Genealogy / Petrzywalski family [13]


There is one or two name places Peterswald in Germany, but there are also several such names in Czech Republic.

First, there is a small village Petrovice (German Peterswald) in Ústí nad Labem District . Probably of no interest.

There is also Petřvald u Karviná (Polish: Pietwałd , Cieszyn Silesian: Pietwołd, German: Peterswald), a town in the Karviná District, Moravian-Silesian Region, Czech Republic, in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia, population 6,967.

But the most interesting is Petřvald u Nový Jièín (Nový Jièín District), (German: Gross Peterswald), a village and municipality in Nový Jièín District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic, population 1806. It has two parts:

+ Petřvald
+ Petřvaldík
Petřvald at Karviná and Petřvald at Nový Jièín are 27 km apart.

Petřvald u Nový Jièín was established as a Petrovice (Petrovicz) by Peter son of Herold in 1267. When Peter Meissner, a German by birth, received Petrovice fief, he called it Peterswald and he signed his name Peter Meissner von Peterswald. He was later ennobled and was known as Petřík from Petřvald.

By 1359 his family (originally coming from Silesian noble family) acquired Peacock coat of arms.
Another documented owner of Petřvald stronghold was Petr Meysner, married to Markéta from Skalice, Frýdek-Místek (27 km ESE). They had daughter Katharina and two sons: Petr and Jan Hanuš. At that time another family appears over there: Petřík (married to Cecilia) and Pavlík (married to Anežka) from Žeranovice, Spruce coat of arms. They and their chidden (Pardus, Jan, Anna, Markéta, Jiří and Jindřich) used the names Petřvaldský from Petřvald.

The wikipedia link in Czech below, has a long description of Petřvald, its Petřvaldský owners and other related noble families.
cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet%C5%99vald_(okres_Nov%C3%BD_Ji%C4%8D%C3%ADn)

"Reporter" from genealogical and heraldic club, House of Culture, Ostrava,
historie.hranet.cz/heraldika/zkgho/zkgho35.pdf
mentions under the date 1670 Jan (Hanuš ) Zikmund Petřvaldský becoming a guardian of Mikuláš Forgatsch orphans, and a husband to widow Johana Barbora Forgatsch.
Apparently Jan Zikmund (German: Johann Sigismund) was a popular combination of given names in Moravia. :-)

Genealogy / Duda Family [23]


I really do not know that for sure. But consider the fact that the word "duda" exists in several languages. For example "duda" is apparently a Hungarian name for bagpipes, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duda

These instruments were associated with shepherds and a pastoral lifestyle. Polish original name for bagpipes was "koza" (from skin of "koza", a goat). The "gajda" name was popular in Balkans, which have been transformed into plural "gajdy" in Polish, Czech and Slovak languages.

I would assume that word "duda" came to Polish language with Wallachian shepherds, exposed to Hungarian name "duda", who started settling in Polish Carpathians at 16th century or so. It might be instructive to take a peek at distribution of "Duda" surnames in Poland - most of them are concentrated in southern Poland: the foothills of Carpathians and Silesia, moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/duda.html.

But this is immaterial now with respect to your family search. Duda surname has been long established in Poland, as it is proven by the sheer number of people using this surname, 36,647.

See also, some words about etymology of "duda":
Duda, dudku, dudarz and dudziarz - a bagpipes player.

Dudki, dzidy - animal guts. "Znowu mu dzidy potężnie opiorą" (They will beat his guts massively again), Potocki.

Basic Slavic musical instrument. Serbs and Bulgars used to call it "dud", but now they use the Turkish borrowing "duduk".

Germans, in turn, borrowed the "duda" word from the western Slavs in the words Dudel, Dudelsack, dudeln.

Onomatopoeic, (dudu=mova=> speech) as in "o mszy ani dudu" (not a whit about the Mass), Potocki.

In folk dialects: "odudzieć" = oniemieć (to become dumb)

Dudnieć and dudnić (to rumble) - in description of dull, muffled sound.

Carried into "hollow things", such as pipes:
- dudło, dudłazy => holes in the tree,
- dudlić and dudlać (to pick, to gouge)

Dutki - sad singings
etymologia.org/wiki/S%C5%82ownik+etymologiczny/duda
See also "Encyklopedia Staropolska) (in Polish) - Old Polish Encyclopedia


pl.wikisource.org/wiki/Encyklopedia_staropolska/Dudy

From: Slav music and instruments (in Polish)
etymologia.org/wiki/S%C5%82ownik+etymologiczny/Muzyka

Genealogy / Duda Family [23]


Lublin, not Lubin. The latter is a town in western Poland, Lower Silesia Voivodship, population 77,000. Lublin is much bigger, population 350,000, eastern Poland.
Nałeczów, commune Nałęczów, Puławy County, Lublin Voivodship.


Again Lublin, not Lubin. Karczmiska, not Karcziska.
Karczmiska, commune Karczmiska, Opole Lubelskie County, Lublin Voivodship


Derives from kwiat, kwiatek => a flower, a little flower. There are three "Kwiatków" villages and five "Kwiatkowo" villages in Poland.


There are 36,647 people of the name Duda registered in Poland. 459 of them live in the city of Lublin, and somewhere between 200 and 300 Dudas live in the Lublin Voivodship (which includes Nałęczów).

Genealogy / Seborowski origin (Grajewo region) [8]

All I can say is this. Because
- the rarity of this surname in Poland (seven people in entire country, five in Grajewo District)
- the spelling of surname does not ring a bell - there is no obvious meaning attached to it
- its pronunciation is similar to Zaborowski
- Zaborowski derives from ZA BOREM, beyond BÓR, on the other side of a coniferous forest
- there are 4794 people of Zaborowski surname in Poland, and 56 in Grajewo District alone
I suggest that Seborowski is just a misspelled version of Zaborowski.

Travel / Poland in photo riddles [3134]

Well guys, thank your for all that accolade I undeservedly received. :-)


Yes they have, of course. :-)
Strzyga is right, this diorama is not a big thing. Admit it, you snapped the photo because of your bleeding-heart feelings towards the wheel-chaired presenter (seen on the photo) of this crudely done and crumbling exhibition. :-)

There are not too many details to go on, but perhaps blue uniforms and "krakus-style" czapkas of cavalrymen could be the tale tellers. The so-called "Kawaleria Narodowa" (National Cavalry), or at least some of its brigades, wore crimson square-top czapkas, blue kurtkas with red pippings and red (crimson) Polish-style loose fit pants (szarawary) with a double-lampas. This would put this scene into the historical bracket of 1792 (Polish-Russian war) and Kościuszko Insurrection of 1794.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Cavalry

However, I am sorry to quote this:


Failing that first rough guess, and assuming that color "blue" may subjectively and objectively mean different things to different people and historical times, my second guess would be "Krakusi" from 1812-1814 period - until their outfit has become more Caucasian-like than Polish peasant style.

Initially Krakuses' distinguished outfit consisted of peasant overcoat in navy blue or white and red "rogatywka" (square cap) with black lambskin rim.
The "Krakusi" were being revived in many periods following this: in November Uprising 1830-31, Kraków Uprising 1846 and January Uprising 1863.

pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krakusi

[Apparently, depending on quality of fabric and geographical location, the blue uniforms would fade in Italy and Spain, but they would darken to navy-blue in Poland and Germany, while the navy-blue would become black with time. Also manufacturing and dyeing of fabric was not as precise as today; each batch of uniforms differed color-wise.]

Going back to the diorama: I cannot make any sense of infantry and artillery hats (too poor resolution for that). And I have major objection against dressing the infantry, artillery and cavalry in the same blue coats.

One of the first work was the adoption by the Great Sejm (in October 1789) the new national uniforms, consisting of a jacket, in dark blue for infantry and cavalry, and dark green for artillery and sappers, with lapels in the colors varied depending on the formation, but with a predominance of magenta or crimson color.

The dark green color for artillery uniforms had been preferable in most European armies before and after that.

• 
  square cap of a companion from National Cavalry
  

Travel / Poland in photo riddles [3134]


Union of welders, steelworkers or something? I see protective glasses on top of their cowboy hats and a fragment of "zawodowy" on their flag. :-)

Travel / Poland in photo riddles [3134]

Pieskowa Skała? Oh, I get it. There is a kind of turret glued to the main body of Pieskowa Skała Castle, which seems to match the pattern. :-)

Travel / Poland in photo riddles [3134]


I cannot figure it out: Multilevel renaissance (?) arcades and balustrades can be seen in many places in Kraków, including Wawel Royal Castle, but that intervening four-facet wall decoration pattern confuses me.

Genealogy / Petrzywalski family [13]


Theoretically - yes, statistically - no. The database Moi Krewni shows zero such surnames in Poland. Stankiewicze.com website mentions Petrzycki, Petrzykowski, Petrzakowski, Petrzak and Petrzik but not Petrzywalski. Google shows many Petrzywalski entries, but none of them in Poland - as far as I can say. Specifically there are zero entries for [Petrzywalski Lipnik], even though there are many Lipnik villages in Poland.

You said that your ancestor was born in Czech Republic (Bohemia at that time, under the control of Austria). Why should his surname be Polish? I am almost sure that surname Petrzywalski is a germanized version of Czech surname Petřvalský (using Polish digraph rz, and substituting v by w and ý by i) - which having two diacritics was not likely to be properly rendered in USA, England or elsewhere abroad.

I think you have made a mistake with Leipnik: there is no such name place in Czech Republic nowadays - unless it was written so in old German spelling. There are however two Lipnik name places there:

1. Lipnik, 15 km south from Třebíè (by road), Moravia, Czech Republic
2. Lipník nad Beèvou, a small town 33 km east from Olomouc, Moravia, eastern part of Czech Republic.

There are 680 Google entries for [Petřvalský Lipnik] - some of the referring to #2 above. There are also 230,000 Google references to Petřvalský.


Actually, I was right, but I did not pay close attention to this entry:


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipn%C3%ADk_nad_Be%C4%8Dvou

Genealogy / Monte Cassino + Russian labour camp [23]

Organization Todt (not Todz!!!)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organisation_Todt

Among many other projects, the Organization Todt constructed series of German military fortifications across Italy - from Tyrrhenian Sea on the SW coast to Adriatic Sea on the NE coast. Three of them: Gustav Line, Adolf Hitler Line and Bernhardt Line were constructed around Cassino town and Monte Cassino (mountain) (not Casino!!!) - with the abbey on the top. See the map here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ItalyDefenseLinesSouthofRome1943_4.jpg

More details:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Line

There are thousands of sources available about battle of Monte Cassino, including Polish ones. Many of them mention Todt Organization in reference to the German lines of defence over there. But I have not come across where specifically the Todt camps were located, who liberated them and when exactly; well I have not been searching for this info long enough.

I am sure you can find it yourself by patiently googling Monte Cassino, Todt, Gustav Line, etc.

Travel / Poland in photo riddles [3134]

Yes, very good! The troop compartment of KTO Rosomak (Wolverine in English).

Travel / Poland in photo riddles [3134]

Żandarmeria Wojskowa, Military Gendarmes is a separate and specialized service of the Polish Armed Forces, which role is to ensure military discipline, preservation of public order and prevention of crimes in the areas of military units and in public places. They are in fact military police.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Gendarmerie_(Poland)

I guess their main role is to cope with drunk soldiers, brawls, etc. :-(

They always accompany Polish military contingents abroad; for example they currently are in Afghanistan. They support Polish Military Prosecutor office over there and they deal with petty crimes committed by Polish soldiers or by Afghan civilians employed in Polish bases.

During the next 30 days or so of Euro 2012 they will be given identical powers as the regular police forces - including right to arrest civilians or even use of deadly force if necessary.

Travel / Poland in photo riddles [3134]

Gendarmes - white belts, scarlet berets, and scarlet patches (with ŻW white stylized lettering and yellow flame) on the left sleeve.
If they are from Kraków Branch then they have some tough customers to deal with - the 16 Airborne Battalion, 6 Airborne Brigade is stationed in Kraków.

News / Why are many Poles anti-Euro2012 [16]

I do not see anything wrong with the accompanying events like the one described and shown below. It's late, not too many people on the streets, but they all look nice and normal to me.

Translated from:
Fiddlers on the roof, light show and great atmosphere accompanied the presentation of the most exclusive area of ​​Fan Zone, VIP Hospitality Zone.

On Friday evening Poznanians witnessed an intriguing concert in a beautiful setting. Poznań musicians from L'Autunno Chamber Orchestra appeared on the roof of a building on Freedom Square surrounding the Fan Zone.

In these extraordinary circumstances they have played the first part of "Serenade in C major" by Tchaikovsky's and "Divertimento in D Major" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The performance was accompanied by a thrilling spectacle of lights. Fountain of Freedom, launched on Freedom Square last Friday noon, also shimmered in colours.

Watch it on YouTube:
youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=y6uoZbaXPSc
and read more about Hospitality Zone in Poznań here:
poznan.pl/uefaeuro2012/strefakibica/page/strefahospitality

Language / What is the best way to say comfortable? [7]

Or you could use this very old idiom: "Czuję się jak u siebie w domu."

Language / Dwa vs. dwie in Polish [85]

Learning number two by example: rhymes and proverbs

Language / The Polish language - it's bloody hard! [210]


That's very possible. But for those Poles that have never studied English, the pronunciation of Polish by English visitors may sound shocking for several reasons:

1. English is essentially a language that uses vowels no other language would accept. :-)

This is a joke of course, but with a lot of truth in it. Polish has only several vowels, all of the same length, all open. English is much reacher in this department, but yet English speakers have trouble with apparently simple Polish open vowels. Take for example a simple given name "Jan". While it is comparatively easy to explain to English speakers that several countries in Continental Europe pronounce "J" like "Y" (as in Yann), not like "G" (as in Gina) it is harder to explain the pronunciation of the open vowel "A". Most what you can get from a typical English speaker is English Ian or Yawn. Chinese are even worse here: most of them pronounce it like a long "Yea".

2. English speakers have their own understanding of pronunciation of Romance languages, including Latin. English instructions on proper pronunciation of Italian, for example, are particularly baffling. Why do they have to make such simple stuff so complicated? :-)

In contrary, Poles have no problem with Italian or Spanish vowels at all.

This could be nicely demonstrated by comparing pronunciation of "Julius Caesar" using four Latin pronunciation methods. With English this gives particularly comical results because English pronunciation had undergone drastic changes at the end of the Middle Ages:

YOO-lee-us KYE-sahr (reconstructed ancient Roman)
YOO-lee-us (T)SAY-sahr (northern Continental Europe)
YOO-lee-us CHAY-sahr (“Church Latin” in Italy)
JOO-lee-us SEE-zer (“English method”)

So when a native Pole hears something that sounds to him as "Dżulius Size", he gets no connection with "Juliusz Cezar".

3. And there is of course the Polish labyrinth of digraphs and trigraphs. For an English speaker, who never studied Polish, the consonants are particularly puzzling. Here is how Uncle Google and Ivona.com pronounce some Polish words, and this probably what a Polish local hears when spoken by an English tourist:

Pszczyna ==> P'skizyna, Szczyna
Tyskie ==> Tajski (Thai ski), Tyski
Żywiec ==> Ziłik or Zyłjak
Jak się masz? ==> Dżak si mas?
Jak masz na imię? ==> Dżak mas zna imi?

News / Polish children boosting standards among English pupils, study suggests [16]


The operative word is "some" and I bet that you have no "integration" statistics available. Neither do I, but I dislike meaningless generalizations, I really do. Let me explain why:

I started my integration process in Canada the first day I settled here. Many of my Polish friends, which I have met and accepted here (many did not pass the initial scrutiny though), have done the same. We were doing well, representing similar background and education. We did not need any ghetto support. We initially rented apartments, and later bought houses, in various parts of the city or the country. We shopped locally but we would occasionally visit Polish shops in Polish village, once a month maybe, around Christmas or Easter season for sure - this sort of things. But it was exactly five months ago when I was last shopping and drinking there.

We also did not need any support from Polish professional organizations. For example, Association of Polish Engineers of Ontario did not impress us much, since they were involved in some very funny political games: "old immigration" vs. "new immigration", etc. Polish dailies were also boring - and they still are, most of the time. So here we were: reading "Globe and Mail" while staying away from "Sun", working hard, getting excited about new jobs, business opportunities and challenging projects. And spending our free time the way we liked: long "old Polish conversations" and a good bottle of wine or two, and going outdoors.

I did not go initially to local bars, for the only reason that I considered them dumb and boring. I still carry a mental picture from some dark stinking tavern, somewhere downtown, of several single men sipping their "Labatt's Blue" in silence. Things have changed, I visit local bars - mostly full od strange dumb people and drug dealers but also ... surprise, surprise many intelligent ones too - for a good conversation and few glasses of wine, but I really missed our early Polish parties somewhere "up north": canoeing and sailing in summer, spending Christmas together in rented cottages, weekend cross-country skiing or downhill skiing forays to Mt.Tremblant, or Mt. Saint Anne. Five years down the road, the parties have become international, mostly Polish-Canadians... Many of us have made good friends with "locals" at work. So nothing wrong with this picture, wouldn't you say?

So, you can stick to your stereotypes, if you like, but these are not about me and many of my former friends - 50-100 maybe? And yes, I rarely drink vodka (another stereotype) - maybe once a year or so. And I like other ethnic cultures: Mexican (the only decent food and atmosphere I enjoyed in Dallas, Texas I found in a cozy Mexican restaurant), Italian, Irish. My local bakery is Italian, where I do my daily shopping for bread, cheeses, cold cuts, various Italian cheese filled peppers, eggs, frozen pizza dough, various canned delicacies, delicious cakes. I do it by choice and convenience, overpaying a bit, but I occasionally buy German or Polish dark bread.

- Giovanni, when are you going to learn how to bake the real Pumpernickel - not that brown soft bread you sell in here? And he only smiles - he knows I am joking.

History / Help identifying military uniform in Kraków [10]


I guess I may take some credit here, so you are very welcome. :-)


More like a limerick. :-)
Originally, following Russian cavalry tradition, every uhlan regiment of the Polish Army had its żurawiejka (derived from: a crane song, żuraw=a crane). Later on, the tradition was adopted by regiments of mounted rifles - even though, as one couplet said: “Just between us - riflemen are not uhlans” (“Prawdę mówiąc między nami – strzelcy nie są ułanami"). Later, this tradition was adopted by other armed forces.

I suddenly realized that the pennant shown on the last photograph is not a regimental pennant. It is a squadron commander's pennant - specifically here: 1 squadron of 21 Uhlan (Vistula) Regiment. Derived from regimental colours, it had additional square at the base of the pennant. The squadron color codes were as follows:

amaranth - 1 squadron
white - 2 squadron
yellow - 3 squadron
royal blue - 4 squadron
black with some white symbols - A. squadron of heavy machine guns; B. signals platoon
There was one unique squadron symbol in all of Polish cavalry: a yellow crescent and star on a green background - 1 Tatar Squadron, 13 Uhlan Regiment

News / Visegrad Battle Group under the command of Poland [261]


There is no specific info about it, other than this:

The exercise "Challenge - 12" is one of the greatest tactical exercises conducted by the Polish Armed Forces in 2012. Its extent can be demonstrated by the fact that it takes place in three provinces: Lubuskie, West Pomerania and Wielkopolska. The exercise involves, in addition to troops, nearly 500 units of hardware, including but not limited to: Rosomak (Wolverine) armored personnel carriers, self-propelled 152 mm cannon-howitzer DANA, anti-aircraft ZU-23-2 Hibneryt, helicopters, transport aircraft and sea-going ferries and many others. At the same time, during the "Challenge - 12", four Polish types of the Armed Forces train and work together: Army, Navy, Air Force and Military Police.

...
"Challenge - 12" and the subsequent international certification "Common chalange - 12" is an important element of preparation of the EU Weimar Battle Group.

wojsko-polskie.pl/aktualnosci/19155,podjete-wyzwanie.html

And here is something from the French side:

Things are getting serious for the French, German and Polish battlegroup - the rapid reaction force of the European Union - during the next six months. The training program is being communicated to the partners. Poles provide the bulk of the force...The Force headquarters (FHQ) of the battlegroup is to be in Mont-Valérien (France, near Paris).

Certification of the Polish forces will take place during the exercise "Wyzwanie12". Certificatification of FHQ will take place during the exercise "Common Challenge" in Wędrzyn, Poland. Field training will take place in September 2012, in Bergen Germany. Logistics exercise - October 8-12 Garlstedt, Germany.

Some deficiencies were noted regarding water purification, transport and storage of water containers, or strategic lift...
The Weimar group will be on standby for the first semester of 2013. The Nordic group, led by the British, will take over in the second semester.

unor-aor-nc.com/bulletindinforma/news-mili-12-19.pdf

News / Visegrad Battle Group under the command of Poland [261]

In meantime the Polish component of the EU Weimar Battlegroup undergoes its final verification during the exercise "Wyzwanie 12" (Challenge 12). The battlegroup, lead by Poland and commanded by General T. Andrzejczak, a commander of 17th Wielkopolska Mechanized Brigade, is to be on standby from January 1st, 2013. France and Germany play support roles in this battlegroup: France - medical support, Germany - logistical support. The Polish manoeuvre battalion, is to be fully operational and ready to departure within 10 days after receiving their orders to go. Its task will be to respond to military threats, but also to crises, such as floods and other natural disasters.

About 1,700 soldiers, mostly from 17th Wielkopolska Mechanized Brigade participate in the exercise. They use Rosomaks (wheeled armed vehicles), helicopters, armored aircraft, marine ferries, cannon-howitzers. Crews of Rosomaks, Honker pickups and Star trucks have already set off into three regions Poland. In Świnoujście they will be loading their equipment on ships, in Powidz - into Hercules military airplanes. In Wędrzyn training grounds - they will take on various tasks, such as crowd control or response to shelling of their base or to enemy attack on their patrols. Commanders must demonstrate their ability to respond quickly to changing situations, such as equipment break down or various mishaps. The soldiers will be faced with many surprises: they will have to put out fires, eliminate pollution, evacuate damaged equipment and handle crowd control.

History / Help identifying military uniform in Kraków [10]


If his rim is turquoise, then he would represent an officer of 21 Pułk Ułanów Nadwiślańskich (21 Vistula Uhlans Regiment). Their regimental pennant was turquoise, with a narrow yellow-white stripe in the middle. This red thingie on very top of the pennant, as shown on your picture: could it be a ribbon of some sort?


Chociaż Wisły nie widzieli,
Nadwiślanskich miano wzięli
Lance do boju...

Nad Wołyniem błyszczą lance:
turkusowi "Nadwiślańce"
Lance do boju...

Jeden w Polsce turkusowy
To z Równego pułk morowy
Lance do boju...
====
Although they've never seen Vistula,
They took the "Vistulans" name
Lances to battle ...

Lances shine over Vohlynia:
turquoise "Vistulans"
Lances to battle ...

The only turquoise in Poland
is of this regiment from Równe
Lances to battle ...

History / Help identifying military uniform in Kraków [10]

It looks like the bearded gentleman is a reenactor, wearing an officer's uniform from the times of The Second Republic (1918-1945). He is wearing a peaked hat model 1935, a so called "rogatywka garnizonowa" - with reinforced top, black lacquered lather visor with an oxidized metal edge. Two stripes at the top of the rim indicate a senior officer, one star and two stripes makes him a major. Modern visors are shorter, have no metal edge, but instead - one or two stripes at the edge.

Provided that I am not colour-blind, the rim is amaranth - with Polish RGB definition #E61C66, described as "clear red with a bit of pink and a tinge of purple. During the Second Republic colours of rims used to be assigned to individual regiments. [Nowadays a rim colour indicates a kind of formation of Polish Armed Forces]. Amaranth color (cap rims and in part of guidons) was assigned to several cavalry (uhlan) regiments (Pułk Ułanów), and several regiments of mounted riflemen (Pułk Strzelców Konnych). The First Light Horse Regiment also had amaranth rims, but their caps were round, not four-peaked. So here is a list of possible regiments the gentleman could represent:

1 Pułk Ułanów Krechowieckich im. płk. Bolesława Mościckiego => Krechowce fortress, near Stanisławów (Ivano-Frankovsk)
7 Pułk Ułanów Lubelskich im. gen. Kazimierza Sosnkowskiego => Lublin
9 Pułk Ułanów Małopolskich => Lesser Poland
10 Pułk Ułanów Litewskich => Lithuania
11 Pułk Ułanów Legionowych im. marszałka Edwarda Śmigłego-Rydza => Legionary
12 Pułk Ułanów Podolskich [Podolia]
20 Pułk Ułanów im. króla Jana III Sobieskiego
1 Pułk Strzelców Konnych
2 Pułk Strzelców Konnych
3 Pułk Strzelców Konnych im. hetmana polnego koronnego Stefana Czarnieckiego
4 Pułk Strzelców Konnych Ziemi £ęczyckiej => £ęczyca Region

Language / Ty ślepaku, what case is ślepak in and why? [15]

Yes, very good!

Apparently, the word "kurdupel" comes from French "Coeur de peuple". It was a nickname given to Napoleon Bonaparte. Despite its glorious beginning it is regarded as an insult today - especially when used in direct speech. See the affair of Janusz Palikot vs. Lech Kaczyński.

Language / Ty ślepaku, what case is ślepak in and why? [15]


Such beautiful, long eyelashes! Is it she? :-)
If yes, then you have to call her "łoszo!" . Definitely not "klępo!" because she might take offence.

Genealogy / The village of Surazkowo in Poland (Chomczyk, Czaban, Sawicki) [20]

Rather than searching for history of Surażkowo, gmina (municipality) of Supraśl, which is a village of no major significance (although picturesquely located in Knyszyn Primeval Forest), search for the history of the town of Supraśl (17 km away). See for example: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supra%C5%9Bl (very little in English Wikipedia), pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supra%C5%9Bl (a lot in Polish Wikipedia). Supraśl was established in 1501 by Aleksander Chodkiewicz, who was given the rights and privileges of Wojewoda (Palatinus) of Supraśl by two Kings of Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth: Aleksander Jagiellończyk (Alexander Jagiellon) in 1504 and Zygmunt I Stary (Sigismund I the Old) in 1509.

Aleksander Chodkiewicz: Koniuszy Dworski (Praefectus stabuli) of Great Lithuanian Duke since 1502, Marszałek hospodarski (Mareschalcus, Marshall of the Great Duke) (1506-1509) and (1511-1547), Starosta (Capitaneus) of Puńsk, Brześć and Knyszyn, Wojewoda (Palatinus) of Nowogródek (since 1544), holder of Wilki (Vilkija, now Lithuania) and Ostryna (now Belarus).

He established the Supraśl line of Chodkiewicz family.

Language / Ty ślepaku, what case is ślepak in and why? [15]


Yeah. :-)
Then you would like to reverse the long process of adaptation of Latin characters to Polish speech patterns. It took several centuries to get to the point where the written text is no longer ambiguous and it correctly maps to all Polish phonemes. It took 400 years, from 1200 to 1600 - more or less, to evolve the written Polish to the point where it is now. After about 200 years of orthographic and grammatical anarchy (17th-18th century), it took another 200 years to standardize the present grammar rules.

In the beginning it was S
Early 1100s was the age of ambiguity, as the first scribes attempted to match 24 Latin letters to 40-something Polish phonemes. There were no digraphs, no trigraphs, no diacritics. So for example, the character S represented several different sounds: s, ś, š (sz), z, ź, ż, t, ć. The Gniezno Bull (1136), which lists about 400 Polish names of villages and people, demonstrates this: s: Sulirad (= Sulirad), ś: Sostrosz (= Siostrosz), sz: Calis (= Kalisz), z: Posdech (= Pozdziech), ż: Krisan (= Krzyżan).

Soft phonemes ź, ř (rz) were written as hard ones t, d, r, as in: Pantis (= Pęcisz), Mantina (= Męcina), Zdeuy (= Zdziewuj), Boranta (= Borzęta).

Phoneme K was written variously:
as C before a, o, u: Calis (= Kalisz), Cochan (= Kochan), Curassek (= Kurasek)
as K before e: Nakel (= Nakieł)

Nasal sounds were a real problem - too complex to describe it here..

With time ć was represented either by c or ch: zbauicel (= Zbawiciel), smicy => smircy => śmirci (= śmierci), modlich (= modlić), bych (= być) [from Kazania Swiętokrzyskie, Holly Cross Sermons, early 14th c.]

Character g was used to represent sound j: gego (= jego), gy (= ji), angela (= anjeła).

Crossed o, ø, was introduced to represent any nasal vowel: kaiøch (= kając), sø (= są), podiøly (= podjęli).

With time (15th c.), digraphs were introduced: ss, sz, cz, dz, rz. And even trigraphs, such as sch: schuka (= 'szuka). The special digraph, ending with y, was used to indicate soft consonants: zyemye (= ziemię), lyosem (= losem), lyud (= lud), kamyen (= kamień), swyat (= świat).

Digraph ch was introduced to represent sound è (= cz).

The character y was also used to represent sound j ("jota"), especially at the beginning or the end of a syllable or a word.

Evolvement of spoken language
And you should also keep in mind that Polish spoken language evolved as well. Long gone are the times of long vowels, which still persist in Czech language - no more of (ā a) (ē e) (ō o) (ī i) (ȳ y) (ū u) duality, and their troubling visual representation. One proposal, which actually had not been implemented, was suggested in 1440 by Jakub Parkoszowic, rector of Kraków Academy: double the letters a, e, o, u to represent their long counterparts. Examples: a => Adaam, daal; e => gee (= je), umee (= umie); o => otoosz (=otóż), mood (miód); uu: kaptuur, kuur.

The slanted vowels á, é - as opposed to open vowels a, e - are also gone from Polish speech. Only the lonely ó remains, but it evolved to something sounding like u over the centuries.

Gone are soft consonants p', b', w', f', m'.
Consonant clusters have become much more simplified as well, as in:
czs > cs > c,
dźs > ćs > c,
żs > szs > ss > s
śćc > jc
dźc > ćc > jc
źdźs > śćs > js

So called yers are also gone:
pьsъ > pies (dog) but pьsa > psa (of dog)
sъnъ > sen (sleep)

Strengthening of softness: s', z ', t', d ', n' => ś, ź, ć, dź, ń, as in:
losь > łos' > łoś (elk)

Transition of softness:
gostь > gost' > gość (guest)
sъpi > spi > śpi (is asleep)
You can read all about here: History of Polish, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_the_Polish_language

The most interesting is the first part: "Phonetic processes".

Standardization of spelling

Despite several attempts towards improved spelling most authors failed to organize Polish spelling.
So practically, cleaning up and organization of Polish graph system and orthography was mainly due to printers. The printing houses attempted to simplify graphics system, which consisted mainly of simplification of digraphs and trigraphs to represent consonants unknown in Latin. They did so because diversity of language representation inhibited production of books.

Typesetters began to distinguish skewed vowels from the open ones by using slashes, they consistently distinguished between the l and ł, they have allocated the appropriate functions to y vs. i, they introduced punctuation. Until then no dots an commas were used and prepositions and short words were frequently aggregated with words that followed. The printers began using capital letters at the start of new sentences.

As you can see, the publisher-printer interfered with the text of the authors and employees of printing houses. Editors, proofreaders, typesetters - often graduates of the Kraków Academy and versed in the issues of language, incorporated wishes of their employers, who did not have to be experts in Polish language. The uniform shape of XVI c. Polish orthography is due to codifiers connected with printing houses. Among them were Jan Seklucjan, Jan Sandecki-Malecki and Jan Januszowski, who wrote a book in1594: "Nowy karakter polski ..." containing, among others, orthographic projects of writers and poest, such as Jan Kochanowski and £ukasz Górnicki.

Spelling of consonants of those times combined complex digraphs and trigraphs with diacritics. Digraphs were used for consonants cz, dz, sz, dż; soft consonants ś, ć, ź, dź were represented by acute accent; ż was written as z with dot above.

...
Following Jan Hus reforms of Czech language Stanisław Zaborowski (1513) suggested total replacement of digraphs and trigraphs by diacritics on much larger scale than introduced before by Jakub Parkoszowic. However, only - and £ survived from his proposals

Edward Polański, Reformy ortografii polskiej - wczoraj, dziś, jutro, BULLETIN DE LA SOCIÉTÉ POLONAISE DE LINGUISTIQUE, fasc. LX, 2004, ISSN 0032-3802,

====================
I am skipping further description of the continuation of the process, from the beginning of 19th c. until now. But I can say that because it was such a long complex historical process this is why we have inherited quite an inconsistent graphic system, made of combination of digraphs and diacritics. Part of it has its source in attempt in staying as close as possible to Latin (hence digraphs). Full diacritics based system could have been prohibitively expensive for printers of those days. Diacritics are also a major internalization problem. Even today, Czechs use the Polish-like digraphs "cz" and "ch" on international forum to present the name of their own country and themselves:

Česká republika (Czech Republic), Čechy (Czechy), Česko (Czechia), èeština (Czech language), etc.

The situation has dramatically improved with introduction of Internet and internalization efforts. First there were those tables of 256 characters representing all sounds and letters of groups of related languages: Latin-1, Latin-2, etc. As long as Germans could write to Frenchies using Latin-1, Poles were constricted only to those languages in Latin-2 group. A Pole could not ever write a letter to a Frenchman in proper French when simultaneously citing Polish words with diacritics.

This trouble is gone by now since introduction of Unicode. Consequently, diacritics are no longer a problem - at least in electronic media, not restricted by typesetting costs and other issues stil significant in traditional media.

So Rybnik, rather than removing these pesky diacritics, I would go all the way Czechs went. I would cleanup all the mess and replaced digraphs by diacritics:

cz => è
rz => ř
sz => š
ch => x
dz => ʒ: ʒwon (= dzwon)
dż => ǯ: ǯem (= dżem)
dź => ʒ́: ʒ́iwny (= dziwny)
And then, I would simplify everything by removing all the accents. This way we would go back to the year of Gniezno Bull, 1136 :-)

News / Polish politics: Lessons in etiquette [15]

I am sure any intelligent person understood the intent of my post #18 (see also #16). Bad behaviour of both parties aside, which is the antitype of good etiquette, Ms. Stankiewicz has shown a complete lack of logic, by putting in the same sentence the following three sub-expressions: "I do not remember exactly how", "it seems to me" and "he tugged at me and grabbed my wrists". This is why I called it "a motto of the week".

If she is going to court with this then good luck to her: courts need more than "it seems to me" and "I do not remember exactly how" - mixed with direct accusations of the type: "he killed her", "he stole it", etc. So yes, this is funny.

Jarosław Kaczyński responding to the question about his new transformation and peaceful rhetoric with respect to Euro 2012:

- There is no politician in Poland, who is more peaceful than I, and this how it has been throughout my entire 23 years of legal activity in politics.

- These are our opponents, who are interested in lowering Polish public life to the very bottom - named Stefan Niesiolowski or certain mister from Biłgoraj - he added.

PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski announced that his party does not intend to protest and disrupt the course of Euro 2012 As pointed out , the PiS led to the fact that Euro 2012 is held in Poland and Ukraine.

Head of Law and Justice , when asked how his transformation and peaceful rhetoric , which now uses ws . Euro 2012 stated that he has always had a peaceful attitude. - There is no more peaceful in Poland oriented policies than me and that was the whole 23 years of my legal activity in politics. - That our opponents are interested to Polish public life reached the bottom, which is called Deputy Parliament Speaker or pan with Bilgoray - he added.

Language / Ty ślepaku, what case is ślepak in and why? [15]

^^
Vocative, wołacz, the 7th case, often ignored. But why? :-)

Kotusiu, Pieseczku, Chrabąszczku, Myszko,
Pchełko, Jagniątku, £asiczko, Liszko,
Chrząszczku, Motylku, Krówko, Biedronko,
Kureczko, Kózko, Wróbelku, Stonko,
Jeżyku, Słowiczku, Słoniczko, Muszko,
Misiu, Karaluszku, Świerszczyku, Papużko,
Pszczółko, Jabłuszku, Agrestu, Malinko,
Jagódko, Gruszko, Śliwko, Jeżynko,
Różyczko, Bratku, Goździku, Lilijko,
Chabrze, Stokrotko, Bziku, Konwalijko,
Buraku, Buraczku, Groszku, Marchewko,
Selerze, Pietruszko, Porze i Brukiewko,
Dzionku, Dzioneczku, Gwiazdo, Gwiazdeczko,
Słonku, Słoneczku, Drożynko Mleczna,
Psipsiu, Kruszynko i jeszcze parę
– to są imiona Mojej Starej.
- Modified from the nominative to vocative cases, taken from repertoire of Tadeusz Chyła .

News / Polish politics: Lessons in etiquette [15]

Friday, 2012-05-11
Solidarity trade union blocked all the exists from Sejm building, arguing that the MPs should go back in to retract their new law about retirement age. Only the members of PiS and related parties were allowed to leave the building.

Reporter Ewa Stakiewicz attempts to interview Stefan Niesiołowski (PO) at Sejm courtyard.

She and Jan Pospieszalski directed a controversial documentary film "Solidarity 2010", about the crash of the Polish Tu-154 crash. The picture aroused much controversy. The directors were accused of lack of objectivity, biased selections of interlocutors and of their expressions, leading the interviewees, presenting professional actors and political activists as anonymous interlocutors.

NiesioIowski is known for his funny quick wit, but often politically incorrect and offensive.
=======

Stankiewicz: - Mr. deputy ...

Niesiołowski:- And where are you from?

Stankiewicz: - Ewa Stankiewicz. ....

Niesiołowski: - I do not want to talk to you. You know why. Go to Pospieszalski!

Stankiewicz: - But I am Ewa Stankiewicz. I have a separate surname and a given name.

Niesiołowski: - So you are from that movie "Solidarity", this PiS filth?

Stankiewicz: - Not the PiS filth, but the document.

Niesiołowski: - Go to PiS. Please, turn it around or I will break your camera if you continue filming me without my consent.

Niesiolowski, after she continues asking questions, getting nervous:
- Are you deaf? Go to PiS and to those PiS toadies. And do not talk to me, or I will break your camera. Please do not film me without my permission.

Then he starts yanking her camera.

Anonymous: - Forget it, she is just provoking you.

Stankiewicz: - I will call the police.

Niesiołowski: - Get out of here! (Won stad!)

Stankiewicz: But this is a public place ....

Niesiołowski, more yanking and more "Get out of here!"
Later...
-She almost broke my teeth with her camera.

An announcement from Portal Kontrowersje kontrowersje.net/tresc/100_000_tysiecy_zlotych_nagrody_za_swinski_ryj_palikota:
-We put up a prize of 100, 000 PLN for the Palikot's pig snout. It can be supplied in any form, as a whole or in pieces, but it has to be definitely dead. An alive Palikot's pig snout will definitely not be honoured. The award will be paid only for the dead Palikot's pig snout. I do not specify a time limit, this is an open hunting season for the Palikot's pig snout.

Contact: Anonymous on the part of the portal. But, on the other hand, any correspondent there is asked to provide all the pertinent data.
The introduction by: so-called "Matka Kurka", evidently known all over Internet, so he is not that anonymous, as he thinks.

And another beauty: A lead note - When Donald Tusk is going to commit suicide?

Ewa Stankiewicz, in interview for Super Express. This qualifies as motto of the week:
- I do not remember exactly how, but it seems to me that he tugged at me and grabbed my wrists. He just was furious.

He attacked me directly , physically . I do not remember exactly how , but it seems to me that tugged and grabbed me by the wrists . I just was furious - he says in an interview with " Super Express " Ewa Stankiewicz , referring to the incident with Mr Stefan Niesiołowski .