Life / Babcia or Busha - any social class difference? [359]


You called me a liar. All I see is that your logic is pitifully screwed here. But go on..

Life / Babcia or Busha - any social class difference? [359]


Another person with language comprehension problem. Go to the OP and read carefully the first 10 lines. All examples given there referred to "babusia", including dictionaries, dialects and literary examples. But no, Harry saw "busia" instead in his mind. So yes, he twisted my intent.

I used Busia in different context, but not in that one.

Life / Babcia or Busha - any social class difference? [359]


I said "This word has been in Polish dictionaries for ages, along many other endearing forms" - referring to "babusia".
I did not say "busia", I said "babusia". So no Harry, you are twisting my words on purpose.

And Harry, until you start reading with comprehension there is no sense discussing anything with you. I advice you to go back to my original post and read it again. Did you miss the word "hypocoristic", that have been used at least 5 times, following the original author? Hypocoristic, hypocorism? "I speak the language of children?": babusia -> busia.

And Harry, staying on topic would be helpful too. And the topic is: "Babuś and buś as male derivative words from babusia and busia"

So let me summarize for you:
Kociewie
babusia -> babuś (grandfather)
babusia -> hypocorism: busia -> buś (grandfather)

South Kaszuby

babusia -> babuś
babusia -> hypocorism: busia -> buś
babusia -> hypocorism: buš'a -> diminutive buš'ka -> buš'k (grandfather)
(I am following the spelling of Hanna Mukarat, not the official Kasshubian spelling)


Where did I say that Kashubian is a Polish dialect? I was careful to call it a language. However the beginning of the discussion, and the heart of it, started with the concept of "Kociewie" ethnocultural region. The author of that article clearly distinguished it from South Kashubian and from Kashubian-Krajna border. All three of them are clearly described in Wikipedia. So no, you cannot call either Krajna or Kociewie the Kaszuby proper.

From Polish wikipedia:


Did you see it? Kociewiacy are not Kaszuby, not Lasaki and not Borusy!
pl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Plik:Kociewie_pl.svg&filetimestamp=20070702182524

Have you ever been to Bory Tucholskie? Have you ever taken a kayak down the Wda (Czarna Woda) river? That's Kociewie.

Originally, those areas were settled by Kashubians. However, influx of Polish colonists into areas previously inhabited by Pomeranian Kashubian caused the formation of the Kociewie dialect.


I did not say that. All I said was


That's exactly it. I bet you that most of them are just "mongrels": mixed Polish/Kashubian. Be careful whom you interview around Barrys Bay and Wilno. Some declare themselves pure Kashubian, some Polish/Kashubian, and that includes the successful chairmans of the organization - variously referring to itself Canada's Polish/Kashub Cultural Heartland, etc. Go check the "Wilno" link and you will see all three flags in their front page.

Life / Babcia or Busha - any social class difference? [359]

Merged: Babuś and buś as male derivative words from babusia and busia

I will start with the simple and obvious case of "babusia". This word has been in Polish dictionaries for ages, along many other endearing forms. But then the "anti-busia" propaganda trio here somehow tried to single out "babusia/busia" as a Ukrainian word and run with it through many threads. Actually "babusia" appears in Polish literary language as well, not just dialects. For example:

Jan Kasprowicz, "Z Chałupy"[1887], VII (poetry)
Ewa Szelburg-Zarembina "Dla dziadziusia, dla babusi" (children poetry)
Bronisław Teodor Grabowski "Babusia" (stories)
"Babusia" is also part of many dialects, including those from Western and Northern Poland, disconnected from Ruthenian regions as much as they could be. See for example "Gwary polskie", Dialekt wielkopolski, Wielkopolska Południowa: gwarypolskie.uw.edu.pl/index.php?option=com_content&task=vi ew&id=825&Itemid=17

But here is something even more interesting:
kaszubi.pl, Teki Kociewskie, zeszyt 1, Hanna Makurat, Babuś and buś of Kociewie region.
According to "The language atlas of Kashubian and of the neighbouring dialects"[1, p. 234] the following forms are the counterparts of the nationwide word "dziadek" (grandfather) in the Kociewie area: babuś, buś, lól, lólek, opa, opapa, starusz(e)k, dziad(e)k, dziadul, dziadul(e)k , dziadzia, dziadzio, dziaduś, dziadziuś. Most of these forms are also evidenced in other Polish dialectal areas. Only the words babuś, buś are limited to the Kociewie region and - to some lesser extent - to the neighbouring areas: southern Kaszuby, Kaszuby-Krajna border and Tuchola area.

Etymology of the words babuś, buś (grandfather) should be connected with the Old Slavonic core "bab" (derived from "baba"). According to Aleksander Brückner[2], the original form of "baba", initially did not have any strict meaning, and it underwent multiple transformations in various Slavic languages and dialects - created from various diminutive and hypocoristic forms.

Babuś (grandfather) of Kociewie region is the derivative form created from the feminine babusia (grandmother). On the other hand the word busia (grandma), derived from hypocoristic form of babusia (grandmother), became the basis for the creation of derivative buś (grandfather). Derivatives babuś, buś are one of the very few examples in the history of Polish and Kashubian languages and their dialects where male forms have been created from the female ones.

Analogous processes occur in Kashubian dialects: from the form babusia (grandmother) the derivative word babuś (grandfather) was formed, and beside the word busia (hypocoristic of babusia) other related female forms appear: buš'a and its diminutive form buš'ka. From the latter the male form buš'k (grandfather) has been derived, as well as buš'kov'e' (grandparents) , and buš'kov'izna ( supporting grandparents for life).

The following may, or may not, be in any connection to Polish-American "busia". First Kashubian pioneers settled in Renfrew County, Ontario in 1858, where their descendants still reside, around the village of Wilno - altogether 9,380 Poles/Kushubs in 2001.

wilno.org
ottawa.polemb.net/index.php?document=152

[1] Atlas językowy kaszubszczyzny i dialektów sąsiednich, oprac. przez zespół Zakładu Słowianoznawstwa PAN, pod kierunkiem Z. Stiebera, z. V, cz. I Mapy, Wrocław 1968, mapa 234.

[2] Aleksander Brückner, Słownik Etymologiczny języka polskiego/baba, Kraków 1927

pl.wikisource.org/wiki/Słownik_etymologiczny_języka_polskiego/baba

• 
  wilno.jpg
  

Genealogy / Mackowiak surname, Maćkowiak [17]

Yes, and then one of Maćkowiaks became a king: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Matt_the_First

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

This may mean nothing but you might want to know this:


pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czaban

The inhabitants of the city of Chrzanów, Małopolskie Province, are still jokingly called "czabans", as Chrzanów and surrounding villages used to be inhabited by immigrant czabans - deriving their origin from the shepherds (herdsmen) who came to the lands of Little Poland, together with Tatar invasion in 1241.

Life / Mishmash facts about Poland and Poles [181]


news.coinupdate.com/great-orchestra-of-christmas-charity-coin-launched-in-poland-1116/

Obverse: A tree with with guitar shaped trunk and heart shaped leaves.
Reverse: A piano keyboard cascading up and down the left side of the coin along with the Poland's Eagle and the coin's face value of 10 Zlotych.

• 
  Obverse
  
• 
  Reverse
  

Life / Polish Christmas Carols - your favorites? [20]

The title of "Mizerna, cicha" carol is variously translated as "Shabby, quiet", "Miserable and quiet" or such. The rhymed English translation I found somewhere on Internet starts with the words "Barn, poor and silent". I selected two interpretations of this lovely little carol:

1. Krzysztof Klenczon, Mizerna Cicha,
youtube.com/watch?v=adqw_PHGT1k
Klenczon was a member (vocal, guitar) of a legendary 1960s band "Czerwone Gitary" [The band vanished from the Polish musical scene in 1980s, revived in 1990s, still performing]. He died in a car accident (killed by a drunk driver) in 1981 in Chicago.

2. Ewa Malas-Godlewska, Mizerna Cicha
youtube.com/watch?v=j2CoBamcHMA
She is a Polish opera singer - a lyric coloratura soprano - residing in France.


- Wikipedia

Barn, poor and silent, 

Heavenly island

Full of eternal glory 

Jesus asleep now, 

Lies in the crib, how

Does start salvation story?

While Christ is lying 

Angels come flying 

Kneel down while hiding their faces 

With golden hair 

High in the air 

Praising God for all His graces

While Virgin's bearing

Whole world is cheering

Power of devil is broken 

Devil's imprisoned 

God's sun has risen 

Doors of the Heaven are open.

Life / Polish Christmas Carols - your favorites? [20]

Bóg się rodzi (God is being born) - English lyrics
With the passing years, more and more Polish people are able to speak English, and many lovely English translations of Polish Carols appear every year, including "Bóg się rodzi". I just randomly picked two of he pack. However, none of the two contains the patriotic fragment "Raise your hand the God's Baby, bless the lovely fatherland".

Version 1: Bóg się rodzi (God is being born)


Version 2: Bóg się rodzi (God is being born)


europeisnotdead.com/audio/melodies-of-europe/european-christmas-carols/poland-bog-sie-rodzi

Some of you may enjoy this 50 minutes lecture "Mazurkas and Christmas Lullabies", delivered by Professor Adrian Thomas on December 1, 2005,

gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/mazurkas-and-christmas-lullabies

Gresham College, London's oldest Higher Education Institution, founded in 1597, has provided free public talks within the City of London for over 400 years. Recorded lectures can be watched directly on their website or downloaded either in audio or video form. Their wide range offerings - from mathematics to politics - include music category, with several past lectures dealing with Polish music:

St Stanislaus and Student Revelries,
Before Chopin,
Music in History,
Music in the Age of Copernicus,
Henryk Gorecki,
Canzonas and Easter Masses,
Chopin in hands of others,
Music an nationhood,
Lutoslawski,
and many more..

Life / Polish Christmas Carols - your favorites? [20]


Franciszek Karpiński (1741-1825) was an author of several religious songs, including the Carols "Bóg się rodzi" and "Bracia patrzcie jeno". The lyrics of "Bóg się rodzi" (God is born) was first time published in 1792 in a songbook entitled "Devotional Songs". The Karpinski's text was sung to different melodies. The currently used melody, maintained in the rhythm of the polonaise, is attributed to Karol Kurpiński (1785-1857), but a folk origin is not being excluded.

There is a persistent legend about the origin of the melody as it being a coronation polonaise for Polish Kings. Personally, I would file such claims under the section containing a story of "a Polish Princess Wanda who did not want to marry a German (Prince) and committed suicide jumping into the Vistula river".

Life / Polish Christmas Carols - your favorites? [20]


I know fifteen or so traditional Carols that I am not sick of listening to and singing them once a year. The ones I specifically like have something special in them: interesting melodic line (Mędrcy Świata), fanfare-like opening with men voices (Bracia patrzcie jeno), a distinct Polonaise rhythm (Bóg się rodzi). I also like some sentimental lullabies (Gdy Sliczna Panna), several modern Carols loaded with student cabarets' history (Preisner - Kolęda DLA Nieobecnych), few highlander Carols, and simple but heart breaking melodies such as "Mizerna Cicha" by Ewa Malas Godlewska.

One teaser for a start:

Bracia patrzcie jeno (Shepherds see the glory)
This is actually "pastorałka" (Latin: pastoralis), a folk theatric Carol, of jolly, idyllic character - often including a pastoral topic.

1. Men's Choir "Gorol" from Czech Republic, gorol.cz
youtube.com/watch?v=NgOAo8GMvWU
2. Nowodworski High School Choir, Kraków
youtube.com/watch?v=HQRlZL1BGIg

Shepherds, see the glory!
Hear the angels' story!
Lo, the skies are blazing,
Gleam in light amazing!

Leave your sheep, all care and worry;
Leave the plains to see the fury;
Onward to David's City,
To the royal city, to Bethlehem!

Dazzling in the shadows,
o'er the fields and meadows.

See, the star proclaiming,
glory to the Baby!

Leave your sheep ...

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1442]

Some Polish and German sausages are sold raw. Typical are "white sausage" varieties: Bavarian "Weisswurst" (veal and pork bacon) and its Polish counterpart "biała kiełbasa" (pork and veal). They are usually flavoured with parsley, lemon, mace, onions, ginger and cardamom, though there are some variations (in Polish cuisine the marjoram is a must).

These sausages are very delicate and frying them would be considered a culinary horror. Grilling is acceptable, but simmering them (short of boiling ) is a king of the method. They are usually served with very mild mustard or horse radish in Poland. The boiled variety are also served with (actually in) "żur, or "żurek" (farmer's soup, rye flour soup, sour flour soup).

You made a big mistake by refusing your locator's offer. They are delicious. Well, here comes a declaimer: not always, I once discarded one of German's "Weisswurst" dishes because I could not stand some unidentified spice, which it was flavoured with.

Life / Poles - the Nation of Liars? [478]


Your prerogative.

Life / Poles - the Nation of Liars? [478]

So Wedle had to say his last meaningless words again. So he must be Polish, because supposedly and according to one of the threads here - "ONLY POLISH ARE NEVER WRONG". Everyone else knows how to quit. Man you are so cheap, pretending to care about Poland.

Life / Poles - the Nation of Liars? [478]


I hear that cheating on exams in Poland is more prevalent than anywhere else in Western Europe.

But not unique:


ccl-cca.ca/ccl/Newsroom/Releases/20100706AcademicDishonesty.html

Life / Poles - the Nation of Liars? [478]


I can only laugh at that..

Montreal, one of the biggest cities of our clean, honest, beautiful Canada is also a world capital of the telemarketing and phone scammers and fraudsters - having no objection to blindly rob old people of all their worldly possessions. They do it to both Canadians, as well as to Americans. You just do not realize how naive 80 years person can be at time. There are many types of scams: a long lost grandson calling for cash is one of the most "touchy" one.

Direct swindlers operate around senior homes in Toronto, typically attempt to befriend an old person, offer some services requiring some prepayment and then run away. They are caught by police some time, but since they operate in gangs money usually disappear.

Scamming is based on lying, and do I say "All Canadians are cheaters and liars"? But yet your have had no objection to say it about Poles.

Construction frauds are very popular in Ontario too, involving contractors who do cheating, stealing, misrepresenting, overcharging, substituting bad material for the good, etc. How is it typically Polish, might I ask? My buddy is just doing renovation of his house, and he is not naive and he knows his way around tools and materials, but he is already tired of dealing with so many crooks and dishonest people. Do you want to hear some individual stories?

Life / Poles - the Nation of Liars? [478]


This was simply a criticism of the following Wedle's own advice:


I have just shown how weak his own advice was: he could apply it to any country in the world, including Haiti, or whatever. No, I did not care for actual google numbers. They just looked funny in that context, and they still are.

And nothing changes the fact that he still insistently and foolishly clings to the unfair name of the topic of this thread, which is not even being supported by the OP any more. I still say, this is a stupid generalization, and none of my friends and family deserves this. I thought I clearly explained it twice before.

Life / Poles - the Nation of Liars? [478]


Well, yours is Polish Google, so it must be biased. Mine is Canadian. :-)

Life / Poles - the Nation of Liars? [478]


So do I, but it's time consuming.. :-)

Life / Poles - the Nation of Liars? [478]


Forget it. He was trying to be nice to Poles for a change and paddled back with some positive example.

But Wedle was caught in his own trap … again; these are the numbers for google results for <corruption some-country>, as he advised:
Poland 24,900,000
Britain 46,200,000
Italy 55,500,000
France 108,000,000
Noooooo… :-)
Magdalena, you cannot convince a man, who once created a thread "Does your Polish partner suffer from disposophobia" based on his own singular experience with his wife's packrat behaviour.

Life / Poles - the Nation of Liars? [478]

Wedle:
You completely missed both of our points. But I let it go, and this is my last answer to you in this thread, because "Wedle is never wrong" and never knows when to quit. Oops, you are not Polish, are you?

Life / Poles - the Nation of Liars? [478]


I assumed it was a joke, but this was not about ANTI, it was about generalizations. Many posters here NEVER, or should I say - RARELY, guard their statements with "some", "10% of", etc. when describing their own, often quite limited, experience with some subset of local population. From this point of view the both statements: "Poles - the Nation of Liars" and "Polish women are busty" have exactly ZERO truth value. Some are busty and some are liars. And if you want to generalize you better show some provable statistics.

But as everywhere else there are some exceptions: I noticed few gentlemen here who are always careful with any generalization.

Going back on topic: I could say that many Poles could feel rightfully offended by the OP's generalization. Many - including my closest family - do no lie, are honest, keep their appointments, try to be just in their dealing with others, etc.

Life / Poles - the Nation of Liars? [478]

According to PF users the Poles are obsessed with race, do not observe food hygiene, Polish men wear crew cuts, hate Muslims, are a nation of liars, are miserable all the time, never smile, have temper, Polish men are ugly, collaborated with Nazis, do not practise circumcision, have big noses, have special Polish looks, hate Russians and Germans, have not a good ear for music, have low opinion of Romanians, eat bacon that does not fry up, Polish women are disgusting, fat, lying, and they cheat UK immigration; Polish women used to be more attractive, Polish women are very busty, Polish women are just money oriented, Polish women talk too much, Polish women are complicated, Polish women are world's second most flirtatious, Poles do not dub foreign movies, Poles are being hated by Americans and Canadians, Poles are never wrong, use kurwa at the end of every sentence, steal benefits from UK, sing Opie Shupie all the time with their Bushas, they find Czech funny, they do not like burghers, use English words in conversation, stay too long in UK and it's time for them to go home, contributed so little to Academics (Particularly Science), Varsovian women are so uninteresting, their food is bland and salty, Polish people are chaotic and disorganized, suffer from disposophobia, they are maybe or maybe not winter lovers (which automatically put them in a bad light anyway), they love wearing tracksuits, fought a war against America some time ago, they are Slavic tax thieves, Poles feel arrogant and superior to Southern Europeans, they are uptight, and they demonstrate hundreds of other disgusting and unpleasant things and habits.

I can only assume that the Americans, Brits, Irish, and all of the other representatives of United Nations that post here are none of these. So I must therefore conclude that you all are either nuts or masochists for being so fascinated with such low creatures and for spending thousands of hours here.

Language / Is the term 'Polak' derogatory?? [254]


Is the term 'Polak' derogatory?
I made a point to often say "I am a Polak" (not Polack though), the way many people here in Canada say "I am a Newfie" as an introduction. This disarms any other typical questions like "Where are you from" (I still speak with pronounced accent), to which I usually respond - "From Mississauga" (a Toronto's former bedroom community, now the metropolis on its own of almost 400,000. I am not lying actually, I used to live there for 12 years.) And that puts any further loaded questions to bed. People can differentiate, even if they are from the lowest strata of the society. I have to, unfortunately, admit that a lot of Poles around here are not the ones you would like to party together.

Long time ago I was very sensitive to all sorts of Polishness issues: I often felt guilty for offences committed by my countrymen. Not any more. I am responsible only for my own behaviour. Why should I feel ashamed for a behaviour of some "kurwa" men? Do you want to call me a Polak? That's fine. As I said - people can see a difference. For example, last night I had an interesting conversation about stoics, stoicism, and the book "A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy" in a blue collar bar - would you believe it? A Brit, and a Scot, and an Irish, a Cherman(*) and a Pole - all having a good time, with a bit of philosophical twist?

(*) He is actually a German, but we poke fun of his accent and call him Rudi the Cherman, assolutely!

Language / How to overcome the difficulties on learning Polish consonants ? [5]


This is not by any means a professional advice, but a common sense one:

The attitude
Firstly, do not resist that Poles and the other half of the world pronunce "j" quite differently than English speakers do. Think about all those Jean-Pauls, Johanns, Jans, Juans. So quit asking "Why don't they do that the English way, the better way?" There is no better way, just different way of expressing sounds in writing, there are different rules for doing that.

Secondly, accept that the basic 24 letters of Latin alphabet are not good enough to represent all complex sounds of European languages, including your native English: both vowels and consonants. And that's why two basic methods were invented: diacritic marks, such as acute, grave, breve, caron, ogonek and digraphs producing new sounds. Some languages consistently stick to one way, others use both methods.

As an English native speaker, you should be familiar with loan words with accents: frappé, naïve, soufflé, soupçon, façade , entrée, exposé, résumé, rosé, piñata, jalapeño.

Stop poking fun of Polish being a language without vowels, as English has also quite a few examples of three or more consonant clusters: split, strudel, angsts, twelfths, sixths, bursts, glimpsed. And it also has plenty of digraphs: <sh>ip, di<ph><th><on>gs, le<ng><th>s, lights (li<silent gh>ts), <ch>eese, <ts>ar.

Accept that the digraphs in Polish are made of pairs other than those in English, but yet they strive to represent similar, although not identical sounds:

<sh>ip ==> <sz>yba
<ch>eese ==> <cz>yta
<ts>ar ==> <c>ar
Don't be discouraged by clusters of Polish digraphs <sz><cz>; these are actually present in English as well, as in "fresh cheese", or "push chair".

A transcription method
Do not skip those introductions to Polish pronunciations. Learn at least some basics, like description of palatalization. Yes, some of those seems complex, but what is wrong with this?


Wikipedia

You could try using IPA to learn details of Polish pronunciation. The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a tough beast though, invented by British scientists, originally to represent sounds of English, and later adapted to other languages. "Adapted" is a point in question: Slavic-specific sounds are represented by strange glyphs as if IPA committees did not want anybody to learn Slavic pronunciation.

For if the unprintable IPA phonemic value /t ͡ɕ/ supposes to represent (ć, ci) then thank you very much IPA for not helping at all.

If I were you I would rather concentrate on a special transcriptional system, called Slavistic Alphabet (AS). This is quite nicely described in one of the pages of Grzegorz Jagodziński, A Grammar of the Polish Language, [grzegorj.w.interia.pl/gram/en/gram00.html] and specifically here: Transcription systems used in Polish phonetic and phonology, [grzegorj.w.interia.pl/gram/en/ipa.html].

Train your pronunciation
Use one of the several available text to speech tools, which use synthetic voices.
1. translate.google.com lets you listen to single words or short phrases
2. ivona.com has a range of several Polish synthetic voices. But - unless you buy some of their offer - the free version is also limited to short phrases.

3. You can get for free the Polish synthetic voice "Agata", with no such limits, if you happen to own OS X, 10.7 (Lion)

Genealogy / Auberzinski family name [18]


You are probably referring to some surname database in Poland. A simple Google search shows about 400 references to "Oberżyński" name plus several references to "Oberżyńska", with this exact spelling.

With all due respect to the eggplant fruit, a.k.a. "aubergine", which gave raise to Polish "oberżyna", there is another French word - "auberge". It stands for an inn, hostel or public house in English, and to "oberża", "karczma", "gospoda" in Polish.

The word "oberża" could therefore be an origin of a surname Oberżyński in Polish. If a person was a Jew, and if he was in "oberża" business (Many, if not the most, inns in the former Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth were run by Jews), this is very likely that he was given the name "Oberżyński" - at the times when Jews were obliged to accept surnames. Mind you - I am just speculating here.

Anyone with such family name who landed in America, would have to do something with "z with dot" and "n with acute", leading to simplified name "Oberzynski". Why "Ober" was then replaced by "Auber" is anyone guess: possibly some pronunciation issues, or bad associations with German-based jokes - as in "Mister Ober Zynski = Mister Upper Zynski". And the last cleanup would involve replacement of "y" by "i", for whatever reason. So this entire process would not be just a "shortening of the name" but its serious modification.

Here is some additional advice on searching Auberzinski = Oberzynski = Oberżyński names. Assuming that this is indeed a Jewish name you may proceed as follows.

Step 1. Go to AVOTAYNU, Consolidated Jewish Surname Index, avotaynu.com/csi/csi-home.htm
Enter Surname to be Searched: OBERZYNSKI
In response you will get a list of names, somewhat sounding like OBERZYNSKI, but only one exact match, with SOUNDEX 074645, and only one database pointer: A.

At the bottom of that page there is a list of all available databases and one of them is: A.

A. Jewish Records Indexing - Poland , jewishgen.org/jri-pl/jriplweb.htm
(231,973 surnames). An index to over 2,400,000 Jewish birth, marriage, divorce and death records located in the archives of Poland. An on-going project--continuously updated. Online database

Step 2. So go there and continue your search.

I ran a quick search there on the Surname (is Exactly) OBERZYNSKI. I had no other information to add.
Two lists were returned: one from Kalisz Gubernia, and one from Piotrkow Gubernia (Gubernia = Russian for Province, more or less).

Kalisz Gubernia: A record for Nachman Puter 1847, Father Jakob, Mother Drejza, Mother's surname OBERZYNSKI .
Piotrkow Gubernia: A record for Gdala Oberzynski 1861, male, no other details

There are many other options you can choose from for various names: (is Exactly, Sounds Like, Phonetically like, etc.) You can also provide many more parameters, like the first name, town name, province, etc.

I repeated Step 1, but this time with the name AUBERZINSKI. And guess what? The response was somewhat similar as in the first search, with the sound like names ABERZANSKY and OBERZYNSKI to be the closest to the input name. So OBERZYNSKI seems to be quite a strong guess. But there are seven other names worthy to check. I'll leave the rest to you, of course.

Language / A software which converts Polish text to audio? [8]


Anyone running OS X Lion (10.7): I just noticed the multi-language text-to-speech converter, which includes one Polish voice "Agata". If anyone can live with the default system voice "Alex" so she/he can live with "Agata" as well. Objectively, this is not as good as voices from ivona.com but this is free for Apple users and can be used off line.

Installation. Go to System Preferences. Select the Speech icon. Make sure that you are in the "Text to Speech" tab. You should see the default system voice "Alex". Select "Customize" instead. A dialog box opens up. Scroll to the Polish language, and then to the single voice "Agata" (at the time of this writing). This will starts downloading of 147 MB file and beginning of the installation procedure.

To test it: close and re-open all applications you wish to test: TextEdit, Safari, etc. Keep your System Preferences => Speech => Text-to-Speech open to be able to quickly switch between various voices installed, including Polish "Agata". Useful for multi-language texts.

Select some text, and from the top menu EDIT or right button pop-up menu select Speech=>Start Speaking.

How to use the Terminal to test various installed voices.
There are many more installed voices than those recognized as System voices (7 on my system, including Agata). Most of them are just for fun or to impress you friends. To get the entire list of voices type in the Terminal:

real-world-systems.com/docs/say.1.html

[Comments (example samples) start with the # sign]

To test any of the voices type something like this:
say -v Bruce I sure like being inside this fancy computer
say -v Deranged I need to go on a really long vacation

To obtain other options type: man say

Have fun

I forgot to add that the OS X Multi-Language pack provides for several English varieties, other than the built in and add-on American ones and various other world voices: Australia 2 voices, India 1, Ireland 1, Scottish Standard English 1, South Africa 1, United Kingdom 3.

The samples like this "Hello, my name is Sangeeta, I am an Indian English voice" can be listen to before downloading.

Here is a video demonstrating quality of Agata, a text-to-speech synthetic Polish voice, which I described in two previous posts. Agata is being tested on a bunch of known Polish tongue twisters. As far as I can see Agata is making only one mistake by stressing the wrong syllable in the word "podskoczyła". I set the tempo of Agata voice to about 25% of its maximum speed (normally she speaks rather fast, with 50% tempo) to slow her down and make her more intelligible at those really tough tongue twisters. The images with text of the twisters have been borrowed from some old source, which I have trouble finding it now - in order to give their author a proper acknowledgement.

The video was prepared in iMovie, on OS X platform. The final product is an Apple MPEG-4 Quick Time movie file, with extension m4v. The default application for these files is QuickTime Player but it can be also played by iTunes. There are two audio channels: the Agata's voice reading the text synchronized with pictures and the background music - added to make your viewing experience more palatable. Uploading it to YouTube was a non-brainer. But this is my first venture in the world of video making and youtube publishing, so some mistakes are unavoidable, for which I apologize in advance.

News / The Political Circus of Poland [307]

A recent golden thought of MP Arkadiusz Mularczyk, a chairman of the club "Solidarna Polska":
"I have some mixed feelings and some dissonance. As if the Prime Minister predicted that raising the retirement age may lead to social unrest, and therefore there is need for strengthening of the police-military formations"

News / The Political Circus of Poland [307]

No he did not. He was referring to Beata Kempa and agent "Tomek" pledging for the "kibol" Piotr "Staruch" Staruchowicz. This info is still in hundreds of archives. No sense to deny it.

Genealogy / Bronisław Knuth (Bronislaw) [7]

1. For a start, you could try to re-examine the "Knuth" name. This is not a Polish name by any distance, since "TH" combination of consonants is extremely rare in Polish and mostly appears in Greek based words, such as first names originated from the word Theos, God. But even then, the consonant "H" would be usually dropped, as in the names: Teodor, Teofila, etc.

But "Ludwig Knuth" could be of German origin. Run this phrase in Google and you will find 1130 entries, many clearly indicating the German connection.

2. The first name "Ludwig" is not Polish but German. The corresponding Polish name would be "Ludwik".