Malta’s dirtiest words make it into the national dictionary

There are two certain things about summer in Malta: tourists arriving in droves… and complaints about the piles of garbage bags on pavements and general uncleanliness across the island soar.

No wonder, therefore, that ħammeġ and żibel are two of the first words debuting in the new Dizzjunarju.mt that went live earlier this month.

But ħammeġ is quite a versatile word: apart from dirtying the streets or one’s pants when sitting down on some dirty bench, one can use the same word to refer to pooping, polluting, defaming someone, or something the Maltese also excel in: to morally compromise themselves.

As with English, it is also used to mean to do manual work or get involved in dishonest activity (ħammeġ idejh). And if one falls out with someone, one could also say ħammiġha mat-tali.

Żibel is similarly versatile.

This time around, as is often the case with the Maltese language, just like the word mela, the meaning of żibel changes depending on the intonation of the speaker.

Depending on the way you say it, ġabu żibel could mean to anger and provoke someone, to humiliate and mistreat them, or to wear someone down. If one becomes żibel (sar żibel), they could have either worn themselves out or got drunk.

If you want to learn more about the word ħammeġ or żibel, check out the entries here and here, and if you think the researchers have missed out on a meaning, get in touch here. 

Dizzjunarju.mt is a free, authoritative and up-to-date reference resource that has started taking shape and went live on June 19.

It is accessible on any mobile device. It is set to become the first national digital dictionary of Maltese and is currently being developed by the Department of Maltese at the University of Malta.

It builds on the work carried out in the sector over the past decades, while remaining abreast of the current use of the language and will take years to compile.

Among others, its features include a pronunciation tab, definitions in Maltese and English equivalents, grammatical information such as which part of speech the word falls under, its plural, root (għerq) and etymology.

The site also provides information about the various meanings of a word, examples based on the natural use of the language, idioms and phrases.