Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1531564
5 gozotoday | FRIDAY • 17 JANUARY 2025 NEWS WIRT Għawdex will hold the first in its series of talks for 2025 on Friday 24 January at 6.30pm at St Cecilia Chapel, Għajnsielem. The talk, which will be delivered in English, will focus on Catalan Personal Names in Gozitan Top- onymy. The study of placenames is a very intriguing subject since one can unearth both archaic descrip- tive words in our language and also personal names. From his two publications about Gozitan toponyms, Simon Salafia is able to decipher some names with a very plausible Catalan import. How did this come about? And which sur- names of Catalan origin are most evident in the Gozitan toponymic landscape? Simon Salafia studied at the University of Malta graduating in Electrical Engineering. Following his interest in the Spanish Lan- guage, he studied this language up to its highest level – gaining the Proficiency Level of the Di- ploma of Spanish as a Foreign Language, D.E.L.E. (Superior), from the University of Salamanca. He taught Spanish at the Span- ish-Maltese Centre (CCHM), Government Schools, Institute of Tourism Studies (ITS) and as a visiting lecturer at the Univer- sity of Malta. His main interests include Maltese History and Cul- ture, with special reference to the Medieval Period. He is a licensed tourist guide and a profession- al interpreter (in Spanish, Eng- lish and Maltese, with Italian as a passive language). In 2020, he published the first volume of The Place-Names of Gozo. This was followed by the second volume in 2022. He is currently focussing his research on three different fields: collecting placenames of Malta and Gozo; collecting historical Maltese first names, with the in- tention to publish a Dictionary of Maltese Names; and investigating the possibility of words of Catalan origin in the Maltese Language. After the talk there will be time for questions from the audience and discussion. Delicata Win- ery is sponsoring the event's post-talk drinks. The event on Facebook can be found here: h t t p s : / / w w w . f a c e b o o k . c o m / events/1291932345188955. Free registration is suggested through this link: https://forms.gle/sG- MUvuNVF2NX4k1TA. Wirt Għawdex is a voluntary non-governmental organisation founded in 1981 with the aims of fostering the knowledge of our heritage amongst all levels of soci- ety and to strive to safeguard the natural, archaeological, historical and anthropological patrimony of the islands of Gozo and Comino. This is the first from a series of talks to be held each month rang- ing from literature to astronomy, and from old documents to un- derwater heritage. The general public is invited to attend. Catalan personal names in Gozitan toponymy Simon Salafia (Photo by Adrian Grima)