# Need help translating a tombstone



## bjragucci

I need help translating a tombstone, I think that it is Romanian, can you help me?

Thanks, 
bjragucci


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## féebleue

Hello,

Yes, it's in Romanian and it goes more or less like this:


First 4 lines: _Aici odihnește-n Domnul neuitații noștri fii _--> _Here rest in the Lord our unforgotten children_
Next 2 lines: _Ioan Maria Ana Elisabeta_ --> these are the names of the children

Next 3 lines: _Năs. A. 1907 Sep. 2 Rep. Anul 1907 Dec. 7-lea --> Born on September 2, 1907, Died on December 7, 1907_
Last line: _Fie-le țărîna --> May they rest in peace_
May I ask what is the story behind this? Why do you need the translation of a Romanian tombstone from over 100 years ago?  It is a quite strange tombstone, by the way, as it is not clear how many children there are. Ioan could be their last name, and the three other names could belong to three deceased daughters. Or Ioan could also be the name of a deceased son. Also, there may be less than three daughters if they had multiple names. And why is there only one date of birth/death? Were they twins/triplets/quadruplets who sadly didn't survive more than three months? Or did the other dates not fit on the small tombstone? I would love to know the story and where this tombstone is from.

Sorry about the ranting, I just like visiting old cemeteries, looking at tombstones from centuries ago and imagine who those people were


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## bjragucci

Thank you so much for the translation! My only problem is that it doesn't give a surname for the children! Unless it's at the top and unreadable. 
My sister and I are going through the cemetery records for the Alliance City Cemetery in Alliance, Ohio. We have photographed all of the records and are going through them and putting the people on Find A Grave for those who are doing genealogy. We are also photographing the tombstones for the entire cemetery and putting the photos on there too. The cemetery records are not all that good, especially the farther back you go. We have found a number of Romanian tombstones, so I may be asking for more translations as we run into them! The cemetery records say that an Elizabeth Pofarod is buried by or next to that stone. A general internet search does not come up with anyone with that surname, though there are some with the surname Poparad, spelling wasn't the best in the cemetery records! My genealogical resources so far can't find anything about her. I had also wondered if the names of the parents were on the stone because they sometimes do that with children's stones. We may have to scour the local newspaper to see if there is anything about them in it. 
 Thank you again for your help!


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## naicul

Well, "neuitații noștri fii" is more like "our unforgotten sons". But only Ioan is a boy's name. They could also have written the word for "sons" because it's shorter than the one for "children", which is "copii".
Elisabeta could be the Elizabeth from the records.
Also, Pofarod doesn't sound too Romanian, Poparad is more like it. But the person who registered it might have written it the way they heard it.


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## bjragucci

Thank you, I don't think Pofarod is right either.


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## robbie_SWE

Just a thought, and it might be a long shot – couldn't *fii* be the plural form of the popular and dated _fie_ = "daughter?


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## farscape

Interesting thought - _sg_. fie / _pl_. fii - but there is the possessive pronoun _noștri_ linked to _fii_ which should be _noastre_ then, right?

f.


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## robbie_SWE

farscape said:


> Interesting thought - _sg_. fie / _pl_. fii - but there is the possessive pronoun _nostri_ linked to _fii_ which should be _noastre_ then, right?
> 
> f.



You're of course right and it adds to making the tombstone even more confusing. Could it be a short form for *Ioana Maria* = _Ioan-Maria_?


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## Zareza

I had also wondered if the names of the parents were on the stone because they sometimes do that with children's stones.

Between _Ana _and _Lisabeta _there is a letter: S (?) from _soție _(wife) ?

_Ioan Maria Ana _could be triplets ?

bjragucci, some news about?


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## danielstan

The letter between _Ana _and _Lisabeta_ is E, thus it reads: 
_Ana Elisabeta_

The family name _Poparad_ must be from pre-1918 Transylvania, where Hungarian civil authorities used to eliminate the final 'u' from Romanian surnames. In this case: Poparad = Poparadu = Popa Radu ("the priest Radu").

I had a colleague from Târgu Mureș with the surname Rad and he told me his grandfather had the real surname Radu, but in the birth certificate was spelled Rad (before 1918).


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