In her article ‘Embracing our roots’ (The Sunday Times of Malta, January 28) Anna Marie Galea wrote that “we shouldn’t try to make ourselves a second- rate of someone else”, and that’s exactly what she was doing when she compared us with those who gave us our language (The Phoenicians).
Malta was always a part of Europe and the first inhabitants of the Maltese islands were Sicilians. Our language was imposed on us by the invaders during their domination of the islands. The Mexicans speak Spanish, but are the Mexicans Spanish? That’s where Ms Galea got it all wrong.
The surnames of the majority of Maltese people are Sicilian and Italian, and the further one searches in the archives the more extinct Italian surnames of Maltese people one finds. Proof of this is our religion, which we have always embraced. It isn’t by coincidence that we were and still are staunch Christians. We have always kept our distance from the enemies of our faith.
If the Ottomans had defeated us in the Great Siege Ms Galea would today be wearing a hijab or a burka. When a foreigner makes enquiries about our language one should answer by saying: “The Phoenicians gave us our language during their domination of Malta, but we are not Lebanese, we are Maltese and proud to be so.”