Interfaith Worship Spaces - where are they?

USA

When my family lived in the USA we were invited to meetings in a buidling which was a symagogue on Saturday and a church on Sunday. As the congregation left after a service, the the last person to leave was the minister bringing up the rear. He surreptitiously turned the signboard. The signboard was rotated to show the name of the other congregation.

What were the advantages? Nothing to do with co-operation. Sheer economics. It halved the cost of the meeting place for both communities. It halved the cost of building. Repairs. Cleaning. Cutting the grass. Paying the local taxes. 

It halved the cost of any caretaker or security device. It reduced the chance of vandalism by switching the identity. Also it ensured the building was kept in use. People coming and going. Not left empty. 

Both groups had cupboards to store books and artifacts. Curtains could be drawn, adorned with suitable symbols. The board outside announced the name of your congregation or the venue for your event. 

Until you saw the signboard turn, you had no idea. It was surreal. Like something out of a Kafka dream. Or a TV comedy.

The congregations could meet jointly for events. They, the priest and rabbi, and committees, could meet administratively to discuss practical matters such as repairs and decoration and maintenance.

ABU DHABI 

In 2023 in Abu Dhabi another type of project was produced. Three buildings, a mosque, a church, and a synagogue, form a unified complex. 

SPAIN

Cathedral–Mosque of Córdoba, Initially a pagan worship place, then converted into church and then, the Umayyad Moors built a mosque on the site, which is now reconverted into a Christian cathedral.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interfaith_worship_spaces

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrahamic_Family_House

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosque%E2%80%93Cathedral_of_C%C3%B3rdoba

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Conversion_of_non-Christian_religious_buildings_and_structures_into_churches

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianized_sites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synagogue_of_El_Tr%C3%A1nsito

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Translating European and Romanian Names - Red, Maria, Michael and more

Problem
How do you recognize a personal name in Romanian?

Answer
The good news is that, unlike German, proper names have capitals and ordinary nouns start with small letters.

Reading and Saying Names
First the good news. Most Romanian names look similar and sound similar to English names.

Now the bad news. There are slight variations which may confuse you.

Story
I was learning Romanian on Duolingo. I saw J O A N A . Easy, peasy, I thought. That must be Joanna. Wrong. It translates as Jane.

If you go into name websites, or have studied names, you will appreciate that the basic biblical names and names from olden times and the Hebrew and Greek and Roman languages have numerous variations all derived from one word.

The language is phonetic - same as it sounds, so redundant letters are dropped. That means losing double letters (except when showing plurals?)

SAME SAME!
Women's Names The Same In Romanian and English
Alexandra - Alexandra
Daniela - Daniela
Maria - Maria
Sofia - Sofia

Men's Names The Same In Romanian and English
David - David
Gabriel - Gabriel

Romanian - English
ROMANIAN MEN
A n d r e i - Andrew
C r i s t i a n - Christian
L u c a - Luke
M a r c u - Mark
M a t e i - Matthew
Michael - Mihai

ROMANIAN WOMEN
A n a - Anna
A n g e l i c a - Angela (Same in Romanian and Italian. Not surprising, as Romanian means from Romans, who were Italian.)
C r i s t i n a - Christina
I o a n a - Jane
Maria / Mary - Maria

English - Romanian
ENGLISH MEN'S FIRST NAMES
Basil - V a s i l e (More in the older generation.)
John / Jon - Ion
Luke - L u c a
Mark / Marc - M a r c u
Matthew - M a t e i
Michael - Mihai
Peter - P e t r u / P e t r e (Spell in Romanian like the French / European spelling of metre for meter and theatre for American theater.)
Stephen / Steven - S t e f a n

ENGLISH WOMEN'S FIRST NAMES
Angela - A n g e l i c a (Same in Romanian and Italian. Not surprising, as Romanian means from Romans, who were Italian.)
Christina - C r i s t i n a
Elizabeth - E l i s a b e t a / I s a b e l l a
Jane - I o a n a (Not Joanna but Jane)
Sarah - I can't find any translation into Romanian. However both Italian and German use the simplified version S a r a.
Susan - S u s a n a

Easy to remember ROMANIAN SURNAMES:
Albu - White
L u p u - Wolf
N e g r u - Black
M o l d o v e a n u - from Moldova
P e t r e s c u - Peter's child
R o ș u - Red
Ursa - bear

One popular Romanian surname is P o p a meaning priest. (Like the Jewish origin name Cohen means priest.)
P o p e s c u means priest's son or daughter.

Tips on Translation and Names
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_name
To translate names into any language go to
http://www.namepedia.org/en/firstname/translate/
While researching the name priest and Cohen I found a website which analyses the endings (suffixes) of many European names used in the USA:
http://www.jewfaq.org/jnames.htm

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, speaker, language teacher. Please read my previous and future posts and when you find a favourite, share it with family, friends and colleagues.