indokra

• ndokra (chiefly informal, after a vowel)

Probably from a variant of Sicilian aducchiari (“to have an eye on”), derived from occhiu, from Latin oculum (“eye”). The appropriate form *nducchirari is cited in Maltese literature. Otherwise the incorporation of the Sicilian infinitive ending in the Maltese verb would be unusual.

An alternative suggestion derives it from riguardari (“to watch”). This would plausibly have been borrowed as *rgorda, but the further development requires several steps of dissimilation and metathesis (e.g. *rgodra → *ngodra → *ndokra), which ultimately makes this derivation unlikely. Aquilina, finally, proposes ndagari (“to investigate”), which however involves the same problem concerning the -r- as aducchiari and is semantically further off.

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈdɔːk.ra/

indokra (imperfect jindokra, past participle indokrat)

1. to care for, look after

   Synonym: ħa ħsieb

2. to watch, guard, supervise

   Synonym: ħares