The Maltese Luzzu | Malta's Horizon | Torri

[@sanchoodell6789]

I'm an *Arab* from Tunisia and can understand him perfectly (despite some Italian pollution)! These boatmen form the "weakest link" between the *Arab* world and Malta (and consequently Europe) maintaining Maltese as part of the *Arabic* dialect continuum. From the Hijaz, Levantine, Egyptian, Azadigh, Maghrebian, Tunisian, Tunisian coastal isles and *Malta* completes the *Arab* picture. This particular fishing boat was taking the body of a Maltese fisherman who died "at sea" to its resting place. His corpse is shrouded and held in a cofin and will be released into the sea for "burial-at-sea" traditional Maltese (& Tunisian) funery tradition. Many Maltese like to be buried this way as it frees up cemetery space on the island, its more romantic and many people have a spiritual connection to the sea. I'm Tunisian and it always brings a smile to my face hearing these people speak (despite Italian pollution) in their dialect. Its almost Tunisian *Arabic* (with some Italian pollution) As a youngster, myself and my family would often spend many a summer vacation popping over to Malta on the *Arab* ferry which is very close to us via the Tunisian coastal islands. I would often see the Maltese fishermen bobbing up and down in their quaint little fishing vessels chattering away among themselves in what I can only describe as their (almost) quaint sounding dialect of Tunisian Arabic (with Italian pollution) and could understand them often. They and our own Tunisian fishermen would often "island hop" between mainland Tunisia, the coastal islands, Gozo and Malta proper and as a result, maintained a dialect continuum between the two dialects or "languages" of Maltese and Tunisian Arabic🇹🇳🧡🇲🇹 *THE ARABS LAID VERY DEEP DEEP ROOTS DOWN IN MALTA AND IT SHOWS IN THIS VIDEO FOOTAGE*