Genealogy / Old Polish town names sounding like Task [2]

Indeed, the Anglos often have problems with and misread the Polish barred £ as a T. There are localties in Poland called £ask and £aski.

Genealogy / Searching for Koczela from Temeszow [18]

Perusing a Polish armorial, I happened to stumble acorss Koczela as a clan-name. The coat of arms is shown all in white (meaning that the actual colour scheme is unknown). It depcits a chailce or goblet with a triangle above it. Little else is known about this rather osbcure heraldic device, but it's interesting that there is one.

Genealogy / Looking for Chrabaszewski Relatives in Poland [7]

CHRABASZEWSKI: The -ewski ending suggests a topo nick, hencn a way of indicating a native of Chrabaszewo. The root chrab- appears in the word chrabąszcz (a kind of beetle, maybug), the verb chrabęścić (to rustle or make a scratching sound in the underbrush) or possibly chrabry, a form of chrobry, and archaic word for brave as in the first King of Poland Boelsław Chrobry. Depending on which root actually gave that locality its name, we could translate it as either Beetleburg, Rustleton or Braveville. Take your pick!

News / Kaczynski to be buried at Wawel ?! [289]

No, Miłosz was buried at another site reserved for prominent people, the Church at Skałka. There were protests against this because Miłosz had gone on record saying he was not a Pole but a Lithuanian, accepted a high-ranking Lithuanian decoration but not a Polish one and even said he was ashamed to be Polish. He once wrote (apparently to ingratiate himself with influential American Jewry) that: "Polish is the language of cowards, (Gestapo) informers and szmalcownicy."

Whatever the case, Miłosz was ultimately buried at Skałka and Michnik triumphed and said the hate-mongers who had raised a row over his coffin had lost. Now the same Michnik and his crowd, aided by Wajda, have disrupted the solemnity of national mourning to quibble over the presidential couple's place of eternal rest. That has incited other grumblers in the land of "liberum veto" to crawl out of the woodwork, make a fuss, stage noisy protests and act like "dumb Polacks".

USA, Canada / Polish/European Food in North Carolina [7]

Merged: Polish food down in N. Carolina

A while ago someone wqas asking abotu Polish food sources in North Cariolina...This is what I was abkle to dig up:
There is one Polish Deli in Greensboro - Integro integrodeli
Same owners have deli in Raleigh, the Polonez - polonezdeli
In Durham-- Halgo - halgo-durham.com

Genealogy / I am looking for my family. Hart or Hort [12]

HART: if Jewish/German it would mean hard, difficult, harsh, severe, etc. IF Polish, it might be a misspelling of chart (greyhound). 88 people in Poland today use it. 90% of pre-war Poland's some 3 mln Jews perished in the Holocaust, making tracking down Jewish relatives rather difficult.

Genealogy / Looking for my Polish family (Wieruszow area) [7]

Quels sont les surnoms? (What are the surnames?)

Genealogy / Wisniewski name research [10]

WIŚNIEWSKI: topo nick from Wiśniew or Wiśniewo (Cherryville)

Genealogy / Finding my Famliy, Kaliszewski [3]

KALISZEWSKI: possibly topo nick from the town fo Kalisz

Genealogy / Szydelko, Pater - Lost Relatives [4]

KASIERSKI: probably regional variant of Kosiorski (form kosior — a wooden board attached to a long handle for removing hot coals and ash)

SZYDE£KO: awl (leather worker’s tool)

PATER: Latin for father; oen of the Latin prayer derived surnames including Deus (God), Meus (my, mine), Dominus (Lord), Mater (mother), Frater (brother), Noster (our as in Pater Noster – the Lord’s Prayer), Korpus (body), etc.

Genealogy / Looking for Woleski or Wolenski [3]

WOLEŃSKI: topo nick from Woleń

WOLEWSKI: (Woleski is not used in today’s Poland ); possibly topo nick from one of the numerous places called Wola (Freetown) – settlements absolved from taxes for a set period to help get them started

WALECKO: possibly patronymic nick from first names Walery or Walenty

WALESKO: as above

WA£ĘSKI: possibly patronymic nick from Wałęsa (loiterer, lay-about) or descriptive from verb wałęsać się (to loiter, loaf, be a vagrant)

KANIA: the kite (a bird of prey)

KUBISZ: from Kuba (short for Jakub)

KULIK: curlew or pewit (bird)

KO£ODZIEJ: wheelwright, cartwright

Genealogy / Last name Poludnianyk [2]

PO£UDNIANYK(?): At first glance one can see that the root of this name is polłudnie (the south or noon). So it might have meant the southerner or the noon guy. (The latter seems unlikely because the idea of shift work is a rather recent development). The -yk ending suggests its Ukrainian origin (Polish would probably be -ik).

The only surnames currently used in Poland incroproatign the połud- root are:
Połuda, Połudkiewicz, Południa, Południak, Południewski, Południk, Południkiewicz, Południok, Południowska, Południuk, Połudworanin, Połudziak and Połudzień. Południk also means meridian.

Genealogy / My father Jozef Nawrot, he played football for the Polish national side - any relatives in Krakow? [4]

NAWROT: the Czech-influenced Nawrat and other forms such as Nawrocki usually originated to describe a convert, someone who had changed his faith. It could have also originated as a toponymic nickname for an inhabitant of Nawra.

Genealogy / Information on last name Geras [12]

GIERASIMOWICZ and Harasymowicz (and probably a few other variants) exist in today's Poland. You only gave Geras, and that was all I had to go on. Obviously the -wicz ending is of patronymic origin and means 'son of Gierasim'. The G version defintiely indicates eastern (Russian, Urkainian, Belarussian) origin.

Genealogy / Information on last name Geras [12]

GERAS: probably short for Gerasym, the Ukrainian equivalent of the first name Harasim or Harasym; the Lithuanian conenction cannot be ruled out since nearly all Lithuanian surnames end in -s.

IRA: probably from ir or irzyk (also jurzyk, jerzyk), archaic term for a bird of the sparrow family

UK, Ireland / Anglican bishops protest as nurse is banned from wearing cross [13]

Wh*res and tr*llops, many of whom for some resason seem to fancy this particular symbol, should be banned from blasphemously wearing crosses round their necks.

History / Jagiełło's blunder or design? [6]

I wonder whether Jagiełło might not have wanted the continued existence of the Teutonic state for its high productivity, development and potential tax revenues. However, if he could have possibly envisaged the headaches a Germanic enclave would pose in future(base of expnasion, the partitions, 1939 atack base, etc.), he would have moved in and finished the job, raising the Polish flag over Marienburg (Malbork) castle. Without Ostpreßen, WW2 might have never come to pass or would have unfolded quite differently.

Genealogy / Looking for info on the name Guligowski [14]

On the contrary, only 70 people in Poland are named Guligowski, and their obvious ancestral nest is central Poland's £ódź region (57) with a bit of spill-over into the neighbouring Sieradz area (9). Haivng a rare surname is often a boon to those wishing to track down theri roots.

You would be worse off if your name were Kuligowski (more than 4,000 users with an epicentre in and around the northern city of Bydgoszcz).

Genealogy / Looking for info on the name Guligowski [14]

GULIGOWSKI: The -owski ending almost always indicates toponymic origin, however, no locality such as Guligów or Guligowo can be found. The only word in Polish incorporating the first part is guli-guli (also gulu-gulu) a word imitating someone drinking. There is an off-chance that the village drunk might have been humorously dubbed Guligowski. My hunch is that this was a misheard and misspelt version of Kuligowski which is far more common and is traceable to existing places: Kuligów and Kuligowo. Root-word kulig=sleigh ride or a bird–the curlew (properly kulik). So those places might be translated as Sleighton or Curlewville.

USA, Canada / Polish cigarettes to the USA as a gift sent from Poland? [7]

I have been told (and correct me if I'm wrong) that Polish soil and weather conditons are conducive to growing only the stronger, darker types of tobacco, not ther midler Virginia or other smooter-tasting 'blond' types. I used to smoke filterless Camels the US and Extra Mocne or Gauloises in Europe + a pipe (Union Leader in the US) and Najprzedniejszy flavoured with a pinch of Amphora red in Poland), but luckily kicked the habit in 1993.

USA, Canada / Michigan Polish markets and places? [20]

There are Polish food sources in the Muskegon area (sausage, baked goods) including
Old World deli at 2037 E Laketon Ave in Muskegon, MI

USA, Canada / Polish Language Newspapers available in the US [21]

I believe none of these papers appear anymore with the possible exception of God's Field, a publication of the Scranton-based Polish National Catholic Church.

Check it out at: chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn89008535/

Genealogy / Information on the Pikul or Trzaskos family [10]

The meanings come from a knowledge of Polish, the figures from: herby.com.pl

Food / Cheesecake sernik for Polish Easter? [14]

For sernik z kaszą manną see:
mojeciacha.blogspot.com/2009/02/puszysty-sernik-z-kasza-manna.html

Food / Cheesecake sernik for Polish Easter? [14]

Isn't it called kaszka manna in Polish?

Genealogy / Information on the Pikul or Trzaskos family [10]

TRZASKOS: only 2 users, 1 each in SE Poland's Krosno and Nowy Sącz areas (Góral country).

PIKUL: some 1900 users, the most in SE Poland's Tarnów and Lublin areas.