Lexical material in Maltese folklore

Abstract

In this study we are giving a list of archaic or obsolete words picked from the language of Maltese Folklore, They are words not very commonly used nowadays, but occurring mostly in old Maltese proverbs which have been handed down without any appreciable modification, as well as in folk-songs, popular riddles, charms and exorcisms, street-cries, children's games and folk-tales. As far as possible the words have been taken down as uttered by peasants in their everyday conversation, but as regards those words which survive in old collections of Maltese proverbs and sayings we have had to rely on Canon Agius DeSoldanis's Proverbi ed apoftegmi maltesi, in manuscript, preserved at the Royal Malta Library (Ms. 143) and published by Dr G. Curmi in Malta Letteraria (1929) and on M.A. Vassalli's Motti, aforismi e proverbi maltesi published in Malta in 1828.