On the occasion of centenary of the birth of Prof. Guzè Aquilina: 7 April 1911 – 8 August 1997
To commemorate the centenary of the birth of Ġużè Aquilina, the Circolo Gozitano in Victoria organised a Musico-Literary Evening in his honour. Contributions to the event included poems dedicated to Aquilina written by Chev. Joe M. Attard, Anton F. Attard, George Vella, and Dr Alfred Grech, a study entitled Il-Protesta Soċjali fix-Xogħlijiet ta’ Ġużè Aquilina by Carmel Cachia and talks on experiences with Prof. Aquilina by the director of Klabb Kotba Maltin Pawlu Mizzi and Dr Joe Zammit Ciantar. For this occasion, 200 special postcards, franked Ġużè Aquilina – mitt sena minn Twelidu – 1911-2011 – 7 ta’ April – MaltaPost – Victoria – Gozo were printed by the Circolo Gozitano and Munxar local council.
The following is an English translation of the talk by Dr Zammit Ciantar.
Our first meetings
I first met Prof. Ġużè Aquilina sometime in 1958 in Victoria, Gozo, at a special evening in honour of Gozitan poet, novelist, playwright and philologist Ninu Cremona on the occasion of his 80th birthday. I felt proud to go on stage and read a poem I had written in his honour. Prof. Aquilina was present and congratulated me on the poem, which was published in the Akkademja tal-Malti’s quarterly journal, Il-Malti – in a special issue dedicated to Mr Cremona. At the time, I was a 16-year-old Form V student.
I next met Aquilina in the early 1960s, at his flat in Floriana. I had written to him and he had invited me to give him some of my poems to be read during his Maltese-Literary programme Ġabra Letterarja, which used to be broadcast on Rediffusion once a week. I was once also asked to read one of my poems myself and for this contribution Prof. Aquilina gave me 50p.
Several years had to pass before our paths converged and we established a very respectful relationship.
My first studies under Prof. Aquilina
Early in 1968, the University of Malta issued calls for mature students to register for a five-year evening course leading to a Bachelor of Arts degree. It was the second of its kind. I registered for a BA (Gen.) degree in Italian and Maltese. Over the next five years, I attended the interesting and captivating lectures in Maltese literature and linguistics by the colossus of Maltese studies – Prof. Ġużè Aquilina.
Prof. Aquilina was a physically, intellectually, and scholarly dominating figure. He loved his students. During those years – because of my long-time interest in Maltese – we became respectful ‘friends’. We also got to know that there was even a blood relationship through my mother, whose family also hailed from his native Munxar.
The study of Maltese
Talking about the study of Maltese, Aquilina once confessed to me: “Soon after I graduated in law and knew that I would have to defend a criminal… I realised that I could not practise that profession! I gave it up and took up the study of the Maltese language”.
“You seem to love Maltese,” he once said to me. “Take it up seriously. Our language needs serious scholars,” he encouraged me.
My studies for an MA
I graduated BA (Gen.) in June 1973. The 60 other evening course students were privately informed of the results of the final exams by Prof. Aquilina himself, flanked by Mr Ġużè Cardona, MA and Rev. Fr Dwardu Fenech, MA. After congratulating me on my success, he suggested – and almost insisted: “You have performed quite satisfactorily. I suggest you go on with your studies for an MA in Maltese”.
Some days later I met him in his office to discuss the proposal.
The choice of a thesis
‘You could take up a subject related to Gozo,’ he suggested. ‘A linguistic study of Gozitan toponymy,’ he proposed.
This was how I was encouraged to take up further studies in Maltese, with a subject I knew practically nothing about – toponymy. But Aquilina was always helpful, an extremely supportive professor. He gave me a list of books I should read before beginning the fieldwork to collect Gozitan place-names and classify them on the model of his toponymastic study in Papers in Maltese Linguistics, Malta, 1961.
I soon became absorbed reading about place-names. With my wife supporting me in every way, I used to cross over to Gozo most weekends, leaving her and our two children with my parents, and drive from village to village collecting nomenclature from men who knew so much that they could even help notaries trace undocumented names. Aquilina was thrilled with my growing collection; he was my tutor and was overseeing the progress on my thesis during weekly meetings at his home in Balzan.
Who is Mr …?
One fine day I presented him some material I had prepared. In it I had cited the occurrence of the prefix ‘ħal’ for ‘raħal’ in Gozo. Aquilina himself cites this word in his Papers in Maltese Linguistics. From material I had been reading, I gathered that the word had once been used for the village of Xewkija. Aquilina was stunned. I quoted the name of a person who used to write profusely on Gozo, as the source of my information.
“Who is this author?” asked Aquilina.
“He is Mr …”.
“Who is Mr …?” insisted Aquilina.
“You must know this person, professor,” was my second answer, believing Aquilina really wanted some further explanation. “He is well known for his contributions on Rediffusion,” I added.
“But, who is he…?” insisted Aquilina, again – assertively.
I was confused and hesitated to answer! After thinking about it, I realised that Aquilina was making a point: I should quote only scholarly-researched sources. I learned the lesson. Eventually, I even corrected his ‘ħal’ in his study and ‘deleted’ its existence in Gozo; it simply did not and does not exist among Gozo’s place-names.
Aquilina was happy with my thesis, which helped me graduate MA cum laudae in Maltese in 1978. My external examiner was Prof. J.B. Isserlin from Leeds University. Aquilina even cited most of the Gozitan place-names from my thesis in his monumental Maltese-English Dictionary, Vol. I (A-L), Malta, 1987, and Vol. II (M-Z), Malta, 1990, published by Klabb Kotba Maltin.
Later on, Aquilina disclosed to me: “You should know that a University scholar who is interested in the study of Maltese toponymy did not want to allow you take up the subject for your MA thesis. He and someone else in the senate strongly opposed your thesis. I fought hard to convince the senate that nobody should monopolise any field of study. I was right, and your thesis is proof enough of my conviction.”
A study on ‘Ta’ Sannat’ and ICOS
Sometime in the late 1970s, I researched the origins of the name ‘Ta’ Sannat’. The fact that we Gozitans always cite the name with the possessive ‘ta’, while Maltese refer to the same village by ‘Is-Sannat’ pushed me to set out on a comprehensive study of the possible origins of the village name. Before sending the final version of the study for publishing, I asked Prof. Aquilina to ‘read’ it for me. I waited and waited for his comments, which never came.
Then one day I received the proofs of my study, already set for publication, from the publishing house of the internationally acclaimed journal Onoma, published by the International Committee of Onomastic Sciences [ICOS], then in Florence. I contacted Aquilina about this.
“Yes, I found your study very good and very interesting. I decided to send it directly for publication and, in the meantime, I also nominated you as a member of the renowned ICOS.” This was in 1980 and since then I have attend and presented studies on toponymy at the ICOS meetings held every three years and attended by several hundreds of members from all over the world.
Meetings at his home in Balzan
My meetings with Aquilina at literary evenings became frequent since, as president of Grupp Awturi, I used to organise such activities and once even directed his play Arbli fuq il-Bjut. We also used to meet at activities held by the Akkademja tal-Malti. Our meetings at his home in Balzan also became frequent. We used to talk about everything. As soon as I arrived, his wonderful, patient and always smiling wife, the saintly Bice, would lead me to his office, where he would be sitting comfortably in an arm chair. He would soon call her to bring ‘Joe’ a drink. As soon as she arrived with a soft drink, he would ask for a biscuit to accompany the drink.
“How cheeky of him!” she once exclaimed. “Ja brikkun li hu! You know why he asks for biscuits for you? It is because he is diabetic – and he takes the opportunity to have a biscuit or two with you, too.”
“Well…’ Aquilina said smilingly, “With all the studying we do, should we be deprived of the pleasure of some good things to eat!?”
The Maltese-English Dictionary
During one of those meetings, Aquilina asked me for my views on the presentation of the material in his forthcoming Maltese-English Dictionary. He gave me photocopies of some pages with corrections on them and we discussed the insertions in caps, in bold, the margins and the main and secondary insertions. At one point I asked him who would be publishing the dictionary. He gave me the impression that he had not yet decided. He commented that it needed a lot of money. He chuckled and murmured: “Issa naraw! Now we’ll see!” Eventually I learnt that the setting of the pages I was shown were from Volume I, which was being carried out by Klabb Kotba Maltin.
Il-Miklem Malti and Aquilina
As soon as the first volume of Erin Serracino Inglott’s Il-Miklem Malti had been published, a discussion among authors arose about his arbitrary decisions on the spelling of some words, including those derived from Italian, beginning with the ‘s impura’. At a meeting in the building of the Old University in Valletta, Prof. Aquilina and Mr Serracino Inglott aired their views about how they looked at decisions on the orthography of certain words and at one point, Erin pointed at Aquilina and observed: “It’s all your fault. You are to blame if I had to decide on the spelling of some words which do not please you. During your time as Chair of Maltese (and Oriental Studies) at the University of Malta, you never took a decision on how some words should be written in Maltese.”
Prof. Aquilina reiterated: ‘It is precisely because I occupy the Chair of Maltese at the University of Malta that I never dared pronounce decisions against the current spelling of many words in Maltese. I wanted to give an example – nobody, not even someone who is occupying the Chair of Maltese at our University, should abuse his position and meddle with our language.”
The Kunsill tal-Malti
Between 1989 and 1994, I helped in the public relations office of Education Minister Dr Ugo Mifsud Bonnici, who was at the time contemplating establishing a Kunsill tal-Malti.
“The Akkademja tal-Malti has enthusiastic members but few are academics. And we need to have the decisions on orthography legalised by being published in The Government Gazette,” he explained to me when I emphasised that the Akkademja was a historically established society that could still make the necessary decisions regarding the new words ‘invading’ our language.
During one meeting, Aquilina – who knew I was on loan to the Education Ministry – spoke to me in an almost sad tone. “Would you ever have expected that an Opposition member should come to ask for my professional advice about the proposed Kunsill tal-Malti, while the Government side would completely ignore me? I really feel hurt, Joe.”
I could do nothing but keep my mouth shut. I could not even disclose that I was almost against the establishment of such a council – as I still am today (although there was a time when I put much hope in it!).
Healthy scholarly debates
Aquilina strongly respected any opinion, be it on religion – which he confessed outright even in the press – or on Maltese, where he knew absolutely nobody could ‘beat’ him. He really appreciated a scholarly opposition to his linguistic views as published or presented during lectures and talks. In fact he even encouraged students to indulge in healthy discussions that would help improve the knowledge of our beautiful language. Moreover, he used to stress that studies on the Maltese language should be written in English.
“Not too many Maltese read about our language. Besides, studies written in English – like mine – help put our language on the map of world languages.”
Wirjiet ta’ Awturi Maltin
During my years in the Education Ministry, among other responsibilities, Dr Ugo Mifsud Bonnici appointed me to head the International Literacy Year Committee. One of the activities I organised, with his blessing and much to his satisfaction, was the Wirjiet Awturi Maltin. Aquilina was very happy with this monthly event, which included one about him and his works. He expressed his satisfaction to me about the fact that “Today, Maltese authors are receiving the recognition they deserve.”
My last meetings with him
at his home in Balzan
As far as I remember, it must have been sometime in April or May 1997 and we were in his office in Balzan. As we were discussing some aspect of Maltese, Ġużè looked up at me and asked: “What are your priorities?”
“After my family, it is the on-going study of anything about Malta and the Maltese language,” I answered.
“And where is God for you?”
“Of course, He comes first,” was my reply. “There is no doubt about that for me…”
“I am prepared, Joe,” he said. “I have already packed my luggage”.
It was the last time we met. Soon afterwards he fell sick, so sick that when I went to see him, Mrs Aquilina told me he was asleep and it was better not to wake him.
Unfortunately, Prof. Ġużè Aquilina passed away when I was abroad, the following August.
No scholar has as yet filled the huge void he left behind. However, he also left behind a wealth of studies on our national language, which helped establish the foundations of its true scholarship.