quiet

In a recent paper (Gatt 2025), Kurstin Gatt examines the perception of Malta in the imagination of its Arab neighbors and, by extension, their language. Specifically, Kurstin looks at Arabic idioms, proverbs, and sayings featuring Malta, and classifies them according to the semantic role Malta plays. These sayings range from classics like the Tunisian mālṭa l-ḥnīna ḫubza w-sardīna "Malta the kind, bread and sardines" (meanwhile also adopted in Maltese as an expression of love of the country or a nostalgia for a past version of it or as satirization of both previous sentiments) to various forms of "VERB after the destruction of Malta" meaning "a day late and a dollar short" (or what we in Slovakia express as "coming with a cross after a funeral"). As Kurstin reports, the latter can even be found in contemporary Egyptian popular music as gāy baʿd mā ḫirbit mālṭa "you came after Malta was destroyed". Go read the whole thing, it is fascinating; in fact go read the whole book, it is free.

The meaning Kurstin discusses for the bread+sardine proverb/saying with reference to Maltese migration to North Africa, specifically Algeria and Tunisia. By mid-19th century, there were some 6000-7000 Maltese in Tunisia who formed the majority of European population in cities such as Sfax and Sousse. Their presence was also quite prominent, so much so that there was a street in Tunis called "Rue des Maltais". Incidentally, one of the businesses located on that street was the publishing house of Uzan Père & Fils, the publisher of many fine books in Judeo-Arabic.

"Rue des Maltais" is also the subject of a book with the same name written by Marc Donato, author of multiple books on Maltese emigrants in North Africa. I got the book yesterday and in a moment of serendipity, I cracked it open on page 28 which happens to discuss the place of Malta in the imagination of their Tunisian neighbors. Specifically, it mentions a man at the end of the 19th century trying to calm his child by saying to them:

Lukân mä toskòtš tòwwa nebbàetek fi mâlta

If you don't stop crying (lit. "don't become quiet") right now, I will send you to Malta!

This warning serves - at least according to Donato - as a reminder of the era when Muslim inhabitans of North Africa (especially the Barbary Coast) were often abducted to slavery in Malta, possibly in the galleys. Whether this is the real origin of the saying or it is another example of Malta serving as an exemplum for a far-away place (Gatt 2025: 324), it is definitely a worthy addition to Kurstin's collection.