jiġifieri

Maltese

Etymology

Probably from a contraction of jiġi affari ta’ (literally “it comes [to] a bargain of”), a phrase said by Joseph Aquilina to mean “it amounts to [a price]”. Or, according to Martin Zammit, from a contraction of jiġi fi r-raj (literally “̳it comes to the mind”).^[1]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /jɪ.d͡ʒɪˈfɪː.rɪ/
Audio (Gozo): (file)
Rhymes: -ɪːrɪ

Adverb

jiġifieri

that is; that means

References

^ Zammit, Martin R. (2022) “A Nineteenth Century Maltese Document in Arabic Script: Linguistic Observations”, in George Grigore, editor, ROMANO-ARABICA XXI The Outsiders’ Arabic: From Peripheral to Diaspora Varieties, Bucharest: Bucharest University Press, →ISSN, page 142: “The noun raj is the nominal element in jiġifieri 'that is to say', i.e. jiġi fir-raj, i.e. 'it comes to the mind'”

[1] Zammit, Martin R. (2022) “A Nineteenth Century Maltese Document in Arabic Script: Linguistic Observations”, in George Grigore, editor, ROMANO-ARABICA XXI The Outsiders’ Arabic: From Peripheral to Diaspora Varieties, Bucharest: Bucharest University Press, →ISSN, page 142: “The noun raj is the nominal element in jiġifieri 'that is to say', i.e. jiġi fir-raj, i.e. 'it comes to the mind'”

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