Place Names And Surnames In Malta's Medieval History is the theme of a lecture by Godfrey Wettinger in the next series organised by Din l-Art Helwa.

Prof. Wettinger will underscore the fact that ever since the time of Commendatore Abela, historians have used random references to Maltese place names to illustrate their reconstructions of medieval history.

In this way they have spun all kinds of legends and tales rendering honour to Malta and to the Maltese and making the past more vivid by lending a sense of place to the nation's collective memory.

More recently, with the greater professional understanding of the real significance of place names, surnames and nicknames, a radical revision set in. Prof. Wettinger has devoted most of his life precisely to this sector of history. Professor Emeritus at the University of Malta where he still lectures, Prof. Wettinger has authored The Jews Of Malta In The Late Middle Ages; Slavery In The Islands Of Malta And Gozo and Place Names Of The Maltese Islands Ca. 1300-1800 as well as a long list of papers, several of which made a strong impact on the history of Malta, especially The Militia List Of 1419.

Other publications include Clerical Concubinage; Lost Villages and Popular Attitudes To The Government Of The Order and Agriculture In Malta In The Late Middle Ages. In 1968, he co-authored with Fr Michael Fsadni, Peter Caxaro's Cantilena, a poem in medieval Maltese and in 1993 he published in Palermo the minutes and other documents of the medieval town council of Malta.

The lecture will be held on Thursday at 6 p.m. at the offices of Din l-Art Helwa, 133, Melita Street, Valletta. Members of the public are to be seated by 5.45 p.m. Admission is free.