Well, you have that upper board obscure the letters. It's Lischen Fall Net Runter (it's dialect, Hessian or a Southern German dialect) Meaning Lischen (Little Liz), don't fall off/down. Runter means falling down from something higher up.

I was never very good at Latin but I cling on to my dictionaries. I can't find the variations suggested by Vee's husband, but both my books give me expetivi, first person singular past tense of 'strive for, desire, demand, require'. I googled the phrase with that variation, i.e. hanc mihi expetivi, and got the phrase in a context: ­Adjuro nunquam eam me deserturum, Non, si capiundos mihi sciam esse inimicos omneis homines. Hanc mihi expetivi, contigit: conveniunt mores: valeant Qui inter nos dissidium volunt: hanc, nisi mors, Mi adimet nemo. I also found the phrase 'hanc mihi expetivi, contigit' online in a dictionary of old German by the Brothers Grimm! Contigit means 'it happens, it befalls'. It seems that the phrase and the text above are from the play 'Andria' by Terence, Act 4 Scene 2. See below for even more Latin! The translation by Henry Thomas Rhiley renders the phrase as 'Her have I chosen for mine; she has fallen to my lot' ******************************* Botanical Latin is supposed to be an international language, similar to medical Latin, but the extreme variation in pronunciation is quite an impediment. I have a tendency to revert to German pronunciation for anything that is 'foreign' in English, which creates even more obstacles. Add to all of that the fact that many parts of botanical names are of other origins, e.g. the Fuchsia was named after a certain Mr Fuchs (and I therefore want to call it a 'fooxia' not a 'fyoosha'). And who came up with Cotoneaster? That's just deliberately confusing. Here is a link that might be useful: Andria text

>Hebrew lessons are also part of your religious instruction as children, aren't they? So the effort is made to educate the children to understand the worship, rather than adapting the liturgy because the congregation is not as educated as it once was. cc, I hadn't thought about that! Yes, from our youngest days we go to Sunday School to learn traditions and celebrations and Hebrew. At 8 or so, we start attending Hebrew School twice a week to really learn the prayers to be ready for our Bnai Mitzvahs. So yes, we learn it as a living language, and for those kids who were paying attention, there is meaning in those prayers However your second point made me laugh. Believe me, we see the same dumbing down trend in this religion. Even the Conservative synagogue I grew up in is changing the service to make it more understandable. And I guess they have to - esp with the number of interfaith marriages that are in the congregation. Many folks just don't know the religion. But it rankles me (and I'm not even an observant Jew!) Oh that reminds me - there is a new (relatively) type of Jewish service called Humanitarian Judaism. Sounds great - think of the Unitarian principles combined with the traditions of Judaism. Went to a few services, but was disturbed by their total lack of, well, tradition. Lots of changes are made to the prayers. Then we went to one of their monthly Shabbat dinners. As a newbie, I was invited to light the candles. I did so - in the age old way of waving my hands over the flame, and said the prayer in hebrew. Silence. They looked at me like I told them I had just converted. Ok. Last time I went there. Pity, because I really do like the prinicipals they believe in. Translations are a real bugaboo. I remember trying to read Beowulf in HS - the translation was horrible. Then a group was reading it a few years back, with the new translation, and what a difference! Same for the Testaments. If you think about it - first written in Aramaic, translated to Greek, then Latin, then English. Gack, no wonder there's going to be more than a few errors. Then when they try to dumb it all down, it loses its meaning, its poetry, its worth. BTW - did you ever play a translating game? Go to the Google translator, and put in a famous quote from a book (To be or not to be, It was the best of times, the worst of times etc) and chose any language. Then take that translation, put it in again and chose another language. Finaly, take that last translation and choose English again. Oh my. The results are hilarious, and have taught me to be extremely cautious of online translations as well as translations of books in general. It does matter which ones you choose.

Eld, please thank your BIL for me for his efforts. He doesn't have to bother with it further as Estysmith has translated the name, giving me the information I needed. I'll try to get in touch with the person who posted Jacob Stone's FindAGrave memorial. The memorial reads Yakov b. Dov Arya. If that came from Jacob's gravestone, it sounds like I've got the wrong one.