CIS£O: possible root-word cis (yew tree); verb ciskać (to throw); verbal adj. obcisły (tight-fitting /garment/); topo nick from Cisie, Cisowo, Cisowa, Cisów, etc. (Yewville, Yewton); or Polish adaptation of Russian name Tисло.
Since the faint 'f' sound in Zalewski is barely audible, these two names are pronounced almost identically in normal speech. Their etymology however is a different story.
ZALESKI: comprises the prepositional prefix za (beyond) and the root-word las~les (wood, forest). It emerged therefore either as a topographic nickname to indicate someone living beyond the forest or as a toponymic tag for someone hailing from a locailty called Zalesie (Overwood).
ZALEWSKI: the root here is the word zalew (lagoon, inlet, bay). Topographically the adjecival nickame Zalewski would have been used to identify someone living on or near such a body of water or toponymically to indicate a native of a village known as Zalew or Zalewo.
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BRZOZOWSKI: Certainly a possibility. If this had indeed been the soruce then it would have origianted as a topo nick from Brzozów or Brzozowo (Birhcville).
Another possibiltiy is:
BROŻEWSKI: In the USA Polish surnames ending in -ewski are often mispronounced -uski, so this could have been an attempt to respell the name the way it was widely pronounced. Brożewski would have been a patronymic from Broż, short for Ambroży (Ambrose).
CHARCZUK: -czuk is a traditional Ukrainian patronymic indicator. The root of this surname is the verb charkać/charczeć (to clear one's throat, wheeze, growl, speak with a hoarse voice). Such a one might have been nicknamed Charko and when he sired a son, fellow-villagers would have given the offspring ther Charczuk tag. The more Polish equivalent is Charczak.
MRUCZKOWSKI: probably topo nick from a localtiy such as Mroczków or Mroczkowo (Mumbleton, Mutterville); mruczeć = mutter, mumble, murmur or purr like a cat.
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BOBROWSKI: root-word bóbr (beaver); topo nick from Bobrów or Bobrorwo (Beaverton).
MAZUR: Masurian/Mazurian; an inhabitant of northern Poland's Mazury region known for its lakes and forests. For centuries it had been part of German East Prussia.
MAJEWSKI: root-word maj (month of May). Probably origianted either as a topo nick from Majewo (Mayville, Mayfield) or as an indicator of the month someone was born or converted to Catholicism in.
The respelling is understandable, because there would be a tendency in Angloland to Anglo-mangle Majewski into some such monstrosity as ma-JOO-ski. The best respelling would have been Mayeski (because the f-sound of the letter w is barely audible anyway, so why bother indicating it?).
DRZYZGA: regional version of drzazga (splinter, sliver, wood chip); typical peasant name based on words denoting common household objects, food, crops, animals, etc.
TREMBECKI/TRĘBECKI: probably originated either as a patronymic tag 'son of the horn-player or trumpeter' (trębacz) or a topo nick from places such as Tręby, Trębaczew, etc.
DUCHNOWSKI: topo nick from Duchnów, a village near Warsaw. Root-word duch (spirit, ghost, spectre), hence the locality could be roughly trasnlatable as Spiritville, Spectreton or Ghostburg.
Looking into some roots history, am from families Pikula and Chodan. I know nothing of family beyond two generations and am trying to research... From what I can gather Chodan would more than likely have come from Chodakowski and would be of Russian origin. My family hail from the south-eastern region, a small farming village called Czerce, near Sieniawa, just out of Jaroslaw. As the town is so far east, it sounds fairly accurate as Jaroslaw was founded by a Russian/Ukraine line. Anyway, anyone who could point me further would be great. Also, Squeak-Walker would be the rough English translation of the hiphenated names, which i find thoroughly amusing.
PIKULA: a trifle, something or someone insignificant; originally from Italian piccolo (small, tiny).
CHODAN: multiple sources possible including the first name Chodor (variant of Teodor, Fiodor); choda (peasant dialect fro foot path); also toponymic possibilities including Chodanie and Chodaków.
CHLIPA£A: from the verb chlipać (sip audibly, slurp a beverage; sob; gurgle of a brook); this is one of a group of verb-derived nicknames-turned-surnames, usually in the past tense and most often in feminine form. Other include Biegała, Gwizdała, Śmigała, Przybył, etc.
BUDZIŃSKI/BUDZYŃSKI: probably topo nick from localities such as Budzyń, Budzień, Budzisław, Budzisz, Budzisko; or patronymic source: son of Budzisław (Budzio for short).
NOTE: To repeat, when you see a Polish name ending in -ski, first reach for the atlas, since more likely than not they are of toponymic origin. Nearly all -owski and -ewski ending surnames are toponymic.
CIESZEWSKI: Like nearly all surnames ending in-owski or -ewski this most likely emerged as a topo nick for someone from Cisza, Cisze or Ciszewo (roughly translatable as Quietville, Stillton, Silentburg, etc.).
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Mea maxima culpa! Forgot to switch off my computer's typo-creating attachment. It should be CISZEWSKI, not Cieszewski.
£OTOŻYŃSKI: the root may have something to do either with flying (lot, latać) or patching (łotoszyć); another possible source could be łotocz (a yellow wild flower). -ski endings usually indicate a toponymic source, but the only thing close is in the Moscow region of Russia: Лотошино (£otoszyno). Who knows - maybe some Muscovite pedlar, mercenary or traveller wandered west into the sprawling Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, liked what he saw, married a local lass, put down roots, fathered kids....etc.
MAZUR: Masurian/Mazurian; an inhabitant of northern Poland's Mazury region known for its lakes and forests. For centuries it had been part of German East Prussia.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Masur
Kurt Masur (born 18 July 1927) is a German conductor, particularly noted for his interpretation of German Romantic music.
VILUDSKI (???): The letter 'v' does not exist in indigenous Polish names. Other spellings such as Wiludski, Wiludzki, Wyłudzki, Wyludzki, Wieludzki, etc. -- also could not found. Please re-check your ancestors' Old World documents.
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