Mark Bugeja, Pembroke
It’s Ewro, not euro
I have just read the document issued by the National Council for the Maltese Language entitled ‘Report of the National Council for the Maltese Language on the Name of the European Currency in Maltese, Ewro’ published in 2005. In this report it was established that the Maltese word for the euro currency is to be ewro.
However, although Maltese is one of the official languages of the European Union, unlike the Greek euro coins which carry the Greek word ευρω our €1 and €2 coins do not feature the officially approved Maltese word ewro, but euro. Shouldn’t our coins be minted with the correct word in Maltese?
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Norman E Grech
Jan 29th, 22:32
I totally Agree!!
Although Euro is not English anyway! Remember that almost all English words were stolen from other languages.. And that's a fact.
Peter Murray
Jan 29th, 19:37
How about Maltese Lira or Maltese Pound -as both of these appeared to be functioning perfectly well?
Norman E Grech
Jan 30th, 11:04
?????????????
Maltese pound? We never had a pound!!! It was ALWAYS a lira!!
And anyway, we're talking about the Ewro!!
Peter Murray
Jan 29th, 19:37
How about Maltese Lira or Maltese Pound -as both of these appeared to be functioning perfectly well?
Peter Murray
Jan 29th, 12:28
However you spell it, "disaster " and "defunct" will eventually look and sound the same in any language-as this currency undoubtedly is- or is soon to be!
Joseph Sammut
Jan 29th, 11:08
I don't agree: what's wrong with Euro. Why do we have to convert everything to Maltese. Most times these conversions are phonetic exercises which are ridiculous, e.g. futbol. If we don't have the equivalent Maltese word, we should leave it as is.
Mr Tony Gatt
Jan 29th, 11:32
Apparently someone decided in the past one can't have two vowels together in Maltese. We shall get the pundits to explain, no doubt.
Wally Vella-Zarb
Jan 29th, 12:15
"If we don't have the equivalent Maltese word, we should leave it as is"
Fair enough. However, in this case we do have an equivalent word that conforms with the orthography rules of our phonetic language. that word is EWRO. This conforms more closely to the way that the name of the currency is spoken (as in Italian, for example), where the sound is identical to the one in Maltese). If we were to pronounce it similarly to English, French, Spanish, German, etc., we would need to spell it as JURO - which would look rather silly I think.
Ramon Casha
Jan 30th, 05:42
We DO have the equivalent Maltese word, "ewro". All Maltese coins have a glaring spelling mistake and it's an embarrassment.
Saviour Sam Agius
Jan 30th, 16:17
We can have two vowels together. However, when two vowels appear together they are pronounced as two separate syllables, such as po-é-ta, te-á-tru, re-al-tà, etc. (poeta, teatru & realtà)
So euro would be read as e-u-ro, not as ewro. If you want to say éw-ro you have to write ewro.
That's why we write (and say):
ewropew -> ew-ro-péw
but
ateu -> á-te-u
Elaine Manduca
Feb 16th, 13:39
In Maltese we say and write "L-Ewropa". This is not a "ridiculous phonetic exercise". Therefore, the name is EWROpa - ewro.