/library/oar/handle/123456789/26550 2025-11-14T11:36:55Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/27620 Title: 'Santa Nefissa' nella letterature Italiana del '500 Abstract: This article, written by Giovann Battista Pellegrini talks about 'Santa Nevissa', often mentioned in authors of the '500 who write in language or dialect (Venetian). The author delves deeper into this subject to try and find out through past writings if Santa Venissa was an imaginary Saint invented by writers (especially Europeans who resided in the Islamic East) or perhaps the Holy Nefissa is not an imaginary creation, an invention burlesque of Tuscan-Venetian writers and playwrights, but a real call - now dimmed and distorted - of the well-known 'Sayyida' Muslim. 1977-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/27619 Title: The career of Mustafa Ibrahim 'Ajaj' : a giant of Egyptian popular literature Abstract: For about a thousand years, perhaps even longer, Arab creativity has found outlets not only in lofty compositions retaining the syntax (if not always the vocabulary) of the language in which the Quran was revealed, but also in the coining of proverbs, the singing of songs, the recitation of poems, the telling of tales, and the presentation of rather rudimentary playlets and puppet shows, all in the local dialects. Yet the immensely powerful and constant attachment of Arab intellectuals to their 'classical' language was such that only texts couched in this idiom were deemed worthy of serious attention, and it is these alone that Arab scholars and Orientalists alike habitually call 'Arabic literature' without further qualification. Anything expressed in the colloquial, when not openly scorned, was looked upon as mere entertainment; more often than not the text went unrecorded, the artistry unrecognized, the author unremembered. Modern Arabs have altered their attitude to the language quite substantially in some respects, but - perhaps for the very reason that they are caught up in momentous social and intellectual changes - only a handful of scholars amongst them have begun to give serious attention to this 'popular literature' which they are used to treating with more familiarity than respect. In this article, the author explores the career of Mustafa Ibrahim 'Ajaj. At least one of his publications is claimed to be descended from the Prophet through Al-Husayn. Either because he was not endowed with a good singing voice or because he was entitled to a higher social status, 'Ajaj was never a professional performer, but he was a prolific pen-and-paper versifier. 1977-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/27611 Title: Protestant Maltese bible translation : 1870-1872 Abstract: One may synthesize the result of this brief survey thus. In 1870 a group of people bent on Protestant evangelization through Bible distribution without any philological or literary interest, as was the case in the first half of the century, decided to publish a new translation (or rather a far reaching revision of the previous one) in Maltese of the Scriptures, starting with one of the Gospels. The project had the full support of the BFBS and a number of private subscribers. Paul Bonavia undertook the revision of the text of the New Testament edited by M.A. Camillen in 1847. He 'simplified' the orthography and style making it more accessible - or so he thought - to the general public. Only St. Matthew, Si. John and Acts were published. Because of the limited literacy of the people and Catholic opposition to Scriptures without notes success was limited. It was the merit of Bonavia, however, to have worked with the sole purpose of bringing the Bible to the people for its own sake without ulterior motives of a literary or philological nature as such. No such activity, except for the reprints of 1895 and 1912 was ever undertaken in this field before 1914, when fresh translations were made on the initiative of Dr. G. Wisely, then the minister of the Church of Scotland in Valletta for many years. The last attempt from the Protestant side was the publication of the New Testament by the Trinitarian Bible Society in 1971, being a revised text of Saydon's translation. At the end of the century however, Maltese Catholics started to take Bible Translation in earnestness; in fact by 1936 the whole Bible was translated into Maltese. Such activity has been going on until the present day. In 1959, Prof. P.P. Saydon finished his translation of the whole Bible from the Original Hebrew and Greek and in 1975 the New Testament was published by the Catholic Malta Bible Society in the common, but not less polished language of the people, cultured and uncultured alike. 1977-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/27610 Title: Introduction Abstract: The introduction to the 11th volume of the Journal of Maltese Studies, is dedicated to Guze Aquilina. Daniel Massa writes that it was Guze Aquilina's hard work that has helped create links at the University of Malta for the Maltese language and other Semitic languages. He also emphasizes on the fact that Guze Aquilina's dedication towards the Maltese language and literature has helped the language to grow and become one of the most fruitful of all in the University of Malta. 1977-01-01T00:00:00Z