Rival Comment of the Week
Published:
May 29, 2010 at 6:13pm
Cheap at the price
Dandy
Having a baby is referred to by many Maltese as “Tixtri tarbija”. All well and good – a harmless euphemism, but this midwife comes out of the delivery room and tells the nervous father: “Il-mara xtrat tifla; seven pounds”. Overjoyed, the father replies “Fejn inhallas jekk joghgbok?”
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Nice one. Was he paying in euros?
[Daphne – This would have been in the days when we used the lira.]
This is a true story. It happened at St. Luke’s Hospital in the early 80s during the doctors’ strike; except that the father gave the midwife Lm10 and told her to keep the change.
Charlie,you confused the issue a bit. Is it true or partly true?
I knew it was true. Instead, the father of the newborn told her, ”Heqq, issa x’ha naghmel, m’ghandiex flus fuqi”. Name, nickname and address provided.
biex qed tiskantaw? X’fiha hazin li talli kollox ikun mar sew lil midwife jaghtuha Lm10? XI dnub? Xi skandlu? Affarijeit li anke jien minn qalbi u bla ma qaluli ghamiltom. Hekk ghandhu jkun. ma jfissirx li qed thallas lil Midwife. qed taghtiha rigal minn qalbek. Xi ksur tal-ligi dan?
After the mother gives birth without complications people say ‘Kellha hlas tajjeb’. I wonder why.
[Daphne – ‘Hlas’ as in ‘helset’ or ‘halset? The first seems obvious, but the second would fit in nicely and amusingly with ‘xtrat tarbija’.]
People in Gozo, Mellieha and possibly other places, used to refer to the midwife as ‘Il-majjistra’ as well as ‘il-qabla’.
Baptism was within 24 hours of birth and the mother stayed home in bed for something like 7 days sipping brodu tat-tigieg.
Babies were normally delivered at home in the spare bedroom and then the mother would be put up in the nicer matrimonial bedroom where the baptism ‘festin’ would be held.
Kokkudina (hot chocolate), biskuttini tar-rahal and other traditional sweet meats were served.
I would think that Maltese ‘ħeles’ must derive from the Arabic خلص ‘heles’ meaning ‘get rid of’, ‘clear’, ‘redeem’, ‘finish’ ‘free oneself of’; hense ‘ħallas’ and ħelset.
I would think that Maltese ‘ħeles’ must derive from the Arabic خلص ‘heles’ meaning ‘get rid of’, ‘clear’, ‘redeem’, ‘finish’ ‘free oneself of’; hence ‘ħallas’ and ħelset.
Many Arabic-speakers punctuate their sentences with the word halas, meaning it’s done, we’re ready, its over, no problem, easy as pie.
I believe that “il-majjistra and “il-qabla” were in common usage all over Malta. Lactating women were given LACTO as a vitamin B fortifier to their breast milk with the consequences that the baby slept very well during the night as it imbibed some alcohol from this beer.
Both our lads were born in a British Naval Maternity Hospital and stout beer was also given to mothers as a vitamin B fortifier. Lacto is our answer to the Irish Guinness – both stout, strong and rich in quality. Another fortifier was ‘Wincarnis’ commonly known as ‘Wine Karnez’ by people who say irkotta.
I’ve always wondered why we use “tixtri tarbija”. Do you have any explanation for that?
Personally, I am inclined to think it’s an easy way of explaining where babies come from to the kids, i.e. instead of referring to sexual intercourse, the baby was “bought”. Similar to the “baby was brought by a stork” story.
[Daphne – More class distinctions, I’m afraid; din bhal tar-rikotta. Xtrat tarbija: working class. Kellha tarbija/kellha baby/weldet: l-ohrajn]
So birthrates should be picking up after the ban on spring hunting, right?
No, not really. We’ve been told that most hunters are succumbing to severe depression, which we all know has links to impotency.
Daphne – Jekk bil-Malti, mela “kellha bejbi”. (Yes, believe it or not, “bejbi” is actually listed as a word in a Maltese dictionary … closely followed by “bejbisiter”. Seriously.
I despair.
Oh, and the plural for “bejbi”? Bejbis!
I believe it’s only a euphemism to avoid having to explain to siblings where their latest brother/sister came from. Very often, people in villages only say the one word ‘xtrat’, being enough to mean ‘she gave birth’; one instance of Maltese being sometimes more efficient than English. Adding any direct object gives the phrase its other ‘to buy’ meaning.
Ahjar milli tghid ‘ ferrghet’ – dik nerfghuha ghall-hanzira
And then there’s “bedgawn”…
Iva, fl-antik kellhom il-post tal-hlas (birthplace) fid-djar. Kienu jkunu fl-gholi ma jmurx ikun hemm xi tifel zghir u jara lil ommu twelled lil huh jew il l-ohtu.
Imbghad kienu jmorru Hal Qormi biex jirringrazzjaw il-Madonna tal-Hlas.
Daphne, no class distinction in this, ‘Xtrat tarbija’, ‘Kellha tarbija/kellha baby/weldet’,were and still are common phrases used by different classes.
[Daphne – OK, I’ll spell it out. People who don’t say irkotta don’t say xtrat tarbija, either.]
Qed tesagera ftit Daphne.
When a Gozitan friend of mine told me “ohta kienet ghadha kif xtrat baby” I looked at her in horror and said “veru? Min fejn xtrathu?”
Again, sorry to disappoint but I never say xtrat tarbija (urgh) but I do say irkotta… (and I am not the exception)
They probably do Daphne coz both irkotta and xtrat tarbija are correct.
baqghet mohha fl-irkotta. Nehhieha minn mohhok din tal-irkotta. Diska mgengla.
It’s tixxi not tixtri.
Daphne is correct. In Arabic (at least in the variant spoken in Lebanon, as I got this information from a Lebanese national), “heles” means “he paid” rather than “he got rid of” as in Maltese and the noun “hlas” is directly derived from it.
In Maltese the second form of the verb — “hallas” — is used to mean “to pay” and we have given a totally different meaning to the first form of the verb (heles).
The Maltese, contrary to common belief, have been quite inventive when it came to changing/evolving their language (hence the interest from foreign scholars). Logically, if she paid, then she has also bought “xtrat”.
You are wrong. In Arabic you say ‘Hallas’ (pay) ‘Hlas’ or ‘Halas’ is used to denote ‘that’s it’, ‘go away’, ‘end of’ but mostly in a rude form to tell someone to go away like we say ‘Dabbar rasek’. Imagine trying a literal translation to English of ‘Dabbar rasek’.
That would be ‘F*** off’ in English.
Yeah, what about ‘waqghet it-tarag’, in Maltese meaning, the girl got her first period.
PS. When my wife delivered our child, I didn’t say, ‘xtrat tarbijja’. I actually said, gibuli siggu ghax ser jhossni hazin.
Nghidu hlas. Halset ghal xiex? Thallas ghal xi haga. Mela biex ikollok xi haga sabieha bhal tarbijja, trid thallas u dan thallsu bl-ugieh. Fil-bibja nsibu ‘u biex twelled trid tbati.’