Salam Alaikum,
I have an idea, and i’m hopeful my muslim fellows will help me and contribute. The idea is to share something that others may not know about. Hence, educating ourselves.
I’ll share the first one:
The word “Mosque” and its origin:
It was derived from the word mosca. It means mosquito in italian and they used it to call muslims’ place of worship “Mosque” because they said muslims are crowded in masjids like mosquitos. (Courtesy of a muslim brother. JazakAllah Khair. May Allah (swt) bless him and reward him)
Another explanation i’ve found is:
The word “mosque” was introduced into the English language in the late 14th or early 15th century from the French. It comes from the French word mosquée from the old French word mousquaie. The French, in turn, derived the word from the Italian word moschea from moscheta. The Italians got it either directly from the Arabic word masjid or from the old Spanish mesquita.
http://www.islamtoday.com/show_detail_section.cfm?q_id=676&main_cat_id=20