Don Lorenzo Hervas, Gan Frangisk Agius de Soldanis, u l-ilsien Malti

Abstract

Lorenzo Hervas y Panduro (1735-1809) was a Spanish Jesuit, polyglot, and renowned philologist. His undisputed masterpiece is the 22-volume cosmological tract entitled Idea dell'Universo, Cesena, 1778-92. Volumes XVII (Catalogo delle lingue conosciute, 1784), XX (Vocabolario poligloto, 1787), u XXI (Saggio pratico delle lingue, 1787) of this encyclopedia contain substantial information on the Maltese language, including some interesting word-lists. In the latter work, he even provides the Maltese version of the Pater Noster. Hervas based much of his deliberations on what he read in Agius de Soldanis' Della Lingua Punica, Rome, 1750; those words not found in the Gozitan's opus are therefore more attention-grabbing. In his works, Hervas always refers to Maltese as 'Punico-Maltese'; however, 'en passant', he also tries to demonstrate its affinity with other Semitic languages such as Hebrew, Ethiopic, and Arabic.