Miken

"Il Cantilena" is the oldest known literary text in the Maltese language. It dates from the 15th century (no later than 1485, the death of its author, and probably from the 1470s) but was not found until 1966 or 1968 by Prof. Godfrey Wettinger and Fr. M. Fsadni (OP). more...

Home
All Star Game
Anaheim Angels
Arizona Diamondbacks
Atlanta Braves
Autographs-Original
Baltimore Orioles
Baseball & Softball Items
Accessories
Apparel & Footwear
Balls
Bats
Baseball - Adult & High...
DeMarini
Easton
Louisville Slugger, TPX
Other Brands
Worth
Baseball - Wood
Baseball - Youth
DeMarini
Easton
Louisville Slugger, TPX
Other
Other Bats
Softball - Fastpitch
DeMarini
Easton
Miken
Other
Worth
Softball - Slowpitch
DeMarini
Easton
Louisville Slugger, TPX
Miken
Mizuno
Other Brands
Worth
Batting Gloves
Equipment Bags
Gloves & Mitts
Other Items
Protective Gear
Training Aids
Boston Red Sox
Chicago Cubs
Chicago White Sox
Cincinnati Reds
Cleveland Indians
Colorado Rockies
Defunct Teams
Detroit Tigers
Florida Marlins
Houston Astros
Kansas City Royals
Los Angeles Dodgers
Milwaukee Brewers
Minnesota Twins
Minors
Montreal Expos
Negro Leagues
New York Mets
New York Yankees
Oakland Athletics
Other
Other MLB Items
Philadelphia Phillies
Pittsburgh Pirates
Playoffs
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants
Seattle Mariners
St. Louis Cardinals
Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Texas Rangers
Toronto Blue Jays
Washington Nationals
World Series

"Il Cantilena" is a poem attributed to Pietru Caxaro. It was recorded by Caxaro's nephew, Brandano, in his notarial register (Dec. 1533 -- May 1563).

Text

Original orthography

This is the text of the Cantilena in the original orthography:

Modern orthography

Maltese orthography was not standardised until the 20th century; there were many variant spelling conventions in texts written before this time.

In modern orthography, the text would be:

An approximate English translation

Notes

This text contains nearly exclusively Arabic, Semitic morphemes (word-roots). The only non-Arabic, non-Semitic word is vintura "luck", sometimes translated into English as fate, from Sicilian, which has been kept in this English translation to highlight its difference.

In general, early Maltese texts contain very little non-Semitic vocabulary; even in later texts, poetry tends to use more Semitic word-stock than general language use.

Read more at Wikipedia.org