Too Cool for Internet Explorer


Swobodin's Profile | Swobodin's Blog | Back to Fedora Tunisia

Mafia: Etymology

Al Capone Until 1862, there was no word in the Italian language called “mafia”.
Some people say it’s the acronym of “Morte Alla Francia, Italia Anela” (Death To the French Is Italy’s Cry). Another theory affirms that it’s an apocope of MiA FamilIA (my family) du to the “family’s system” of the mafia.

Former U.S. mob don Joseph Bonanno provided an origin that was a potentially erroneous reference to the Sicilian Vespers, a patriotic uprising in Sicily against the French in 1282. Bonnano claimed that French soldiers had violated a Sicilan girl. The girl’s distraught mother ran through the streets of Palermo crying “ma fia” (”my daughter”), causing the young men of Palermo to kill the French in response.

But the most probable origin, is that the word ‘mafia’ comes from the Arabic mu afyiah معفية which means exempt, and has the sense of inviolability, strength, vigour, refuge, secure …
The word probably came from the Maltese, “which is the only Arabic dialect that has become an official national language”.
 
Reference: http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Mafia

Related posts

(sometimes, the plugin foolishes)
Etymology of Africa
Arabic numbers in HTML
Arabic contribution?
Laborare torquere ipsum est
Country names

Technorati tags

3 Responses to “Mafia: Etymology”

  1. شات سعودي كام ,شات سعودي كول Says:

    But the

  2. elmanarh Says:

    Wonderful words and poignant and a remarkable effort given away
    reflects the view of her continued success and

    http://www.almanarheg.com

  3. vibram fivefingers Says:

    Wonderful words and poignant and a remarkable effort given away
    reflects the view of her continued success and

Leave a Reply

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>

 
 

This is a captcha-picture. It is used to prevent mass-access by robots. (see: www.captcha.net)

You must read and type the 5 chars within 0..9 and A..F, and submit the form.

  

Oh no, I cannot read this. Please, generate a


Top Tunisie Blogs