Maltese phonology, especially its Semitic sounds. Before this, Maltese was written inconsistently, and for several centuries, people used Italian (or Sicilian) spelling rules for writing, particularly in official and literary contexts. There are 30 letters in the modern alphabet. One advantage of this system is that Maltese is written phonetically; that is, words are spelled the way they are pronounced, with few exceptions. This makes it easier for learners to master reading and pronunciation early on.
Below is a chronological list of Malta’s main rulers and conquerors, along with notes on how each influenced the development of the Maltese language.
Timeline of the Maltese Language and Its Historical Development
The Maltese language has evolved through centuries of foreign influence while retaining its unique Semitic foundation. The earliest significant linguistic influence came from the Phoenicians, who occupied Malta from approximately 800 BC to 218 BC. They introduced the Semitic roots from which Maltese ultimately developed. Maltese later evolved from a dialect of Siculo-Arabic, itself heavily influenced by the Phoenician linguistic heritage, with many basic words and numerals tracing their origins to this ancient period.
Following the Phoenicians, Malta came under Roman rule from 218 BC to AD 395 and Byzantine rule from AD 395 to 870. The Romans introduced Latin, which later became the source of many Romance loanwords. However, Latin itself had only a limited direct effect on the spoken language. The Byzantines governed Malta as part of the Eastern Roman Empire, but their linguistic influence remained relatively minor, and Greek never established itself as a dominant language on the islands.
The Arab period, from AD 870 to approximately 1091, had the most profound impact on the Maltese language. The Arabs introduced Siculo-Arabic, the direct ancestor of modern Maltese. This period shaped the language’s Semitic grammar, core vocabulary, and phonological structure, providing the foundation upon which Maltese is still built today.
After the Norman conquest, Malta was ruled by the Normans and various Sicilian dynasties from 1091 to 1530. During this period, the islands were re-Christianised, and Latin Christianity returned. Romance-speaking administrations and settlers brought increasing Sicilian and Italian influence, particularly in legal, religious, and cultural spheres. As a result, Maltese gradually absorbed a large number of Romance loanwords.
The arrival of the Knights of St. John in 1530 marked another important phase in Malta’s linguistic history. Until 1798, Italian—especially Tuscan and Sicilian varieties—served as the language of administration, education, religion, culture, and the elite classes. During these centuries, Maltese remained the everyday language of the population while incorporating thousands of Italian words, particularly in areas such as law, religion, art, and governance.
French rule under Napoleon between 1798 and 1800 was brief and left only a limited linguistic legacy, although it introduced some French vocabulary and political reforms. British rule, which lasted from 1800 until Malta’s independence in 1964, had a much greater impact. English became increasingly important in government, education, law, and commerce, gradually replacing Italian in many official domains. This period introduced a substantial number of English loanwords into Maltese, particularly for modern concepts and technologies. During the early twentieth century, efforts were also made to standardise Maltese as a written language, culminating in the official standardisation of the Maltese alphabet in 1924.
Today, Maltese stands as a unique language: Semitic in its grammatical structure and core vocabulary, yet enriched by centuries of Romance and English influence, reflecting the diverse historical experiences of the Maltese Islands.