Vicende e caratteristiche del Maltese parlato in Egitto

Abstract

The sudden flourishing of the Egyptian economy in the mid-nineteenth century and the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 gave the impetus to a lively emigration of Maltese workers, artisans and merchants to Egypt. Many of them took part in the founding of the township of Porto Said and the smaller towns of Ismailia and Suez; others settled in the two great cities of the country, Alexandria and Cairo. On the eve of the Second World War there were found in Egypt about 20,000 people of Maltese origin. Except for those that they had Italian, French or Austrian father, these Egyptian Maltese were counted as British subjects. This political name turns out to be naturally misleading when it is kept in mind that most of these so-called English not only ignored the English language, but had also abandoned the use of their hereditary language, instead using Italian as a domestic idiom, and French as vehicular language and culture. This is a significant factor for the political history of Malta in the sense that the linguistic realization of the nationalist ideals of Fortunato Mizzi's party took place in Egypt.