Joseph Aquilina

Joseph (Ġużè) Aquilina (7 April 1911 – 8 August 1997) was a Maltese author and linguist born in Munxar.

Joseph Aquilina
BornĠużè Aquilina
(1911-04-07)7 April 1911
Munxar, Malta
Died8 August 1997(1997-08-08) (aged 86)
OccupationLinguist and writer
LanguageEnglish; Maltese
Alma materUniversity of Malta
University of London

Education

Aquilina graduated first as Bachelor of Arts and later as a lawyer from the University of Malta. Between 1937 and 1940 he read comparative Semitic philology at the University of London, where he obtained a doctorate.

In 1937 Ġużè Aquilina was appointed as the first profesor of Maltese and oriental languages at the University of Malta, where he contributed in a significant manner towards the study and strengthening of the Maltese language. It was only in 1934, three years before his appointment, that the Maltese language had been declared the official language of Malta.

Career

Among the prominent posts which Aquilina held as a full-time professor at the University of Malta, was that as Dean of the Faculty of Arts.

Aquilina's numerous works include novels, philosophical essays, critical studies, drama, linguistic papers and religious books, his magnum opus being a MalteseEnglish Dictionary.

Partial bibliography

  • Teach Yourself Maltese. Teach Yourself Books, Hodder & Stoughton, London 1965; 6th impression 1985
  • A Comparative Dictionary of Maltese Proverbs, 1972
  • Papers in Maltese Linguistics. University of Malta
  • A Survey of Contemporary Dialectal Maltese (jointly with B.S. Isserlin), Gozo/Leeds 1981
  • Twemmin u Ħajja ["Faith and Life"], 1984
  • MalteseEnglish Dictionary, I-II, Midsea Books Ltd, Malta, 19871990, 1,673 pages

See also


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