In common with Valletta and the other cities of the Cottonera, a number of streets in Birgu are named after what seem to be compass points: North Street, East Street and so on. However, after a particular Maltese language class that I attended, I realised that these street are named not after compass points, but after different Mediterranean winds, as befits a maritime city.
The Maltese for compass is il-warda ta’ l-irjieħ, which literally means ‘the rose of the winds’. In fact early compasses were typically described in this way throughout Europe, since as far back as Aristotle the winds were used to determine direction when navigating at sea.
The Maltese compass shown below has two naming systems. The outer names are old names for the four cardinal winds: ix-Xmiel, ix-Xarq, il-Qibla and l-Għarb. These are considered by some to be ‘purer’ Maltese names for the winds, uninfluenced by the languages of Southern Europe.
The inner names, it-Tramuntana, il-Grigal, il-Lvant and so on form the modern Maltese compass rose and are the ones taught in schools and used to name streets. This is not, however, a specifically Maltese system. Similar names are used for the winds of Provence, where for example Majjistral becomes Mistral, and Xlokk becomes Scirocco. Indeed, during World War Two, Marsaxlokk (literally ‘the port in the south east’) was named Marsa Scirocco, at least according to Nicholas Montserrat in his book The Kappilan of Malta.
The Maltese and Provencal wind names are also similar to those found in other regions bordering the Mediterranean. It is assumed that the medieval mariner’s compass rose was created using a Mediterranean lingua franca, drawing on a mix of Classical and Arabic roots for wind names. All the mariners’ names have a strong similarity to Maltese compass points, with the exception of Ostro for south. However, south is also represented as Mezzogiorno, which in Italian also means midday. The Maltese compass rose adopts the same practice by using Nofsinhar.
Interestingly it is thought that the eight pointed Amalfi Cross, now more widely known as the Maltese Cross and the emblem of the Order of St. John, was originally designed to reflect the shape of an eight-point compass rose. It is said that early Arab compasses were perfected by mariners from Amalfi, although the story is disputed. In any case, this is only one of several claims about the symbolism of the Maltese cross, others being that the eight points represent the eight langues of the Order, or the eight Beatitudes. Whilst these origin stories are easily applied in retrospect they are unlikely to have triggered the original design or been the reason for the adoption of the emblem.
Returning to the winds, I notice that the names for compass points used in Malta and other Mediterranean areas are nothing like those now used in Western Europe for compass points: North, East, South and West in English; Nord, Est, Sud and Ouest in French; and so on. Indeed these terms seem arbitrary and unconnected to winds. This is, however, not the case. Charlemagne is recorded as having invented his own names for the four cardinal winds: Nord, Ost, Sund and Vuest. These Carolingian names are the source of the compass points now used in all modern western European languages, but their historical connection to the naming of winds has been largely forgotten.