Ut Vulgo Dicitur Pre-1600 materials for a documented Etymology of Maltese

Abstract

Karissime Gotifride! Exactly thirty years ago, you started your pioneering paper on Maltese surnames- The Militia List of 1419-20 - with the prophetic utterance: "It is hardly likely that Maltese history will ever have its Domesday Book providing it with the sort of information on the Middle Ages that it so greatly needs". In that work and in subsequent publications, you went on to unearth very precious details on the identity of our forefathers that had gone unnoticed for centuries even by outstanding researchers that came before you. Your tenacity in pursuing similar lines of investigation gave the Maltese people the earliest sample of the written language and now your magnum opus on the place names of these islands is eagerly awaited. It will be a fitting gift for the new millennium. In order to produce this work, for decades you ploughed tirelessly through and sifted mountains of dusty notarial registers deftly picking a 'leaf' here and a 'leaf' there which, woven and blended together, form a massive corpus of thousands of references grounding each toponym and micronym soundly in its historical perspective.