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

WINSKOWICZ(???): No Winskowiczes in Poland. Might have originally been Więckowicz -- a patronymic nick for the son of Więcek (pet form of Więcław).

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

ZABOROWSKI: None of those speculations can be ruled out, since with names almost anything is possible. Quite plausible is the etymology of Zaborów meaning 'beyond the coniferous forest' and Zaborowski being the topo tag for someone who lived there. With this etymology Zaborów might thus be roughly translatable as Overwood or something in that general spirit.

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

ZOBOROWSKI: Zoboroski does not exist, Zoborowski is almost extinct and most likely it started out as Zaborowski. That originated as a topo nick from the locality of Zaborów. The root-word is zabór meaning loot, something taken by force or pillage, annexed territory, etc., hence perhaps translatable as Lootbury or Pillageville???

Genealogy / Szczebrzeszynie, family name Tzitron. [44]

By nonsense phrase is meant that it does not convey some vital truth or clarify anything. It was chosen solely to illustrate the difficulties many foriegners have with hissing-shishing Polish pronunciation.

'Nie pieprz, Pietrze, wieprza pieprzem...' is another well-known Polish tongue-twister..

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

GONTARSKI: gont is a roof shingle, a gontarz is a shingler and Gontarski would be a nick for his kid or helper.

TARCZYŃSKI: root-word is tarcza (shield), but the direct source is toponymic and comes from localties called Tarczyn or Tarczyny (Shieldville, Shieldton, Shieldborough, etc.); so Tarczyński probably orignated to indicate 'the bloke from Shiieldbury'.

Genealogy / Szczebrzeszynie, family name Tzitron. [44]

CYTRON: from the German word for lemon Zitrone. Only some 15 users left, 11 of them in Upper Sielsia (Katowice region).
Szczebrzeszyn is famous for the saying: W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie. It is a nonsense phrase meaning 'In Szczebrzeszyn a beetle is buzzing in the reeds', but it is said to be the hardest to pronoucne for non-Poles.

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

TABOR: Yes, this is a Polish word. Historically it means a wagon train (horse-drawn military-supply wagons or a Gypsy caravan); nowadays tabor kolejowy means rolling stock.

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

REWOLIŃSKI: possibly from now obsolete verb rewać (to shout, cry out, raise a rumpus)

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

CZUGA£A: probably from czug (dialectal for cug) meaning a team of horses or from the now obsolete dialectal verb czugać się (to slide, slip).

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

GUZEK: Polish word for lump, bump, growth, tumor; possibly toponymic tag from Guzki or similar

NAPIERALSKI: from verb napierać (to push, press, exert pressure, insist).

KWATERSKI: from Old Polish kwater or kwatera (foursome, the numeral 4, something folded into four, four dots in dice, etc.).

For more information on the above, please contact me

Language / "Hilarious" Mistakes? (Esp. Across Polish and other Slavic Languages) [83]

During my first trip to Poland I once innocently referred to a female hitchhiker as autostopiczka, and that brought down the house. My Polish relatives were all but rolling in the aisles.

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

if Kurzyna were the correct form, then it would be pronoucned koo-ZHI-nah. In Modern Polish the ż and rz are pronounced identically, although centuries ago there was a difference.

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

No Koranko, Kouranko or Kurina, but there is Kuryna (having an eastern flavour to it) and a more Polish form -- Kurzyna. The-ina/-yna in Polish is often the ending for a deprecatory diminutive (my term). Kura is the normal word for hen, but when we turn it into kurzyna it could mean 'that sorry excxuse for a hen' or 'that skinny, mangy, weather-beaten chicken'.

Life / Do Polish people have a good ear for music? [90]

I thought grass-roots or inborn musicality was involved. Someone noted that this wasn't about kids from music school just the average Staś Kowalski and Ania Nowak. Besides I'm not sure hearing hysmns at mass could make a differbnce, but exposure may play a part. Only an in-depth study comparing the musiclaity of, let's say, Poles, Italians, Swedes, Welsh, French, Czechs, etc. might produce some results. Off-hand I'd say the Italians would come first.

Life / Do Polish people have a good ear for music? [90]

It's hard to say if Poles have a better ear for music than other folks, but it could be. They hear the same type of pop-crap nosie on the airwaves, CDs, net, etc. but a much larger percentage is in contact with singing every week at Sunday mass. Whether or not they acyually sing, the conrgeagtion is usually in tune so they are exposed to it. Dunno if that could be a factor. Also the slavic soul may have something to do with it.

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

KURZEMSKI: (Kurzemska is the feminine form) exists in Poland but is extremely rare and of uncertain origin.

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

ROS£ANIEC: (no accent over the 'ń') from the first name Rosłan which originally came from the Turkish word for lion. Roslaniec probably originated as a patronymic (son of Rosłan).

KOLENDA/KOLĘDA: dual meaning: Christmas/New Year's gift (archaic); Christmas carol (contemporary).

For more information please contact me

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

CHOMCZYK: Someone got nicknamed Chom (from chmoiak, chómik, chomik = hamster) because he looked like the rodent (protruding teeth, twitching nose, etc.) or because he hailed from a village such as Chomiaki or Chomice. When he fathered a son, fellow-villagers could have given the offspring the locally prevalent patronymic ending producing Chomowicz, Chomczak, Chomczuk, Chomiak, Chomiuk or Chomczyk. I detect nothing Tartar about it.

For more information please contact me

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

HIRSZKOWICZ: Polish spelling -- from German/Yiddish Hirsch (stag), so this statred up to identify teh son of someone known as Hirsch.

KUŚ: old Polish for teenaged boy or young whipper-snapper (from adjective kusy: short, runty, pint-sized).
BTW that accent mark over the 'ś' makes all the difference in this case. Without it, kus (kęs) was the old Polish word for morsel or bite of food.

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

MINKIN: the -in is an Old Slavonic adjectival ending indicating possession or descendance. It is most typcal amongst the eastern Slavs as seen in such names as Pushkin, Lenin, Stalin, etc. It was also found in Old Polish, vestiges of which can be noted in such words as żonin (wife's) no longer used. Minkin may have been dervied from Miniek, Mingo or some other endearing form of the old Slavonic first name Minigniew. It is definitely not Hebrew, but the Jews of eastern Europe eagerly snapped up Slavonic words and names.

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

Yes, the -czuk (-чук) or just -uk (-ук) alone are typical Ruthenian patronymic endings, so the two surnames you have listed would have origianted to mean Leon's boy and Greg's kid.

Belarus was never 'under Polish occuaption', it was part of the grand Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, at times Europe's biggets land empire straddling the continent from the Black Sea to the Baltic and encompassing all of Ukraine, Belarus and hefty swaths of Muscovy (Russia).

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

DĘBORSKI: Jest its root word is dąb~dęb- (oak). It is extremely rare.

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

In general, Polish males by nature are members of a knightly breed and, as such, are noble in spirit. But regarding the Jarczewski surname per se -- yes, there were three separate noble lines amongst the Jarzczewskis belonging to the Garczyński, Kuszaba and Nałęcz clans and entitled to use their respective coats of arms. The name is toponymic in origin and traceable to villages or estates called Jarczew or Jarczewo. The jar- root in Polish can mean spring, yearling or spry.

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

GA£ĘZIOWSKI/GA£ĘZOWSKI: Both spellings exist in Poland. Root-word gałąź (branch); name originated as a toponymic nick from several places called Gałęziów (Branchville). The Gałęczowski and Galenczowski versions are not found in today's Poland.

Yes, the noble line of the Gałęzowskis belonged to the Tarnawa clan.

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

STEFAŃSKI: usually a patronymioc tag from the first name Stefan; English equivalent: Stevenson.

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

RANOSZEK: possibly an endearing form of the Old Polish first names Ranimir or Ranisław. Another possibility: early bird from rano (morning).

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

BOROWIEC: probable root-word bór (confierous forest). So it most likely originated to identify a forest dweller or was a toponmyic for someone living in villages with such names as Borowiec, Borowiecko, Borowie, Borowe, Borek, Borki, Borów, Borowo, etc. There are hundreds of such places in Poland.

ZIELONY: Polish word for green; could have originated either to identify a raw beginner, someone green and inexperienced or (even more likely) as a toponymic tag for an inhabitant of some village such as Zielone, Zielona, Zielonka, Zielonowo, etc. (Greenville, Greenton, Greenbury)

PATERUCHA: from pater (Latin for Father); bits of Latin words or prayers sometimes served as nicknames for people associated with the parish (sextons, acolytes, organists, sacristans, seminarians, etc.). Besides Pater, these have included Noster (our as in Pater Noster – the Lord’s Prayer), Mater (mothrr), Deus (God), Meus (my, mine), Dominus (Lord), Frater (brother), Korpus (body) and the highly Polonized Sekuła – from “soecula” (centuries), found in prayer fragment “Per omnia soecula soeculoram” (Forever and ever/Na wieki wieków).

BESTA: Probably dervied from first name Sebastian whose pet forms include Bastek, Bastuś, Bestek, Best, Bestuś, Beścik, etc. The Polsh spelling of your ancestor's locality is Świętochłowice.

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

PYREK: mutliple sources of origin including: 1) pyrka (spud, tater), 2) pyrkać się (satisfy sexual urges), 3) pyrkaty (of a person -- short, squat rolypoly type), 4) pyrka (female mountain goat which didn't have lamb in a given year, 5) a piece of dried cow dung... Take your pick!

WALANTO: derived from first name Walenty (Valentine).

PIECHOWICZ: patronymic 'son of Piech' (walker), hence Walkerson.

LIDOWSKI: probably toponomic from several Russian localities called Lidovka or Lidovca in Moldova.

SINTA: Possibly from the Sinti (Gypsy-related group) or from German names in Sind. Sintowa would be the feminine form for a married woman.

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

ADAMONIS: Lithuanian patronymic from first name Adomas (ADAM).

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

MACIĄG: This is one of many surnames traceable to the first name Maciej (Matthias). Others include: Maciak, Maciał, Macian, Maciałek, Maciałko, etc.

The -ąg itself is one of many endings which in themselves do not have any special meaning. For instance, what does -ly, -by or -ling mean in English. Nothing alone but we can imagine them at the end of such surnames as Mattly, Mattby or Mattling.