Book review : A history of Għarb

Abstract

For outsiders, one of the most characteristic features of Għarb has been the more obvious remains of a Semitic heritage as manifested in vocabulary as well as some characteristics of pronounciation (now largely lost), indicating a link with Semitic languages, particularly, in my opinion, with that of Lebanon/Syria rather than with North Africa. It is an unfortunate fact that the last evidence of origins has practically disappeared. Such language remains – no more than language equivalent of archaeological shards – have to be clearly distinguished from the so-called ‘Brejku’ (‘Brajku’ ‘Ebrajku’) which some still confuse with the Għarb dialect, which the initial investigators (Mikiel Anton Vassalli and others) have shown was no more than a gimmick, a way the villagers show their irritating foreign visitors that they were not welcome, a metaphorical raised middle finger in fact.