Maltese: jiżboq ?

The 'mamma' is the past tense not the infinitive. To get to it you need to ask yourself "what did he do?". In this case the answer would be "zebaq", however I could neither find "jizboq" nor "zebaq" in my dictionary.

Thank you Mark,

for your help, very much appreciated.

Yes, you are right, “żebaq” seems not to exist, could not find it either.
I'll keep looking and will inform you if I found some solution/explanation.

it may be a dialect based word - as each village usually has its own words too - much like geordies scots cockneys scousers etc . and may not be found in most hardback or online dictionaries

'Jizboq' means 'to exceed' and is not dialect-based at all. It's actually quite a 'formal' word used almost exclusively in the media. I've never heard it being used in everyday life.

i stand corrected

lambada wrote:

'Jizboq' means 'to exceed' and is not dialect-based at all. It's actually quite a 'formal' word used almost exclusively in the media. I've never heard it being used in everyday life.

....and therefore by definition, Mark, it is dialect-based.

Mike

i saw what you did there Mike.....lol touche - bah humbug wish i had seen it first

Thanks to all of you!
I do appreciate your help and participation. Makes me feel less lost :-))).

In the meantime I found following solution/explanation.
jiżboq is wrongly spelt. It should be jisboq. The mamma being sebaq.

The explanation is following:
This spelling mistake is a typical case of regressive assimilation. Regressive assimilation is the phenomenon that a voiced sound, in this case, / b /, immediately preceding an unvoiced sound turns into a voiced sound (in this case * / s /> / ż /); i.e. the phonetic/pronunciation was (wrongly) transferred into the spelling.

jisboq correct spelling
b (= voiced sound) turns s (= unvoiced sound) into ż (= voiced sound) -> jiżboq wrong spelling

Therefore the correct sentence should be:
L-2012 tagħlaq b' defiċit li jisboq it-3%.

Have a nice day
Tina

MikeInPoulton wrote:

lambada wrote:

'Jizboq' means 'to exceed' and is not dialect-based at all. It's actually quite a 'formal' word used almost exclusively in the media. I've never heard it being used in everyday life.

....and therefore by definition, Mark, it is dialect-based.

Mike

By 'dialect-based' I thought you meant 'spoken in only certain regions of the country'.