Sicily and encouraged the growth of smallholdings, undermining the dominance of the latifundia. The Arabs further improved irrigation systems. The language spoken in Sicily under Arab rule was Siculo-Arabic and Arabic influence is still present in some Sicilian words today. Although the language is extinct in Sicily, it has developed into what is now the Maltese language on the islands of Malta today. A description of Palermo was given by Ibn Hawqal, an Arab merchant who visited Sicily in 950. A walled suburb, called the Al-Kasr (the palace), is the centre of Palermo to this day, with the great Friday mosque
Gallo-Italic of Sicily Gallo-Italic of Sicily Gallo-Italic of Sicily () is a group of Gallo-Italic languages found in about 15 isolated communities of central eastern Sicily. Forming a language island in the otherwise Sicilian language area, it dates back to migrations from northern Italy during the reign of Norman Roger I of Sicily and his successors. Towns inhabited by the new immigrants became known as the "Lombard communities" (, ). The settlers, known as the Lombards of Sicily, actually came principally from the Aleramici fiefdoms of Piedmont and Liguria, "Lombardy" being the name for the whole northern Italy during the Middle Ages. In