Sptar Omm Alla

I’ve been writing my column for tomorrow’s The Malta Independent, on the subject of Joseph Muscat’s stupendous deal that isn’t, and got to thinking about the implications of the same name in different languages.

Why does Malta’s general hospital have a Latin name instead of a Maltese one which is given in the other official language, English, when necessary?

Before Mater Dei Hospital we had Sptar San Luqa/St Luke’s Hospital.

Now we have Sptar Mater Dei and Mater Dei Hospital, neither of which make sense. ‘Mater Dei’ is not a name which can’t be given in Maltese or English. It is not a name at all.

It is simply two words in another language (Latin) which mean ‘mother of God’ (even in English, what would ordinarily be given as ‘God’s mother’, with the possessive form, is in this unusual case given idiomatically as ‘mother of God’).

I don’t think there is a Latin word for hospital – they didn’t have hospitals in those days. But if there were, consistency in naming would decree that this word be used instead of ‘sptar’ or ‘hospital’.

Mater Dei Hospital and Sptar Mater Dei are both completely nonsensical, linguistically, even if you approve of naming state hospitals, as distinct from private hospitals or those run by religious orders, after deeply religious concepts. (I don’t approve, and objected in print at the outset).

Latin is not a language of Malta. It should be Sptar Omm Alla/Mother of God Hospital. And that will show you exactly why it is Mater Dei and not Omm Alla or Mother of God. The last two are far too ‘in your face’ off-putting, because people understand the language. Most people, however, don’t know what Mater Dei means, so the fact that this is actually Sptar Omm Alla/Mother of God Hospital is made more palatable. Language is such an odd thing.