Language / Short Polish<->English translations [1049]

Oglądać telewizję i preferable. Telewizor is the TV set. In English we do not normally say 'I'm watching the TV set' which is regarded as an appliance rather than a programme.

Life / K+M+B-2012 - formula on flats in Poland [63]

In many cases a purely technical factor comes into play -- the Three Kings inscription is seen more commonly on dark-coloured wooden door frames where it is plainly visible. On the white PVC door frames it is invisible and apparently no-one in the Chruch has thought of introducing coloured chalk to remedy the situation. Reckon I'll have to mention it to Primate Kowlaczyk.

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

ZIMELMAN: nobody uses this name in today's Poland; origin and meaning uncertain; could it have been a variant (mispronounced) form of German/Yiddish Zimmerman (carpenter)?

Genealogy / Looking on information on the name Hreben. [12]

HREBEN: This is the Czech and Slovak equiavlent of comb (Polish grzebień), except that in Czech it is hřeben and in Slovak -- hrebeň .

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

SURNAMES: STRZELEWICZ - PIETRANEK - P£ATKOWSKI

STRZELEWICZ: root-word strzała (arrow) or strzelec (rifleman/musketeer); either patronymic tag = rifleman's son or topo-patronymic from one of many localities in Poland called Strzelce.

PIETRANEK: One of a great many surnames traceable to the first name Piotr (Peter) or its dialectal version Pieter; others include Pietraszek, Pietraś, Pietroń, Pietrasz, Pietrak, Pietrala, Pitra, Pietryga, Pitura and dozens of others.

P£ATKOWSKI: root-word płatek (flower petal); topo nick from Płatków (Petalville).

*** FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE ABOVE PLEASE CONTACT me

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

RAJKIEWICZ - B£YSZCZYŃSKI - RUTKOWSKI

RAJKIEWICZ: root-word raj (paradise); probably patronymic for the son of someone nicknamed Raj or Rajek (possibly a pet form of Rajmund).

B£YSZCZYŃSKI: root-word błyszczeć (to glisten, glitter, shine); possibly topo nick from Błyszczanka in Ukraine or Bliszczyce in Poland..

RUTKOWSKI: root-word rutka (myrtle, the herb); probably topo nick from Rutków or Rutkowo.

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

KARPICZEK: this is the only Polish surname that fits the bill. It is quite rare (30-some users) and means little carp or carplet.

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

KIECO£T (???): possibly a name of Jadvingian origin lilke Jaszczołt. The Jadvingians were a pagan Baltic tribe akin to the Prussians and Lithuanians.

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

PAWLUK/PAWLAK: The -uk is a Ruthenian partonymic ending but following the trumoil of the collapse of the sprawling Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the partitions and two world wars, there are Ukrainians called Pawlak and ethnic Poles named Pawluk. Traditionally Ukrainians lived in the eastern booerlands but since Acja Wisła, they have been scattered all over the country.

Genealogy / Crest and the meaning of last name Sumski [33]

There were two noble lines amongst the bearers of the Szumski surname belonging either to the Jastrzębiec or Poronia clans. Google Jastrząbiec coat of arms and Poronia coat of arms to see what those heraldic devices look like.

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

Yes, in terms of their original etymology these are different versions of the popular Polish surname Szymański (Simonson).
Symański would be either the Mazurianised pronunciation (Mazurianisation means pronouncing sz, cz, and ż as s, c and z) or an attempt to simplify the spelling in America. Cymański comes from the German Ziman, a variant of Simon. For more info on this please contact me.

Life / Fat People in Poland? [161]

I wonder if it also works the other way, i.e. is the fast-food thing gradually also catching on in France and Italy?

Life / Fat People in Poland? [161]

The fatso factor is most obvious in the English-speaking world (USA, Canada, UK, etc.), and I wonder why that is. The French just acorss the Channel are still quite svelte.

Poland has a long way to go to catch up with the States, but obesity and overweight are growing, esp. amongst youngsters. Probably the US-style snack and computer-game culture is largely to blame.

Anyoen interested in the porblem can check out:

The Children's Health Center in Warsaw on Monday discussed with overweight and obesity in children aged 7-18 years.

In 2007, the Institute " Monument - Children's Health Center " started the research project " Olaf " , the aim of which was to include determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the population of Polish children 7-18 years old . From November 2007 . Until November 2009 . Study was conducted on 17 573 children and adolescents.

Genealogy / Does your last name end in CKI not SKI [60]

-SKI is a common adjectival ending in Polish, from a grammatcial standpoint names ending in -ski, -cki or -dzki are all adjectives. So we have młot kowalki (blacksmith's hammer), and język polski (Polish) and slews of mainly toponymic names. Someone from Poznań is Poznański, Biłgoraj = Biłgorajski, Brzezina = Brzeziński, etc., etc.

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

CIESZKOWSKI: About 1,400 users in today's Poland, so not very common but also not rare. Two major bastions are Greater Warsaw and SE Poland's Tarnobrzeg area.

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

CIESZKOWSKI: toponymic tag for an inhabitant of Cieszków or Cieszkowo.
Cieszko would be pronounced CHESH-ko (roughly).

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

PAWLUK: The -uk ending is Ruthenian (indigenously Polish would be Pawlak), but that does not mean the bearer of the Pawluk surname isn't Polish. Especially in the border areas of the old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the occupation zones (partitions) that followed from the late 18th century, a great many different things happened to surnames. A pure-blooded Ukrainian might be called Pawlak and an ethnic Pole -- Pawluk, etc.

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

JULKA: probably derived from first names Julian or Juliusz, esp. their pet form Julek. Or possibly from Julka, the pet form of Juliana, for the out-of-wedlock bastard child borne by the village flłoouzy Julia. Neither can the toponymic option be ruled out: Julków, Julkowo Julianka and similar.

Genealogy / Polish surnames - Origin and Meaning [29]

Your calling Omel a prefix threw me off, becasue there is no such prefix in Polish. (Typical prefixes are za, u, od, przy, nad,. na. w, etc.) However upon closer inspection I have found the Omel and Omelan do exist in Polish as variant forms of the first name Emilian, derived from the Latin Aemilianus. In fact, it is quite a prolific root generating such spin-offs as Omelańczyk, Omelańczak, Omelańczuk, Omelanowski and otehrs.

Genealogy / Mackowiak surname, Maćkowiak [17]

MAĆKOWIAK: That explanation was perfect. In the overwhelming majority of cases. In a few cases it could have also originated as a topo-patronymic. Someone was nicknamed Maciek not becuase he'd been christened Maciej (Matthias) but because he hailed from Maćki or Maćków. But when he sired a son, it would be Maćkowiak for the offspring nonethrless.

Wielkopolska is the unquestioned Maćkowiak stronghold.

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

CWENAR: Variant form of Świniarz, Swiniar, Swynar, etc. (swineherd - a boy watching over foraging pigs so they don't damage crops, run away or get stolen.

ZAREMBA/ZARĘBA: root-word - verb zarąbać (hack to pieces); probably originated as topo nick from Zaręby (Hackerville?).

WOJCIECHOWSKI: Topo nick from Wojciechów or Wojciechowo (Adlaberton, Albertville); Wojciech = Adalbert.

*** For more information on these please contact me

RIABIŃSKI: From East Slavonic рябинa (mountain ash tree; Polish jarzębina); probably topo nick from some locality incorporating that root.

BODNAR: Ukrainian for cooper (Polish: bednarz).

KRZYSZCZUK: patronymic nick from, Krzysztof (Christopherson); eastern (-czuk) ending) but indigenously Polish root (Krzysz-); if it were pure Ukrainian it should be Kryszczuk.

GACEK:f rom peasant term for bat/flying rodent (nietoperz in standard Polish).

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

TUBURSKI: probably a patronymic nick from the old first name Tyburcjusz or Tuburcy (form Latin Tiburtius). Leokadia (originally from Greek meaning 'caring for people') became popular in Poland in the 19th century via French literature. It has equivalents in European continental languages but not in English. Sometimes Lydia is incorrectly used in English as a pseudo-equivalent.

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

Z£OTNIK: goldsmith it is; most often used by those of Jewish ancestry like others related to the jeweller's trade: Rubin, Srebro, Diamant, Bursztyn, Perła, etc.

Food / Polish Christmas cakes? [14]

Let's not forget piernik (sometimes translated as gingerbread), but it originated as a peppercake -- in Old Polish pierny (nowadays pieprzny) meant peppery.
Some Polish familii I heard also regard murzynek as a typical Christmas cake. I wouldn't even attempt to translate that into English and risk getting the ACLU on my back. BTW some peeple say ACLU stands for ANTI-CLERICAL LOONIES.

Genealogy / Polish surnames - Origin and Meaning [29]

Can you gave some examples of surnames with the omel prefix?

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

KZIEL: ??? No name currently used in Poland starts with the ‘kz’ combination. Could it have been misspelt or shortened. The closest are such names as Kizioł (endearing for kitty or colt/baby horse), Kisiel (starchy jelly) or Ksien (form Russian woman’s first name Xenia). l

WA£OWA: possibly feminine form of Wał (dyke, rampart).

GOJ: gentile, non-Jew

DZIEDZIC: squire, heir, nobleman

Genealogy / Polish surnames - Origin and Meaning [29]

??? Never heard of it ???

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

CICHOWSKI: root-word cichy (quiet, silent); topo nick from Ciche, Cichów or Cichowo (Silentville, Quietburg, etc.).

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

MILANOWSKI: topo nick from places such as Milanów or Milanówek (Milanville).