Maltese: ckejken

[clevermizo]

So I've decided to start learning Maltese, and I'm acquiring a number of materials, such as a translation of Le Petit Prince, titled "c-Ckejken Princep" ([tsh-tshkeiken printshep]).

Does anyone know the etymology of the word ckejken which means "small" in Maltese? It doesn't seem to be an Arabic root, or else I can't think of what it is. The word for big kbir is clearly of Arabic origin. For Arabic small Saghiir I would expect a form like sgħir in Maltese.

It is also not the Sicilian word for small nicu or picciriddu and Standard Italian has piccolo.

In fact it looks a lot like Spanish chico< Lat. ciccum(?) but the sound change and the final -n puzzle me.

It almost looks like an Arabic diminutive applied to the Latin root, but I'm still mystified as to which Italian dialect or Romance language in general this came through. The Arabic diminutive, not particularly productive in modern times, is CuCayyaC where C represents a root consonant.

If it came from a form *ciccu, then I'd expect *cikayyaku>*ckejk(u?) as the geminate would be split when making the diminutive. This is plausible but doesn't explain the nasal.

Any thoughts? Do any southern Italian dialects use (or have they used in the past) a word for small that looks like *ciccu but hopefully with a nasal at the end (*ciccono?)? Could it have come through Iberian (Spanish, etc.)?

 

[Masjeen]

امجكنن
emjaknan
small
؟؟؟

skeron =small
صغیرون​

 

[sokol]

In fact it looks a lot like Spanish chico< Lat. ciccum(?) but the sound change and the final -n puzzle me.
...
If it came from a form *ciccu, then I'd expect *cikayyaku>*ckejk(u?) as the geminate would be split when making the diminutive. This is plausible but doesn't explain the nasal.

I don't speak a Semitic language but I think you could be on something here - of course I too only can guess.

The nasal should be the least with which we should concern ourselves here - to change final -m to -n is a well-known feature in Italian dialects of the Adriatic (definitely Venetian which influenced Slavic - Slovenian and Croatian - coastal dialects who have it too; and even if other Italian dialects would not have this process it is easily imaginable that the seafaring Venetian nation passed it on to the Maltese).

So I think we should first concentrate on wether Spanish "chico" indeed has a Latin root *ciccum or similar (I haven't the resources at hand to check on that). (Or if not Latin then a Southern Italian dialect, as you suggest, or even Venetian dialect could be relevant, probably.)

 

[clevermizo]

I don't speak a Semitic language but I think you could be on something here - of course I too only can guess.

The nasal should be the least with which we should concern ourselves here - to change final -m to -n is a well-known feature in Italian dialects of the Adriatic (definitely Venetian which influenced Slavic - Slovenian and Croatian - coastal dialects who have it too; and even if other Italian dialects would not have this process it is easily imaginable that the seafaring Venetian nation passed it on to the Maltese).

So I think we should first concentrate on wether Spanish "chico" indeed has a Latin root *ciccum or similar (I haven't the resources at hand to check on that). (Or if not Latin then a Southern Italian dialect, as you suggest, or even Venetian dialect could be relevant, probably.)

Actually the nasal I think is important to consider. Vulgar Latin or Classical Latin I don't think had appreciable impact on the development of Arabic dialects in Sicily and Malta. By the period we would consider (the 11th century onwards), the final -m in the word ciccum would definitely have been lost, I think in almost all Romance languages. The Latin final -um becomes null, -o, -u, etc. So there would have been no -m to become -n.

Now, ciccum does exist according to the RAE, which lists it as the etymology of the word chico (Sp. "small"). It glosses the Latin word ciccum as being something of "little worth." I don't know Latin myself, but it doesn't gloss it as Vulgar Latin, so I assume it's a classical word?

Now, -in(o) is a possible Romance diminutive (Port. inho, Sp. -ín), so I can imagine a Romance word of the form *cicchino (using Italian orthography to represent [tshik ki no]) which would be analogous to the Spanish chiquito, which is a very common diminutive.

That would make ckejken the dimunitive of a diminutive! This is not unlikely. I've heard my mom add extra diminutive suffixes and utter things like "chiquitito" or "chiquitín" where -in is another possible diminutive.

I think I'm right about this now that I work it out more, but what I need is the data that some Italian dialect or nearby Romance dialect influencing Maltese has or used to have a word like *cicchino, cicco, etc. which means/meant "little/small."

 

[sokol]

Well yes you're right, if there wasn't an -m left to turn into -n then of course the nasal should be considered. So this leaves - if etymology indeed were Romance - your other guess, the double diminutive:

That would make ckejken the dimunitive of a diminutive! This is not unlikely.

And yes, that happens often enough: diminutive words often take a second diminutive as soon as the first one looses its significance as a diminutive (which might have been the case when the Maltese loaned the word, that is: if they loaned it, of course ) - so it would be perfectly reasonable, from a Maltese point of view, to add yet another diminutive, the Arabic one.

I like your theory, but of course I cannot confirm it. It would indeed be nice to have more evidence from Italian dialects.

 

[shawnee]

It may be just the symmetrical phrasing but the term "Ckejken - ([tsh-tshkeiken" reminds me of the Turkish word for small 'küçük' I know the Maltese fought off the Turks, but in that seafaring part of the world linguistic borrowings were rife.

 

[Kumpel]

See Ġabra entry for ċkejken
ċkejken · Ġabra

The root is apparently ċ-k-n which gives also ċokon (smallness, humility, insignificance) and ċekkun (a small infant, usually at the babbling stage).

FYI Maltese does also have the word zgħir for small.

 

[djara]

Another possible source could be Berber, an important component of Maghrebian Arabic dialects. I'm thinking more particularly of a possible metathesis (plus the Arabic diminutive) of akcic, pl. ikcicen (the c stands for the sound 'sh').
The following is from Dictionnaire des racines berbères communes by Mohand Akli Haddadou

"337 KC ekcec « être petit, être jeune » ssekcec « rendre petit » tekcec « petitesse, jeunesse » akcic, pl. ikcicen « petit, jeune, enfant » fém. takcict, pl. tikcicin (Wrg) akcic, fém. takcict « petit » et dans l’expression lεid takcict « petite fête, fête de l’aïd el fitr » (Mzb)12 aqcic, pl. arrac « enfant mâle, jeune garçon, adolescent » fém. taqcict, pl. tiqcicin (K)"