Dennis = Ephraim!?

One of the nice things about the age we live in is that sometimes I will remember something I heard years ago, think "I wonder if that is really true," and be able to find out in moments on Wikipedia (subject, of course, to the usual caveats about accuracy on Wikipedia).

In this case, I remember reading somewhere that the name of Dionysius Exiguus (the monk who invented the BC/AD year numbering) meant Dennis the Short. I didn't know that Dennis derived from Dionysius (which is a strange name for a monk to have, being derived from the Greek god Dionysos), so I went off to Wikipedia to check it, and indeed it does.

The article also gave a list of equivalents of "Dennis" in other languages, including אפרים (Ephraim) in Hebrew. (This change was made by user Ganadenimagearchive, and is the only edit they have made to Wikipedia.) I can't see any basis for connecting these two names, but I'm not an Israeli; it's possible also that people called Dennis traditionally have the Hebrew name אפרים. (My grandfather didn't, but then Dennis was only the name he was known by; his real name was David.)

Can anyone provide any evidence for linking the two names, or ought this to be deleted?

צֶדֶק צֶדֶק תִּרְדֹּף: Visiting the Old Bailey

Some years ago, I was living with a lawyer, who recommended I should visit a law court at some time and see how justice is carried out. (Or maybe it was someone else, who had done such a thing, I forget.) I stuck it on my list of things to do, but fairly low down.

Now, however, I'm approaching the end of my leave year, with a few days still to fill; and I thought of this as something I could do in one (or perhaps half of one) of them.

Does anyone have any recommendations of where to go (I'm defaulting to the Old Bailey) and when; and would anyone like to go with me?