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From: Adam Funk <a24061@ducksburg.com>
Newsgroups: sci.lang
Subject: Re: More Big Days
Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:45:01 +0000
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On 2025-02-09, Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:

> On 2025-02-09 09:04:18 +0000, Ross Clark said:
>
>> 10 February - Feast of St Paul's Shipwreck (Malta)
>> 
>> Why? Because it's Malta's only appearance in the Bible (Acts 28:1ff.). 
>> And he's the patron saint of Malta. The text says "Melita", but 
>> scholars don't seem to have a problem with the identification. The 
>> Maltese of the time (?59 AD) were Roman citizens, and treated Paul 
>> (also a Roman citizen) well. They are described as _barbaroi_, meaning 
>> they didn't speak Greek. (Fr McKenzie thinks probably Punic.)
>> Paul was on his way to Rome to appeal to Caesar against charges of 
>> making trouble.
>> Why 10 February? Don't have any information on that.
>
> I've been labouring under a delusion for 60 years, as I thought that 
> happened at Matala in Crete, not Malta.

I went to a conference in Malta years ago & there was quite a bit of
stuff referring to St Paul's shipwreck, including a bay named after
him (in both English & Maltese).

BTW, Maltese is interesting --- it's an Arabic language with a lot of
Italian vocabulary, somewhat similar to the way English is a Germanic
language with a lot of French vocabulary.


-- 
Mandrake, have you never wondered why I drink only distilled water,
or rain water, and only pure grain alcohol?      ---General Ripper