liema

Likely developed as a native replacement for أَيّ (ʔayy), which Maltese either lost or never had. The form liema is not attested in Arabic dictionaries.

Several etymological explanations have been proposed:

• Bonelli, Aquilina: a contraction of li +‎ ma, short for li ma bħalu (“the one with no equal”), originally meaning “unequalled, matchless”.
• Charles Louis Dessoulavy, Giuseppe Barbera: from Arabic اللِّي مَا (al-lī mā).
• Erin Serracino Inglott: from Arabic أَمَّا (ʔammā).

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɪː.ma/

liema

1. (interrogative) which, what

liema can fuse with the personal pronouns hu, hi, and huma, resulting in limhu, limhi, limhuma respectively. Often, especially in Gozo, it also appears with an intrusive -n-: liminhu, liminhi, liminhuma.