mqar

Maltese

Alternative forms

• imqar (after a consonant, mostly also after a pause)

Etymology

The same word as Greek μακάρι (makári), Romanian măcar, Italian magari, Spanish maguer, Andalusian Arabic مكار (ma(k)kār, “even, at least”). Probably from Ancient Greek μακάριος (makários), perhaps through the interjection ὦ μακάριε (ô makárie, “lucky you!”). While this etymology is generally accepted, compare also Persian مگر (magar, “but, unless, perhaps”), whence Ottoman Turkish مگر (meger).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /(ɪ)mˈʔaːr/

Adverb

mqar

1. even
2. at least

References

• Corriente, F. (1997) A Dictionary of Andalusi Arabic (Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1 The Near and Middle East; 29)‎^[1], Leiden, New York, Köln: Brill, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 507
• Čéplö, Slavomír (2017) “Focus particles in Maltese: A corpus survey”, in Saade, Benjamin, Tosco, Mauro, editors, Advances in Maltese Linguistics (Studia Typologica; 21), Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton, →DOI, →ISSN, page 107