Posts by Smolarek

Smolarek

12 Apr 2010

News / Poland President National Mourning in Some Countries [212]

Hello to everyone,

My condolences to the Polish people for this national tragedy. I came to this site by accident when googling for information about the accident. I don't know a lot about Poland, but Katyn is one of the few events that I knew quite well. I learned most of it from a BBC documentary about Stalin a short while ago. The irony of this situation must be damning.

Turkey will have its flags at half-mast at the day that the Polish president will be buried. The day will be announced as an official day of mourning. Foreign Minister Babacan called him a very important leader and said he hoped his past services and memories will help in dealing with the suffering. Polish ambassador Marcin Wilczek thanked the Turkish people for their sharing of the pain.

Smolarek

12 Apr 2010

Language / A couple of questions relating to Polish names and terms [7]

In the past, while randomly surfing on the web, I've tried to find some info about the phenomenon of 'Lech/Leg/Leh(?)', but I couldn't find a satisfactory amount of info.

-Since when do Poles call their country "Polska"?

-Has there ever been a time when it was called something like 'Lechia"?

-Has there ever been a period where the Polish language/dialect was called something based on this 'Lech-' stem?

-Since when do Poles and/or outsiders view Polish as a independent language instead of a dialect?

-Does the personal Lech name just mean "Pole" or does it have another meaning? What is the original, pre-national meaning of Lech, if it ever had such a meaning?

-Are Legia (as in Legia Warschau) and the personal name Lech related to each other?

Based on the answers, I will probably have some extra questions/remarks. By the way, Dutch and Turkish are my motherlanguages with English being a later acquired language.

Thanks in advance.

Smolarek

12 Apr 2010

Language / A couple of questions relating to Polish names and terms [7]

Actually, I did found some info about my questions. Strangely, not at the 'Poland' entry on Wiki, but at the 'Polish' entry. Would still love to hear some answers.

Thank you for your reaction. I didn't know that its role was this small. I guess I was somewhat biased because until not very long ago Polish was referred to as "Lehçe" in Turkish and Lithuanians and Hungarians are still using Lengyelország and Lenkija for Poland.

Smolarek

15 Apr 2010

News / GERMANS WANT TO GERMANIZE KOPERNIK (COPERNICUS)! OUTRAGE! [1016]

Copernicus probably cared less about his "national identity" during his entire life than this single thread did.

Smolarek

15 Apr 2010

News / Poland President National Mourning in Some Countries [212]

I think I read that the Ottoman State was the only country to have never recognized Poland's loss of independence against Russia and Austria-Hungary. Poland, even in the 19th century, has always had an ambassador in Istanbul.

Here is a nice memory of that:

It's in a village called Polonezköy (Adampol) near Istanbul. Together with Nazim Hikmet, it's probably one of Turkey's important symbolic links with Poland.

By the way, the name Lehistan is not in use anymore. Poland has been called Polonya for many decades now. In fact, most people probably wouldn't have a clue what Lehistan means and one can't find it in most dictionaries.

Smolarek

17 Apr 2010

News / Poland President National Mourning in Some Countries [212]

Who are you to claim that "Turks were and still are mortal enemy of Poland"? I have read some of your posts and it is frightening how obsessed you are with historical events and continuation of past fights. It's all about intentions. Instead of being happy that Turkey and Poland have had good relations for a very long time, you want to go back far enough in history to find reasons for fights.

I, as a Turkish and Dutch citizen, hope that Holland and Turkey will continue to have good relations with Poland and other Slavic countries and I'm hopeful they will.