Maltese landmarks : the lighthouses

Abstract

It is not known when the first lighthouses in the island were set up. Some vague indication of coastal lightings may be traced in at least two place names, Xebb-ir-Ras and Dellimara. The former, which is the name for the promontory at Xagnret Mewwija, the area where Valletta stands, means " the light at the promontory". G. Barbera in his Dizionario Maltese-Arabo-Italiano holds that xebb or xabb has as one of its connotations the meaning of light or alum. The latter is sometimes referred to as a corruption of the arabic term dejr l-imnara, meaning the house of the lantern. The etimology of both, however, appear to modern Maltese philologists as far-fetched and too unscientific to be relied upon.