Maltese is the
national language of
Malta and a co-official
language of the country alongside
English, while also serving as an
official language of the European Union, the only
Semitic language so distinguished. Maltese is descended from
Siculo-Arabic (the Arabic dialect that developed in
Sicily and later in Malta, between the end of the ninth century and the end of the twelfth century). Maltese itself is therefore linguistically classified as a unique branch of Arabic that has evolved independently of its source into a standardized language over the past 800 years in a gradual process of Latinisation. About half of the vocabulary is derived from standard
Italian and
Sicilian;
English words make up between 6
nd 20% of the Maltese vocabulary, according to different estimates. The original Semitic base (Siculo-Arabic) comprises around one-third of the Maltese vocabulary, and typically includes words that denote basic ideas and the function words. Maltese has always been written in the Latin script, the earliest surviving example dating from the late Middle Ages. It remains the only Semitic language written in the
Latin script in its
standard form.