he word szczyrkowa is curious - but I am no dialects expert - there is a place Szczyrk near Ustroń and Wisła - there must be some connection but I don't know what szczyrk means
I guess "szczyrkowa" comes from the highlander word "szczyrkać"; in Polish - terkotać, grzechotać, brzeczeć; in English - to rattle. Hence szczyrkowa => rattlesnake.
The etymology of the name "Szczyrk" is not obvious, as there are at least two distinct possibilities.
Recently, for example, residents and local authorities of Szczyrk pushed through another form of the adjective: "szczyrkowski", rather than "szczyrecki" (the one that figured in dictionaries so far). So long they persisted in the form of szczyrkowski, given to the street names and the institutions, such as "Szczyrkowski Ośrodek Narciarski" (Szczyrk's Ski Resort) that it finally found its way to "Wielki Słownik Ortograficzny PWN" (Great Spelling Dictionary PWN) as an alternative to "szczyrecki", and it was even placed in the first place (by adding a qualifier old to "szczyrecki"). The argument was apparently persuasive. According to the highland tradition, the name of Szczyrk comes in fact from "szczyrkanie" (For example, stones in Żylica river, flowing through the city, rattle ("szczyrkają") and bells on the necks of sheep grazing on mountain pastures also "szczyrkają", rattle). According to the "old" explanation the adjective "szczyrecki" comes from the word "szczyrek, szczerek", which means 'sandy soil, gravel'.
As an addendum, this joke demonstrates a use of the word "szczyrkać"
Było to w Opolu. Jest to szczyro prowda. Jeden pijok szedł do dom i po drodze wpodł do świeżo wykopanego grobu. Nad ranem było jednak trochę zimno, to się obudził i zaczął zębami szczyrkać i wołać: "Brr...jak mi zimno". Groborz to usłyszoł i pado:
- To po cos sie pieronie wykopoł?!
This was in Opole. And this is a true story. One drunk fell into the freshly dug grave on his way home. In the morning it was getting a bit cold, so he woke up with his teeth chattering and he cried out: "Brr ... I'm so cold!" A gravedigger, hearing this, responded: So why did you dig yourself out, by thunder!?
