…sadly on the wane
By Albert Fenech
How did country names come about? Yes, England came from Anglo-Saxon Land and the United States is obvious as well as Scotland being the land of the Scots, but Russia, Germany, Holland, Italy, Wales and so many others?
Where did the name ‘Malta’ come from and how did it originate? Historic research has established it was given its name by the Ancient Greeks who dubbed it ‘Melita’ from the Greek word ‘melos’ meaning honey.
The Romans retained the name and St Luke in his description of St Paul’s shipwreck mentions the name as ‘Melita’ and the population as being ‘barbarian’ meaning they were not Latin but Semitic speaking.
Later, following the demise of the Roman Empire, Malta fell under the Arab Caliphate for 400 years and these renamed the island ‘Malta’ and that stuck ever since.
However, history also records the Phoenicians named the island ‘Maleth’, meaning a safe harbour.
To deepen mystery further, the sister island of Gozo (in Maltese Ghawdex) also came from Greece named after the island of Gaudos, a small island off Crete. The mystery is that Ancient Greece did not have any great links to Malta and the Greeks were never actually in Malta, one of the few connections being that in ‘The Odyssey’.
In this saga, the Greek hero Ulysses is said to have spent several years imprisoned in Gaudos by the Greek Goddess Calypso who fell in love with him, and for many years refused to give him his liberty before relenting and allowing him to return to his family in Greece.
However, back to the origins that led to the island earning the name ‘Melita’. Malta, honey and bee-keeping are as old as the Ancient Greeks, which is how long honey has been cultivated in Malta and always considered to be a great delicacy, and still is.
Considering all these facts takes me back to the sheer ignorance of childhood in the past where children were only esteemed to be good for obeying their parents and elders and doing their school work efficiently.
I can clearly remember my stupid delight in killing buzzing bees, waiting for them to fly indoors and then buzz around windows to regain their open air. I delighted in killing them at random as pests whose sting has to be avoided and swiping them to death with a cloth.
In addition they also unfortunately suffered from anti fly and insect spray, necessary to avoid or eliminate hordes of flies particularly flocking in kitchens and around dining tables.
Like olive oil and wheat, honey was always considered to be a major trading item, used as a currency that preceded coinage. History records that in Roman times, the scribe and orator Cicero accused the Roman Magistrate Gaius Verres of having stolen several jars of honey from Malta – a primary offence at the time, the equivalent of robbing a major bank. This was in the era when Malta fell under Roman domain and was administered by nearby Sicily.
Apis Mellifera Ruttneri is a sub-species of a honey bee that is endemic to Malta but today, sadly, has virtually disappeared with the introduction down the years of various Queen Bee strains to bolster the numbers. Equally sadly, development encroachment on open countryside, pollution and insecticides, have also taking their toll on Malta’s bee population.
Maltese honey has been considered a delicacy since the beginning of recorded history, considered a major barter item and a valuable export commodity. The industrious Phoenicians (circa 1500 BC) introduced apiaries, beekeeping and earthenware storage jars to Malta and the industry strengthened during the Punic period and then the Roman. The apiaries were carved out of rocks.
Remnants of Punic and Roman apiaries are still very much evident around the islands. The Maltese (i.e. Arabic) word for apiary is ‘Miġbħa’ and their most prolific evidence is at a place appropriately called Imiġbħa’ in the Xemxija area of St Paul’s Bay.
Until the appearance of glass jars and commercialisation, honey was always stored in earthenware jars which were kept stored under carob trees in the fields to avoid their exposure to the scorching summer sun.
Naturally, everything has changed now. Beehives have replaced the stone apiaries and commercialisation has been prolific but sadly the honey has not remained pure and is subject to much blending. However, a jar of really pure Maltese honey will put the pocket back a bob or two!
The cultivation of bees and apiaries has always been private and non-Governmental and therefore thanks to a very small number of dedicated individuals.
Thus, before the introduction of commercially manufactured products, work places and later factories, natural products were the assets of a country and Malta had various advantages.
One enormous advantage was being geographically in the centre of the Mediterranean Sea and therefore an essential port of call.
Besides medical essentials, passing vessels needed food and drink replenishments and these were wheat, flour and bread, olives and olive oil, honey and essential salt and grapes and wine – and Melos/Melita/Malta provided all of these … and continues to do so today!
ALBERT FENECH
