Surnames of Sicilian origin
I am no expert on Maltese surnames (‘What’s in a surname?’, John Galea, October 30) but the first question I would have about their coats of arms is whether these were “invented” in Malta or whether they are of Sicilian/Italian origin?
I ask this because when you visit Sicily and southern Italy, you notice that most of our surnames are not only of Sicilian or southern Italian origin but also that, somewhere along the way, we have dropped the last letter or two from some of the original ones.
So, just north of us, you’ll find Zammitti, Zammitta, Agiusa, Mangione, Attardi, Attardo, Stilone, etc.
We have also slightly altered the name of some villages. In some old maps, my village of
Attard is labelled Attardo.
Albert Cilia-Vincenti – Attard
Lights off at danger point
The pedestrian traffic lights between Fortizza and Preluna on Sliema’s Tower Road have been out of action for two weeks now. This is a heavily used pedestrian crossing, being the only safe point to get across Tower Road between the lights at Fond Għadir and the next crossing beyond the Regina Hotel construction mess further along Tower Road.
Moreover, in this tourist dependent country, guests staying at the Preluna use it all the time.
Does somebody (else) have to be mown down by the usual speeding car coming, invisibly, around the corner before somebody, hopefully, takes some action? After all, should pedestrians get splattered on the road it would also slow down the all-ruling traffic, so it would seem to be in everybody’s interest to fix these lights.
Anna Micallef – Sliema
Well past its use-by date
So it came to pass, according to a notice stuck on the glass behind the door of the Job Centre in Zachary Street, Valletta, wherein the said Job Centre informed its clients and shareholders that the Valletta Job Centre “will be closed for the public until further notice as of Monday, 18th June 2018”.
Stuck in the past.And it also came to pass that the said notice is still stuck on the glass behind the door of the Job Centre in Zachary Street, Valletta nearly four-and-a-half years later, in the year of Our Lord 2022.
Can the Job Centre kindly give a job to someone to remove that notice? I am sure it is well past its ‘use by date’.
Joseph Cachia – St Paul’s Bay