Arabic origins, Sicilian and Italian vocabulary and a strong influence of English are the characteristics of an original European language with a long history: Maltese. Situated in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Malta and Gozo present an intriguing linguistic picture. Although they are nearer to Sicily (93 km) than to Tunisia (288 km) and Libya (355 km), the Catholic, culturally and genetically European inhabitants still speak a language that is basically a variety of Arabic spoken in (.)
A study carried out by marine geologist Dr Aaron Micallef (‘Malta’s submerged landscape’, Times of Malta, January 4, 2013), found that the archipelago was two-and-a-half times larger and the sea level 130 metres lower during the last Ice Age. The subsequent rise in sea levels created bays and harbours, mainly in a south-southeast to northeast direction, including Grand Harbour, the Marsa l-Kbira (Mers el Kebir) and its innermost creek, Ix-Xatt tal-Marsa, the stretch of water beyond an imaginary line drawn between Ras Ħanżir and the spur below the Capuchin convent at Floriana. Ancient toponyms offer windows on history, being mainly derived from Arabic, in this instance, for ‘harbour’ or ‘anchorage’, and is thus found elsewhere in the archipelago, namely Marsalforn, Marsa ta’ Ħal Saflieni, Marsamxett, Marsascala, Marsa Xini, Marsa Xlendi, Marsaxlokk, (Wettinger, 2000).