mislem

From Arabic مُسْلِم (muslim, in dialects widely mislim). The word was inherited from Arabic as referring to a group of people with whom the Maltese remained in contact, while islam is a learned borrowing from Italian. Similarly, in other European languages, words for “Muslim” (like English Mussulman) are generally much older than the words for the religion. For the phonotactics of the plural misilmin, compare midneb.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɪs.lɛm/

mislem m (plural misilmin or (archaic, obsolete) misilmiet, feminine misilma)

1. Muslim (follower of Islam)

   Synonym: (as a nominalized adjective) musulman