Similarities Between Arabic and Sicilian
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 มี.ค. 2023
- In this video, we compare some of the common words between Sicilian (sicilianu) and Arabic (العربية) with Gaia, representing Sicilian, and Rita, as the Arabic speaker.
Starting in the 9th century, following the Abbasid conquest of Sicily, for over two centuries, the islands of Sicily and Malta were under Muslim rule, known as the Emirate of Sicily. During this period a variety of Arabic, known as Sicilian Arabic (Siculo-Arabic), was formed. A series of battles eventually led to the fall of Muslim rule and the re-establishment of Christian control over Sicily and Malta. However, Sicilian Arabic continued to be spoken under the new state for a few ensuing centuries until it eventually went extinct. The Sicilian language today still retains many Arabic words which had entered its lexicon centuries ago. Arabic continued to be influential for centuries following the Christian reconquest. Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Sicily in the early 13th century, was able to speak Arabic. In fact, in the ensuing years, a form of culture, known as the Norman-Arab culture (or at times referred to as the Norman-Arab-Byzantine / Norman-Sicilian culture) formed as a result of the mixing through the interactions that took place between the Arab, Latin, Norman, and Byzantine Greek cultures. The heritage of the Arabic language is also present in several Sicilian toponyms which are derived from Arabic.
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language and has official/national status in Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, SADR, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania (Zanzibar), Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
Sicilian is a Romance language primarily spoken on the Italian island of Sicily. - บันเทิง
I'm Sicilian, and I always knew there were Arabic roots to our words, but didn't know how deep it went. This is super cool!
Michael Graeber looks such a sicilian name
@@hazhoner5727 he must be from New Jersey, Sicilian town just 20 minutes off Caltanissetta lol
Im albanian and tabut,mamluk, miskin is also found in albanian, came to us via the ottomans
Now I find out that Sicilians don't speak Italian... The hell?
@@r.fantom SIcilians speak Italian, but like EVERY region in Italy they have their language.
Both of this girls represent mediterranean beauty❤️
AND they are doppelgangers, they could easily be mistaken for twins...
@@zainquadri1206 exactly
They look like they could be related
@@zainquadri1206 Not Doppelgangers at all. Are you blind?? The Lebanese looks too Middle Eastern.
@@zainquadri1206 therefore, kudos to this guy who can convince them to show up in this vid.
Amazing video! I'm a Sicilian that has studied Arabic and currently lives in Tunisia. There are also many other words like: giara (terracotta jar), rasta (vase), harara (fiever), gebbia (tank), taliàri (observe), zabbara (agave)... On the other hand, Tunisians use lots of Sicilian words because they had thousands of Sicilian immigrants from the late 19th century until the 60s.
It's incredible to notice how studying languages and history opens our minds...
That is so cute
هذه كذبة اعلامية تتكرر
لم يكونوا مهاجرين
لقد كانوا من نسيج المجتمع التونسي و تاريخه
يحشو فيه علينا@@adeldrihmi2676
Tunis was 90% Sicilian until the damn French deported them after WWII
Tunisians were never Arabs and not Berber either unlike ,Morocco and Algeria ,which are predominantly berbers .The Berber population residing in Tunisia were like 1% of the poupulation and they are primarily in the south of Tunisia . The Tunisians who are from the Mediterranean coast are mainly Mediterraneans and after the Arabic conquest , The Arabic language and the Islamic religion were introduced at that time to tunsiajns and many Arabs settled there and many cities started to have a new demographic population that is influenced by the Arabs and the berbers . I love history and I am a linguist and I had to study all this history and I love it . I am Tunisian and I Identify as a Mediterranean because my ancestors are from there ❤
I'm Sicilian - Maltese and a lot of people are stunned when they learn that Sicilian is similar to arabic like Maltese. All the words mentioned in the video are also in Maltese too! Amazing to see the similarities with bkth languages. In fact Maltese is derived from both Arabic and Sicilian.
German Maltese here and I could absolutely understand the first sentence in Arabic however could not understand the Sicilian.
It’s a hint about the history. Both Sicily and Malta were invaded and colonized by Muslims centuries ago.
@@Thingsandcosas That's right.
Sicilian isn't similiar to Arabic, it borrowed some words
Maltese is a lot more similar to Arabic than sicilian is.
I am from Malta which is geographically between Sicily and North Africa. We use most of the words mentioned in this video, so I think it would be interesting to do a similar video with a Maltese citizen in the middle.
Maltese is more related to Tunisian and North Africa dialects in general. What if your name '' Attard '' comes from Arabic word ''3attar '' = spice dealer عطّار which literally means someone who is perfumer/apothecary ( it comes from 3itr عطر = perfume ) 😁😁😁😁?
@@tarrasteno cause Maltese is a Semetic language !
@@nayokaldou6251 Maltese itself is NOT a Semitic language. Maltese is indeed of semitic origins cause it's considered an Arabic '' dialect'' like Tunisian, Moroccan, Algerian ..etc ! My point is that Maltese was developed in North Africa. Just a Maltese proverb as an example: With money you can build a road in the sea: Maltese: Bil-flus tagħmel triq fil-bahar. (għ = ع = 3 ). Moroccan: belflus t3mel triq f lb7ar. Arabic: bi lmali, yumkinuka binaa'u ttariqi fi lbahri. Moroccan and Maltese follow the same structure which are typical North African grammatical and syntactical rules which differ from Arabic language rules, and which make it hard for the Middle Easterners to understand North African dialects.
Sardinian here: same. We so have an incredible number of similar words as Neapolitan.
*also
I'm Sicilian as well.... I heard that Mussolini came to Sicily and changed some of the towns names because they looked and sounded to Arabic....This is very true....Blessings to all my Arabic brothers and sisters.....We love you and never forgot about you
I'm full Lebanese and both of our ancestors from Lebanon and Sicily were the Phoenicians. Funny story because Mussolini wanted my grandpa to be his doctor while my aunt was a nun at a convent in Sicily. We are connected more than you think 😉
@@GeronimoBiggles Matt Taibbi is Sicilian or his step dad was. But this surname is of Lebanese origin
@@manitheman0806 yeah you never know.. i had to look him up to find out who he was though lol
🇹🇳❤️🇮🇹
I’m proud of my Sicilian heritage our history is rich in many cultures. I have middle eastern friends and I also mentioned to them we use Arabic words in our language great video
I love when someone is able to underline what unite Us instead of putting lights on what differs leading to xenophobia, anger and hate. I loved this video. Great job!!!!!
I can find you in 5 mins joke not too much you mongrel you can be hurted so bad against the Italians 😊
xenophobia is ok when you're being invaded
@@historicalreview7839surely your comment is sarcastic, what do you mean anyway? What are you referring to? If you talk about my pfp, it's not xenophobia, I HATE zionism and I think zionism=NAZISM. So you can't call it xenophobia. Just as you can't call me anti-Semitic if I'm anti-Zionist.
Xenophbia: dislike of or prejudice against people from other countries. I'm fighting a fanatical ideology that has as prime goal the ethnic cleansing of poor innocent civilians that live in Palestine. Nothing to do with racism. Please reply, I'm damn curious to know if you support genocide, if you support the killing of children, if you support the brutal violence of Israeli Zionist settlers!!!!!
So Iraqi xenophobia against Americans is ok?@@historicalreview7839
I love the acknowledgement that Sicilian is indeed a language! Cheers!
Though my parents and grandparents were Sicilian, I speak Italian and didn't understand anything the Sicilian girl said.
I doubt someone could call Sicilian an Italian dialect.
true because it is not a dialect, it's a proper language with grammar and structures, just nobody learns it or speaks it as a language.
@@santopino756 It kinda Is like that for any Italian "dialects", cuz they actually were the languages that the medieval italian city-states used and evolved. Sicilian though Is particular because it had many influences, starting from greek, passing trough Arab and French and ending with Spanish. Tho, the bases of the language are latin
My mom always told me to stop speaking dialect back when I was a kid. Now I wish that I spoke more of it.
In Italy we have more than 30 language
The entire Mediterranean is a big beautiful mash up - genetically and culturally. Also, Sicilian music sounds closer to north African than Neapolitan. Great demo, thanks!
Sicilian does not sound like North African at all. I think you are confusing Sicilian for Maltese?
Spain occupied Sicily from the fourteen to the seventeen century.
@@ade910 not true, there is language roots and resemblance, brotherhood like in Muslim world, traditions roots, they even cook fish Couscous like Tunisian do.
@@whatelse1222 Yes they did and there are many Sicilian words that are of Spanish origin as well as Arabic and let's not forget the French words that are mixed in.
I read many of the arguments on this panel and it seems that people want to claim Sicily with the dominance of their own culture. While I can appreciate that, they need to keep in mind that the evolution of of the Sicilian people, their food, their language, mannerism, customs, traditions, folklore, etc are a product of multiculturalism and in spite of this multicultural influence, they remain a unique people and culture all their own.
Yes, the North African and Arab cultures were there but so were the Greeks, Normans and Spanish. Let's not forget the original three tribes in which the two dominate ones are believed to be from Italic origin, the other being from Asia minor were first colonized by the ancient Greeks and Phoenicians. When the Arabs came when it belonged to the Byzantine world. Then the Normans came to rid the island of Islamic culture appointed by the Pope of Rome and then Sicily became Latinized.
@@petera618 sicily was made front and center of the Islamic world as it was a gateway between the maghreb (andalus and morocco) and the mashriq (syria and egypt). the fall of sicily to the normans disconnected the two halves and it (along with the crusades and reconquista) were acts of dogmatic, christian aggression fueled by racism and seeing the muslims as 'a brown other'. The whole notion of 'european' vs 'asian' is fueled by racism and other-ing since before western prominence, the world was much more connected than you might think. Hell, europe is a literal peninsula of asia and should be labelled 'northwest asia' if anything especially since it sits on the same tectonic plate as china, but I digress. To reduce arab- Sicilian influence to a footnote alongside whatever phoenician resemblance you think you might exhibit is ignorant at best. The only reason you dont speak arabic right now and bow your face to God five times a day is because of deliberate ethnic and religious cleansing movements done in the past by some frankish mercenaries. You really think you have more in common with someone from cisalpina than someone from tunis?
The word rais is also used in Moroccan darija or language, it's called for someone who's like the captain of the fishing or traditional fishing as the girl from Italy says . 🇲🇦❤️❤️❤️
My morocan ex used miskin too so i knew this word 🎉
we always Said the " Sicilians are the Arabs of Europe " its meant as compliment and respect for Sicilians as we understand their customs culture history disposition and Sicilians rebellious Proud Nature given the old history there is a natural affinity for Sicilians love for ones Family and Parents and village
I love this experience. My family is from Sicily, we've spent there plenty of time. Every Sicilian person is aware of the Arabic connection and legacy. But I've never seen such a meaningful démonstration. Thank you girls!
I am an arab that lives in bahrain a small island country. a sicillan visited our workshop at work i asked him are you southern european he was suprised he wondered how did i know i was like i have even a better guess you are either from sicilly or naples he was shooked he told me he was sicilian i told you look like me come on i know my cousins when i see them i gave him a hug and i told him we are distant cousins.
@@haider14334 wonderful! I wish I could visit Baharin one day and find that kind of welcome home.
Language isn't DNA. It's like comparing Catalonians with Puerto Ricans, and saying they're related.
@@fabiobarbati6029 if you ever vist let me know it would be a blessing to have you as a guest.
@@josephinetracy1485 language isn't dna true but language is more important than dna language is what helps as communicate spread knowledge know differences in culture faith values and tradition but at the same time the funny part about language it always reminds us no matter how far away we are from each other we also have our very distinct and obvious similarities that makes us humans yes we are different but when it comes to the fundamentals we are basically the same we just go about it differently.
i'm sicilian living abroad since 15 years and over 25 years away from sicily . I miss Sicily so much. Our culture is so amazing and old
th-cam.com/video/0t2Z35Qfusg/w-d-xo.html
Sicilians in Tunisia
This is a result of about 250 years of Arab rule in Greek Sicily, until liberated by the Germanic Normans.
They even look similar, beautiful woman of the Mediterranean, much love to you all
I'm Sicilian-American. Our family has DNA from both modern day Tunisia/Morocco/Libya and Syria/Lebanon, by way of Sicily. 💜 Love this video.
What is your haplogroup?
Yes, many rich Phoenicians established colonies in Sicily, hence the influence
R u a gangster
How can we find out @bellezzabellydance
@@prod.steezey883 cry
The Sicilian words mentioned in this video are more related to the Tunisian dialect, Rita is from Lebanon and that’s why some time she don’t understand the direct meaning of the Sicilian words. This video is really amazing thank you so much ❤️
Exactly! I was about to write the same comment
I was also going to say that. Like jeljlan, that’s what we say in Tunisia etc etc
@@StefanoRaggio fantastico! Io vivo a Palermo da 4 anni e confermo questo 😊
Which makes sense since of the closer distance.
I visited both Plermo and Malta, the people are nice, warm and friendly, I visited 10 times Rome my money was stolen 10 times😂......I hated going to Rome since ....after all these incidents, I opted for Malta (the best ever) and Palermo is just lovely but driving 😮😮😮😢😂❤❤❤❤all cheers and love to our follows the mediterraneans family.
For the word rais We also use it in Algeria for who lead the fishing specially in the capital Algiers 😊
My first discovery of your channel. I read a bit more about the Alasts - and wow, I am blown away. I love language - and to bring people from different cultures together to share something in common and maybe the world will become a better place. To watch these two young ladies discover some common aspects of language and culture was the best part of my today.
Portuguese and Spanish also have a huge Arabic influence in vocabulary, like Rita said. A lot of words started in al- come from arabic, like álcool (alcohol), alfazema (lavender), and alecrim (rosemary), "al" being the article "the".
Azeite, Azeitunas
and that’s why in Spanish they use ''El''(the) nowadays
@@thamer6025 That's a false cognate, "el" comes from the Latin "ille" (compare to "il" in italian and "le" in French).
There's a theory that most of the Arabic words found in Portuguese came indirectly via the language used by the north African Berber troops, rather than their Arabic-speaking commanders. In Berber languages the article goes on the end of a word as a suffix. Thus when they heard "al khasu" meaning "the lettuce" they treated the article at the front as part of the word, and this ended up in modern Portuguese as "alface", lettuce. "The lettuce" in Portuguese is "o alface". So we are actually getting "the the lettuce"!
also mameluco
What a wonderful combination of languages. Thanks for all participants to make it happen.
a complex and a deep history behind them.
@@samimas4343 True since the presence of arabs in south Italy in 10 and 11 centries
@@samimas4343 can you brief it up?
In Brazilian Portuguese sesame is called "gergelim' and in Iberian Spanish it's called 'ajonjolí' in my Spanish it's called 'sésamo' though
As an Algerian living in Europe, it really felt like coming home when visiting Sicily! I’ve also felt this natural connection with all the people i spoke to while visiting the whole island. ❤
Algeria and Morocco are Berber and Arab and Mediterannean culture there is very weak compared to Tunisia and Lebanon. Sicily is very different from Algeria
@@user-sh2ss4pn9y@user-sh2ss4pn9y Algeria is very mediterranean with 1200 km long coast. Its history is very linked to the sea and the word Rais was actually is used for pirates leaders like Raïs Hamidou.
@@user-sh2ss4pn9y@user-sh2ss4pn9y Algeria is very mediterranean with 1200 km long coast. Its history is very linked to the sea and the word Rais was actually used for amiral /captain, even in piratery like Raïs Hamidou
This is positively eye opening
Sicilian language should be taught in school. It was the first romance language in Italy to be used as a poetic language, at the court of Frederick II (XIII century), who was very close to the extremely cultured Arab world of that time.
Practically the first step towards the birth of the Italian language was moved by the Sicilian poets.
In fact, the work of the Sicilian poets (who in turn were inspired by the Provençal troubadours) had such an impact and influence on the cultural centers of the peninsula, as to become the Italian archetype of poetry in the illustrious vernacular, from which Dante Alighieri drew the foundation for his works in the Florentine vernacular, the embryo of modern Italian.
Yeah! Federico also was excomunicated by the Pope for his friendship and commerciale relations with arabian world... 😂 All world was on crusade against arabian but we had peacefull and flourish relations with them haha
@xvxdv99 obviously 😁
@@ElderSwamp Go and try to sell your pride rooted in fantasy to the many people Islam reduced to moral and cultural misery and who still fight for their survival.
@@ElderSwamp There would have been no Crusades without the Islamic invasions, occupation and persecutions.
The Crusades were the answer of the West to the call of Eastern Christians suffering from the Arabs and the Turks' domination.
The best thing to ever happen to Sicily was not the Islamic episode, it was the end of it. You'd know it if you were not lost in your own illusions.
When I heard giuggiulena i almost cried. It’s a word that remind to me my grandma. It sounds funny and it reminds to me when I was a baby and she used to cook for me some sweet ravioli with giuggiulena on it (sesame). This is pure beauty! The power of the language that connects people! I hope un a future with no war and racism! Culture means peace!
You are right like this italians would not be racist towards us north Africans. Because we are all Mediterranean after all. Like words like cotton rice spices ginger apricot lemon orange sugar soap carpets.... are arabic berber words derived that influenced your italian language
I looove your reaction, your feeling, your comment
@@malikaabizar8318 I thought about Kabyle and I find your comment, good to speak about Berber there are some words similar to English like any where in Kabyle means where are you going and it's the answer "any where"
@@sousoumech8398 omg that is true lol!
@@malikaabizar8318 italians are racist with everyone, even us neapolitans and sicilians.
No one here in south is racist towards africans, or any other people
This is such a brilliant video ❤ Love the added bits of background information. It adds a great dimension to the list of words. Thanks and congratulations to all three of you.
What a wonderful session.
I learnt something outstanding.
Please can have another session
My dad is half sicilian-half tunisian but I was born in Belgium ( my mom is Belgian) … so I was raised with many different cultures but it’s so fascinating to see all the connections between all languages … there’s always been a large Sicilian and Jewish community living in Tunisia and all getting along very well … when I see what’s going on nowadays 😢………
Hopefully we can still maintain the peace in Tunisia. All religions and different cultures used to be in good terms for ages
It's all because of the UK. Real Jews are not sionistes
And they look alike as well, they could be cousins! I love these videos because it shows us how we have more things that brings us together than things that make us different
200 years of brutal occupation does not bring you closer to each other. islam is maffia. God bless the Normans.
no they dont
@@artv.9989yes they actually really do! You dont know anything lol.
@@artv.9989 they do, you're just not wearing your glasses.
@@Kyle906-Q8 If those two women look alike than almost all white and brown women in the world look alike, that's retarded
As an Arab Lebanese Am truly amazed by the similarities between the two languages, & the influence of Arabic among Mediterranean islands like Malta & Sicily, in addition to the Iberian peninsula
Indeed! Phoenicians were called Syrians by the Greek back then. Lebanese are actually Syrians. Arabic language has deep connections with Phoenicians and Phoenicians was spread around the Mediterranean coasts and islands
@@khaledaldali1623
@@khaledaldali1623سوري ماذا
صقلية جزيرة تونسية بحكم القرب جغرافي
و حتى تاريخي بحكم انها كانت تحت قرطاج و من بعدها تحت حكم دولة اغالبة
Question if Sicily was home to Sarracins what Arab dialect did Saracins speak?
Nothing to do with the race tho, Sicilian is a sub Italic race of 4000 years ago, more like that due for the fact that we acaucasianized the north Africa and I say that with all the love for these beautiful lands
This is absolutely amazing ❤
Loved watching this! I am Italo-Canadian, and my parents were born in Calabria, Italy. My Calabrese dialect also shares so many Arabic words and roots. How fabulous to share this language/history/cultural lesson with younger generations that might not be familiar with it. Thank you.
The Sicilian language has NO Arabic roots. None whatsoever. Sicilian has inherited some 300 words from Arabic (among more than 40000 words of the expanded vocabulary). In Calabria there are two main language standards: the northern (close to Neapolitan language) and the central-southern (close to Sicilian). None of these two standards share anything with Arabic other than some words (mostly nouns). We must stop to forcibly try to arabicize Southern Italy. Arabs have a wonderful and rich culture, but ours is a totally different culture.
1 la Sicilia non è sud Italia
2 la Sicilia è stata per 300 anni emirato kalbita indipendente
3 i siciliani sono diversi etnicamente da comune a comune , io vengo da un paese di origine nord africana.
4 il calabrese è considerato una propagine continentale del siciliano...come per il corso parlato in Sardegna...
5 il siciliano "latino" si è posto al di sopra del siciliano arabo e del siciliano greco...
Rispettivamente oggi il maltese è l'unico dialetto esistente della lingua siculo araba...a differenza della Calabria la latinizzazzione voluta da Re Ruggero primo a portato ad abbandonare le lingue etniche ma lasciando una grande traccia nel siciliano da zona a zona...il messinese (e provincia) presenta il mi greco.
6 il razzismo tenetevelo per voi...ci avete disprezzato per il nostro sangue nord africano...e magari vorreste anche cancellare la storia...la Sicilia fu un faro di civiltà e multiculturalità per più di 300 anni fino al XV secolo.
🇮🇲🇮🇲🇮🇲❤️🇮🇲🇮🇲🇮🇲❤️🇹🇳🇹🇳🇹🇳🇹🇳❤️🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷
@YouDontDreamInCryo I never said I want Arab Sicily. I said that part of the Sicilians are culturally, genetically and linguistically hereditary from North Africa...as it was not a simple conquest but a cultural fusion as well as a colonization. Then I think you didn't understand almost anything of what I wrote, and honestly it's already difficult to talk about something so important and complex among Italians think with those who aren't.
@@DanielTaddone "inherited words" is correct but it also has inherited words from Spanish and French. The structure of Sicilian is still Latin based. It seems like every time there is a subject about Sicily and its origins, there are endless debates about how Sicilians should identify themselves or who are they closest related to, etc. It's not that easy of an answer given that we are a result of multi ethnic and multiculturalism like I mentioned here before. History weighs very heavy on Sicily and has always been a crossroad of civilization. One person cannot speak for all Sicily and Sicilians. The DNA and cultural influence can differ from one corner of the island to another, province to province, family to family. I agree with what you say, I am an admirer of the Arab culture, they brought sophistication and enrichment to the island indeed but one can't say that contemporary Sicily belongs mostly to the Arab or North African world. I believe Sicily a unique culture on its own. If one were to ask me about my personal background which is from the north coast of the island near the capitol city of Palermo, I would say Arab and Norman influences, not as Greek as the eastern part of the island and not as North African as the western tip of the island but with a definite Spanish influence given that nearby towns came into importance during Spanish domination and that the local dialect has many words of Spanish origin including many Spanish surnames.
Interestingly though my DNA is mostly Southern Italian, Cypriot, Greek-Albanian with a little Maltese and French.
@Daniel Taddone Who said Sicilian language has Arabic roots, bud? Spanish that has over 4000 Arabic words in its vocabulary and no one said it has Arabic roots. You gotta stop with this nonsense paranoia. The only language that has Arabic roots in that region is Maltese, which also has a big Sicilian influence.
The way TH-cam algorithm nailed this video is so frightening for me. It appeared in my TH-cam home few seconds ago.
I am Sicilian, from Ragusa (as Gaia in the video), I work in London at a famous British retailer owned partly by Arabs businessmen, I have a person who is Arabic in my office (as many other people in the business, although from different departments) and a teammate from Malta, with whom I was discussing similarities about Sicily and Malta in the past weeks!
And just few days ago I was literally thinking about the history between Sicilian and Arabic!
Anyway, glad I found this video, it's extremely interesting and I will probably show it to some of my colleagues.
Ciao Gaia!
what is most wonderful is to see 2 females smiling to each other with full of respect and understanding to each other
you are wonderful, we need more people like both of you 3 down here for sure
take care
Farid
Love this! Well done ladies 👏🏼
Awesome comparison, even the Sicilian girl her name "Gaia" in arabic "غايه " means : goal, purpose, or destination...
Gaia comes actually from ancient greek. I guess the arabis word comes from greek as well
Thank you for sharing this great video. I’m from Tunisia which is less than one hour away from Sicily and the influence goes both ways. Sicilian words have found their way into the Tunisian dialect over the centuries in the same way Arabic words have into Italian, Spanish and other languages around the Mediterranean.
Thanks for this video
Subhaanallah. Im enjoying and learninga lot here, feel like i wanna change my major now.
Very interesting! Several words also have close Spanish equivalents: chillar (shijar), ataud (tabut), mamaluco (mamluc), mezquino (miskin), ajonjolí (juljulan), guitarra (qithara), and acicalar (aziz). Interestingly, certain words in Spanish have adopted more of the Sicilian sense of the word than the Arabic, and as you can see, the Spanish spellings often involve lots of transposed letters/sounds.
I'm Sicilian and there are a lot of spanish words and a lot of spanish surname that survived throught the last centuries. Infact my town there a lot of Rodriguez, Caja, Vasquez, Perez, Ruiz and they are native Sicilian people from generations, so they surely have a spanish ancestor from the XVII century domination
That's because these Sicilian words were taken from Spanish, not from Arabic. Sicily was part of Spain far longer than it was part of the Arabic world.
@@ade910 And Alhambra is a spanish word also I presume . Arabs were in Spain also you forgetting that.
Because a lot of Arabic words transferred from Arabic when it was Andalusia.
@@ade910 are you dumb ? Spain was under the Arab rule for more than 600 years and there is more than 5000+ words in Spanish and all the words in this video are originally arabic whether you like it or not
I am a Turkish from the Black Sea. I am 43 years old. I just found out that my mother's side is Arab. The words you use are used very heavily in Turkish. I live in germany. I've always been able to make good friends with the Arabs and Sicilians here. Turks, Arabs and Southern Italians are very similar to each other. their style, their movement, their mentality. They laugh at the same things and get angry at the same things.
@Lak Turkey has a common border with Syria .
@Lak in iran there is an area called horasan. the turks came from horosan to today's turkey about 1000 years ago. arabs also live in horosan. after the conquest of persia by hz omar, the arabs came to iran/horasan to islamize the area and stayed there. after the conquest of anatolia, they came to modern-day turkey together with the turks. my maternal side is one of them. all turks come from iran. first iran was conquered and a few centuries later turkey. east turkey is very arabic. I once suspected that my mother's side could be Arabic, because they are a bit darker-skinned than an ordinary Black Sea Turk. my aunt told me last year that my great grandfather told her a long time ago that he is an arab from iran/horosan. there used to be no arabs or turks. they were a people. so muslims. so they are mixed up. nobody in my family speaks arabic but the prayers are in arabic. many can read Arabic. now they are all turks but you can also see the arabs. turkey is also the country of the muslim byzantines. east romans mostly became muslim and later turkish.
I agree with you. The southern Italians are quite similar to the Arabs and the Turks too. I think that this is due to the fact that the Italy, especially the southern side is a melting pot of cultures. I'm an Italian from the central part of the country (140 km south of Rome) and since I was 15 years old I discovered a different thing: I'm quite similar to the British and the northern European in general, I organize, I act, I laugh and I tend to eat like the southern European despite I'm Italian since generations. I'm not so impressed by that because I know, in the ancient times many people from the Northern Europe moved in the southern Italy included and they got mixed with the local people. I think this is why I feel more comfortable with English, Germans, Norwegian and the people from the Netherlands but I don't fit very well with the Mediterranean cultures (I respect everyone though).
@@mircorizza5609 che sei di frosinone fra?
You are of Mongolian origin, so there is no connection with any Middle Eastern nations. And Turkish has between 40-50 percent Arabic, Greek, Kurdish, Armenian and European words.
As an Arab, I love how my language influenced many languages in the middetearanean basin, I know there are many Arabic words all over Italy spain Portugal and even southern France to name a few. All these mixings created beautiful rich cultures all over.
There's no such thing as an "Arab." There was a religion that sprang from the Saudi peninsula, and people there spread it all over by conquest. So, those descendants can resemble any race. They always reach up for Europe, and always ignore their equally as strong DNA links to Sub-Saharan Africa. It's just like "Hispanic."
@@josephinetracy1485 sub saharan africans have nothing to do with Muslim rule of sicily history
And Arab food is one of the best in the world ;)
What's the relation?
Arabic language influenced in Hindustani language and Malay language even English.
Good work ❤
They're both EXTREMELY beautiful!!!
take an interest in the women in your area
There is always one 🙄
@@imanhamudshaaban6197 in this case there's two :D
I will cancel out the two, their beauty is worthy of comment, screw these guys
We also make Giggiulena in my hometown in Tunisia and we call it Jaljelania which sounds almost exactly the same, some of these words sound closer to the Tunisian dialect than to fosha. Like rais and dieri, rais mean sea captain and dieri means homemade, and they are pronounced exactly the same as the Sicilian pronunciation.
The same in algeria
Same also in Yemen but we say more of the g and not j also we call rais king and fisherman we also say dieri as that’s mine or that’s my doing
hahahah sicily is 200 km to tunisia and stayed 220 years under the tunisian aghlabid dynasty and before under carthage rule so their loaned words are are from Tunisians and also malta was ruled from Tunisia and they speak tunisian words and ı undertsand easily as per yemenis i think compare yourselves with asia india zanjibar that s you cultural sphere i do not know wy u sticked ur sleves to us no ararabs we are not arabs@@Imsooverit
Pretty Cool! Thank you both
Great video! My parents being from Calabria (right across Sicily) many words have Arabic origins too.
Rayes رايس in Libyan Arabic is used currently to Address Fishermen while it was used in the past to address Sailors in general (including our infamous Tripolitanian piarates! ) ...
The younger generation has lost many words used in the near past, unfortunately
Yusuf Rais (sometimes transliterated as Rayes) was Muslim name of Capt. Jack Ward the British privateer whom Capt Jack Sparrow character was based on. He was hired by the Ottoman to help the Muslims & Jews fleeing from Spain. I read that Rais taken from a name of a bird (hence Sparrow). So I guess his name Rais became synonymous/used to refer to pirates then later fishermen. Interesting.
Same here in Algeria, when we say rayes رايس it usually means fisherman or captain of a ship, not to be confused with ra'ees رئيس which means president
That was what Gaia mentioned as well.. In Morocco (which I am from) and many
other Arab countries, the meaning is the same. But, it could also addressing different
professions leaders..
same in Egypt
I'm from east coast of Sicily. My dialect variation is a merge of Arab, Spanish and Greek. Wonderful similarities and very different from Italian language. For example: girlfriend in this part of Sicily is "zita".
I heard that people from Sicily use the very polite word “Ars or Arsa” can you confirm or deny?
@@yaroubthayer-752 never heard of that, but Sicily is very big, for example I did not know the first 2 sicilian words she mentioned.
@@yaroubthayer-752 Never herd ars or arsa before
@@yaroubthayer-752 Ars or arsa can mean burning apparently but usually we use bruciari or bruciatu, there is not polite connection that I know of
@@recipeformiracle yeah that makes perfect sense. In the Levant There are words we use further inland that folks alongside the Mediterranean do not use.
THANKS FOR SHARING.....
soo lovely, thank you
Love this type of videos beginning with single words rather than whole sentences ! Easier to follow
My family is from Sicily and I always heard about how many similarities there were with arabic. Very interesting video! Also btw my family is from Ragusa as well so it meant the world to me that someone from the same city was called upon for this interview !! Much love!
They look like beautiful cousins! I noticed that Gaia often used the letter “u” where my Sicilian American family would use the letter “o”. From Ventimiglia, near Palermo. Very interesting. I’ve always felt drawn to Arabic music, language and people. This was an interesting way to see some connection. Also, their English is excellent! Grazie!
My family is from Napoli and I feel Italians in general we have some connection to them, even our family culture is similar. I have always been mistaken for middle eastern or Turkish, so we definitely look similar as well.
@@italia8647 Isn't Napoli considered the melting pot of Italy? I really enjoyed that city/area.
It's the same person, she just put on glasses, wore less makeup, used natural lighting, and pulled her hair from behind her ears. It's weird that did that just to compare languages.
@brandonjones8621 lmao are you blind? One girl looks white the other Arabic
@@Minerva-fp1zx bruh arabic is a language maybe you mean arab + they look alike, many sicilian have spanish/greek/arab dna so the fact they're similar isn't strange
الصقليون متاترين بحضارة شمال افريقيا وكانو يهاجرو اكتر شي لي تونس ومعتمدين علي الصيد والتجارة والزراعة حتي طبعهم حاليا قريب من بعض تهمهم اللمة العائلية والقيم الدينية
This is such an interesting video! I find Arabic to be such a fascinating and musical language. Thanks for sharing.
I'm a native Sicilian speaker and I didn't know a lot of these words! Thanks for letting us learn
I'm a native arabic speaker and didn't know many of these words aswell
Probabilmente perché sono andati a pescare le parole più antiche e meno usate. Cmq ce ne molte di più
@@TheSicilianMelody Ce n'è anche di più frequenti (non che parole come tabbutu e sciarra non si usino). Comunque secondo me i siciliani dovrebbero conoscerle queste parole in generale, è che bisogna che ce le insegnino. I dieri comunque sono tipici della zona dei monti Iblei, io non vengo da lì quindi non ne ho mai visto uno.
@@widmawod assolutamente d'accordo con te. Purtroppo da 70 anni a questa parte molte identità siciliane sono state oscurate dallo stato italiano. Ma per fortuna la storia non si cancella. Cmq tabbutu e sciarra nel mio dialetto si usa (catania)
@@timetraveler9518 seriously? Even I, an Indonesian, recognize many of these words in Indonesian languange.
wow super cool, I recognize them all, this is real fun, we have so much in common
I am Sicilian American and I never knew such similarities were there with Arabic. Very interesting. I wish that in addition to their native tongue, that there were a single language that all people spoke so that we can all communicate better and feel more united. The use of A.I. has now made it easy for us to communicate with instant translation as well.
Also that dessert mentioned is la giuggiulena and it's also made with orange peels. Very tasty. Just watch you don't break a tooth on it if you ever have any.
The similarity is due to Muslim invasion and colonization of Sicily, of course they left pieces of language.
@@Thingsandcosas True, but Sicily was colonized a lot of times by a lot of different cultures with a lot of different languages. The Greeks were there before the Muslims. After the Muslim invasion, Sicily was taken over by the Vikings, then the Normans, then the Spanish. The list goes on and on.
@@Kai0nTheMoon yea for sure, I get that. I’m just saying it’s not like oh wow we magically have similarities with Arabic. They came in, murdered people and forced people to convert.
never, shame on you!, unless you are Italian American.
Italic is a race, they still the same people of 2999 years ago, Last White Aryan Pure race Left, unlike the other two pure one European, Germanic and Celtic that were destroyed completely or mixed their DNA to an absurd level of disgenic cesspoolby the hordes like Africans Arabs Monglolian Slavs that never settled here in Italy ahahah (ask Adolfo, and his infinite love for Mussolini and The Italic Race) we never mixed with anyone unlike the rest of EVROPA Romans never left bozos, kiss the eagle and bow to the one and only Masterrace (Sicilian Including, definetly not Arabic you Mongrel and have some respect for that beautiful isolan white race you brownie )✋ 🦅 this Jewish platform is irrwlevwnt just like you so these video are completely trash that will never affect anyone remember that Akhmed ahahahahah you will never be white you will never be Italian
If found a Tunisian it will be so much fun because of the close geography basically that’s where Sicily got its Arabic influence.
We need more of this!! I'm from Salento (South Puglia) and our language is very similar to Sicilian
Perchè il salentino deriva dalla lingua siciliana 🙂
Not a language...just a shite dialect.
What my family refers to as my Italian side is really Sicilian. My Sicilian ancestors were from Palermo. I really don’t know much about them. Interesting to see this video. I love learning new things about the intermingling of language and culture.
I was fortunate to live in Sicily for 3 years. It was an absolutely wonderful time and I will never forget it.
This was really great. I have friends who speak Arabic, so for me it's very interesting, and peace to Iran.
Dialogue très intéressant : j'ai appris pas mal de choses malgré mon faible niveau en anglais (et sicilien).
Merci et Bravo pour l'idée.
Very interesting, God bless you all
Always I learn something new. I wasn't aware of this historical connection.
From miskin we have mezquino, in Spanish.
There are also many words in Spanish from Arabic, and here in Andalusia even more 😊
The Sicilian definition that was given here for "Ràis" is exactly the same in our Tunisian dialect, which means Sea Captain. 🇹🇳
most Sicilians don't know what rais as a root word means, I'm Sicilian and never heard that to mean sea captain, so i think iit's a stretch
My favorite episode 👍
In Algeria, the term "raïs" is used to denote a person in a position of leadership or authority. it can also refer to a captain of a boat.
Yes, that's similar...Our airport used to be called Punta Raisa....
Leader
Used same in Türkiya too.
Sicilian language and Maltese language are more similar and closer to Algerian Arabic than other arabic dialects due to historical and intercultural influences , so much so that now in present times we use a lot of words and behave in a same mannerisms
Wow
I am Persian, but I have lost my heart to Sicily. One of the most exiting and interesting places in Europa. The crossroad of many ancient civilisations and the birthplace of an unique cultural and intellectual diverse milieu.
Hello to our wonderful neighbors of iran! Im from kuwait! ❤️
I lived In Alì therme farzan my name. And Persian is more similar to European languages
Problem is Sicilian is modified now and hearing Arabic and Greek and Persian is important for us.
You're always welcome! Nothing but respect for your ancenstors and Ancient Persia ❤ One of the greatest civilization of history.
Persians ok Arabs bad
Wonderful!!!
Interesting! Marzamemi is a place located in Sicily, the origine of this word is from Arabic مرسى الحمام or Mersa Al Hemam.
In Tunisia we have the word "rayes" that means a captain of a boat and "ra-ees" which means president. We also use the word "jiljlen (juljulan)" for sesame.
And lo and behold...in Spanish, as is very well known...El "Rey" = King.
Exactly what i was going to say
in tunisia ? dude thats an arabic word lol
@@laravelanode Ra-ees yes lol but rayes is not lol, in arabic it would be qobtan lol.
@@laravelanode The meaning is different is what he's trying to say , he didn't say it's a 'Tunisian' word , he said that that word means captain of a boat in Tunisia too.
I'm from south Sardinia, we also use the words miskinu (poor guy) and tzukuru (sugar). We had many influence from spanish and catalan, infact today we still use many spanish words in sardinian language, spanish itself have so many arabic words. We mediterraneans are all related with strong ties culturally and ethnically and we must be proud of it.
So che in Sardegna non si deve mai dire "miskinu"/"mischino" (molti, offesi, rispondono: "mischino il cane!"), in quanto non avrebbe il valore compassionevole e di tenerezza che nell'Italia continentale si dà a "poverino"/"poveretto". Molti sardi (forse per natura troppo suscettibili!) lo avvertono come dispregiativo, umiliante e persino ingiurioso!
@@odrefegogenoblog7051 Anche in siciliano "mischinu" viene utilizzato in modo dispreggiativo, dipende dal contesto e dal tono.
the same temperament also
@@souadharbi4163 yeah true bro
@@odrefegogenoblog7051 vero, si dice mischinu/mischina anche per indicare negativamente una persona miserabile (malipigau/malipigada in sardo), da noi il termine più giusto per dire poveretto/a in modo compassionevole è scedau/scedada.
Wonderful 💯 now I know.
Grazie! A video Jamila Bedda ❤😅
The way how Sicilians use some words is very similar to how we talk in Tunisia. I do love the Mediterranean
Because we are all Arabs
@@arab9570 no siciliy is Byzantin Empire from greek peuple arabs colonized siciliy.
Very interesting to see the roots of these words and their origins of meaning. I’ve always been interested in the Arab language, always found the writing to be beautiful.
Anglo Maltese here recognising many of the worlds also! Fascinating and really worthwhile the Phoenicians left their language to the Maltese
My grandmother was from Sicily. Some words she would say had the "U" sound like she would say "How beautiful!" as .
Thank you for popping this video up here !
Interesting Video , thanks !
This is so interesting!! As a Maltese (our language is literally a mix of arabic & italian/sicilian with a pinch of french &english) I expected to know all these common words! - But surprisingly No!! Surely we have way way more common words with Arabic than Sicilians have, but a couple of these Sicilian/Arabic words seem to have never reached our Gzira (Jazira / Gisira) :)
Sesame is ġulġlien in Maltese and jeljelan in libya and north africa.
Cofin is tebut in maltese and tabut in arabic.
Poor is miskin in maltese and miskin in arabic.
By the way i don't speak maltease ( in libyan dialect Ana ma netkalemish bel malti)
Also dar and djar (diyar) means house and houses in maltese where in arabic means the same.
In libya it also means room and rooms.
The word Aziz in arabic similar to the maltesr Għeżież which means dear in both mt and ar.
@@hanimekat4098 A Salam alik! aiwa- jekk inta taf titkallem bl arbi, taf titkallem bil Malti! :) Kallimni bi shwejjahh u nifmek!
@@neegee82 u alikom as-salam .. Hello Chris.
Funny how can I not just understand each and every word of your kind reply but also being able to pronounce its words in almost the same they are pronounced in Libyan dialect.
Grazzi hafna
@@hanimekat4098 true, but in real life.... you'll notice that Maltese is simplified with its sounds & slow-spoken.. Arabic is more versatile, you have about 5 or so extra sounds / like Hh Khh h and the h'Ain ... And especially Libyans talk very fast in comparison... If you slow everything down to 50% ... we can communicate :)
good job
Wonderful site. The two videos I've watched, Yiddish-German and Sicilian-Arabic, are examples of the mutual influence of Caucasian and Semitic languages. Thank you so much!
They speak slavic languages in the Caucuses, not in the Mediterranean
@@user-fp2fl9ul2e ???
Thank you for explaining in English. I don't speak either language but English and Spanish. You are excellent linguists not only you command your own but also English.
That was awesome!!💜💜💜
Complimenti per questa iniziativa che unisce i lidi. La lingua maltese o siculo-arabo era parlata fino al XII secolo in Sicilia, Calabria, Pantelleria e nelle isole Kerkennah e nel resto delle isole. Inoltre, ancora oggi nel Nord della Tunisia. Le regioni di Cap Bon e Biserta continuano a utilizzare questo dialetto prehilaliano. Un altro piccolo dettaglio. Il giudaismo siciliano perpetuò il siculo-arabo fino al XV secolo nell'Italia meridionale. Sono francese di origine da una parte ebraica tunisina e livornese e dall'altra giudeo siriano. Parlo ebraico, arabo e aramaico.
A little correction, just to avoid confusion:
5:03 what she was talking about here is actually the French word "dehors" meaning "outside", which is used in Italian as a loanword to indicate what she was referring to. It's not an Italian word per se, and it's not in fact related to the Arabic root that was being examined.
It comes from Latin "de" + "foris" and it's related to the Italian word for "outside" that is "fuori".
I love the way we get to see how similar we are. If we did not have the culture difference, it would be hard to distinguish between a Hispanic (Puerto Rican or Dominican) from our Arabic neighbors. We are all a beautiful similar mix! Love to learn about the Middle East and am totally amazed at how much Spanish also is very similar. Trying to pick up Arabic. Many times l use Spanish to help me guess and getting better by watching wonderful Egyptian/ Saudi movies with subtitles. May there be peace for us all!
yub, there are more than + 4000 Words in Español coming from Arabic Directly , also identification tool, gender pronounces , features face, names, cuisines, habits also religious saying and acts (despite different religions) , also Arabic is very close to Malta language with almost things ( 40% of words are Arabic) .
That's great idea to learn about different cultures especially middle East..greetings from uk
wow your comment is very telling of your amazingness :D
Actually it’s up to 7,000 words in Spanish that are derived from Arabic
Yes Latino people especially are very similar to Arabs - especially because they are diverse looking, just like Arabs.
Also many latino people have Arabic ancestry anyways!
Great Video Man ❤
There's quite a bit of loan words from Swedish to Finnish too, although the languages aren't related AT ALL. Some of the loan words are funny, like in Swedish house is "hus", in Finnish "huussi" is an outside toilet, a traditional toilet that is a little hut outside and bit away from the main building.
Sesame seeds are called “Ajonjolí” in some Latin American countries. In other LA countries, it’s Sésamo.
Arabic has had a huge influence on otherwise Italic languages in that part of the world. An Arabic/Corsican, possibly Arabic/Sardinian or, better still, Arabic/Maltese comparison would be interesting to see.
Didn’t know that until I watched this Italian TV show that supposed to be Nepalitaion language they were speaking a lot of Arabic it was surprised
sicilly used to be under Muslim Spanish rule. no wonder they absorb Arabic language.
Maltese is very close to arabic, it can be understood by North Africans as it used mostly arabic words with english or italian words sprinkeled here and there, but it needs a bit of getting used to
My mother is a natural red head Sicilian I guess Sicily had a lot of different invasions.
@@whatelse1222 My cousins in Sicily one is blonde,
I'm from Ischia, little island in the gulf of Neaples, and there are some words with the same origin. For example miskin in arabic is mischinu in sicilian and is mischeniell in our dialect. Fantastic video and lesson.
Very interesting 😮
Very interesting 🎉
Turkish equivalents: Tabbutu: Tabut (same as Arabic), Raiz: reis (head or leader of fishermen), Aziz: aziz (holy, mostly refer to clergymen), Jurjura: Küncü (also susam), diyar: diyar (hometown, same as Arabic). Nice to see the similarities.
Because Turkish has a lot of borrowed words from Arabic and Persian. However, Turkish has much less borrowed words now since Ata Turk ordered to purify the Turkish language by removing the Arabic and Persian words, as much as they could, from Turkish but, they couldn't remove them all.
We share some vocabulary and even earthquakes... from Syria... Greetings to our Turkish brothers
@@jonam7589 I don't think all the turkish people happy with that decision however past is past let's look forward now 🤍🤍
Because Turks are ARABS.
Also the turkish food is NOT turkish.... Turkish food is original Arab, Iranian, Wallachian, Romanian, Kurdish, aramaian food.
Turks don't exists and also turkish food don't exists
@@The_Wallachian Ha ha ha ha!!! you made me laugh 😆