ċkejken

Diminutive of older ċikken, still found in placenames.

Probably from a now lost variant of Sicilian picculu, of uncertain origin, but with related forms throughout Romance. To the Maltese form compare especially Corsican cicculu, further also Spanish chico and pequeño, Italian piccolo and piccino, all meaning “small, little”. The initial ċ- could go back to pre-Sicilian pl- (*pliccunu), from a metathesis, or it could be due to a merger with Latin ciccum (“trifle, bagatelle”), among other possibilities.

Lameen Souag (2018) proposes an alternative derivation from the eastern Berber word in Awjila ⴰⵎⴻⵛⴽⵓⵏ (aməškun, “small”) etc. This would have been borrowed into dialectal Arabic as *مَشْكُون (*maškūn), which looks like a passive participle from a root š-k-n. What speaks in favour of this, is the extensive development of the root ċ-k-n in Maltese; on the whole, however, the Romance etymology probably remains the more plausible, particularly as no such root seems to be attested in Maghrebi Arabic.

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃkɛj.kɛn/

ċkejken (feminine singular ċkejkna, plural ċkejknin, comparative iċken)

1. small, little

   Synonym: żgħir

   Antonym: kbir

   • 1949, Anton Buttigieg, “Il-Ġebla tal-Ġeneral”, in Fanali bil-Lejl:

     u lili firdu minn mal-art għal dejjem,
     u jien sfajt blata u gżira l-aktar ċkejkna,
     bi ftit faqqiegħ u ftit gremxul sewdieni
     ngħix ħajja waħdi.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)