Maltese developed from Arabic in Sicily, and later in Malta, between the end of the ninth century and the end of the thirteenth century. Maltese is the only Semitic language written in the Latin script. Through the history, the Maltese language has been classified in various ways, with some claiming that the ancient Punic language (used in Carthage) was the base of the language, while others believed the language to be Berber, and under Fascist Italy, it was considered a dialect of Italian.