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

PAPAJ: one of several surnames (others include Papa and Papała) most likely derived from the verb papać (humorous or childish for eating).
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History / Poland: Her heroes and her traitors [239]

The Interia news portal asked more than 10,000 Poles who they were proud of. Do the results surprise you? How would you have answered? The results:

John Paul II 61%
Józef Piłsudski 10%
Adam Małysz 9%
Mikołaj Kopernik 4%
Righteous amongst nations (Jew savers) 4%
Fryderyk Chopin 3%
Madame Skłodowska-Curie 2%
Ryszard Kapuściński 2%
Lech Wałęsa 2%
Mickiewicz, Wyszyński, Kościuszko and Górski's 'Orły' 1%

fakty.interia.pl/kraj

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

MAMCZASZ/MAMCZARZ: The -czasz is a misspelling probably originated by someone who wrote down what he heard with little knowledge of Polish grammar or spelling. Mamczarz means the same as maminsynek (mummy's boy).

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Law / The right to own guns: would you support such legislation in Poland? [2237]

Firearms shouldbe strictly regimented and controlled, available to hunters, target shooters and other sporstman who have never been convicted. Domestic violence is much worse in the US than in Europe because of guns. You can more easily duck a swinging lead pipe or even an axe than a bullet, esp. sicne the domestic assialant is usually under the influence and has poor coordination. As for armed crime, the sentence should be doubled whenever a firearm is involved.

Food / What is your favorite Polish Vodka? [653]

No strand of bison grass therein?

Food / What's your favorite Polish coffee? [75]

Lavazza Red or Black?

Food / What's your favorite Polish coffee? [75]

pip
Snobbery of any kind is stupid because it means trying to show off and impress others with pricey brand-obsession. It's quite another thing to be a coffee lover. My guru is the late James Beard, an American culinary expert who advised people to 'buy the cheapest wine you find acceptable'. I extend that to other products including coffee. By and large, more expensive brands are better, but at times you can strike on something less pricey that is very good. MK premium is an upper-shelf brand in Poland (along with Tchibo Exquisite and Jacob's Kronung), whislt Carrefour Espresso is a cheaper supermarket own brand. Blended 50-50 they produce an aromatic brew with just the right body.

Food / What's your favorite Polish coffee? [75]

I like to blend MK premium and Carrefour Espresso (in the green packet). That produces a nice bouquet and deep, dark robustness. Other than a stove-top aluminium espresso pot, for company I do a semi-Turkish procedure. Cold water and ground coffee is combined in saucrpan, brought to the boil and then strained through a strainer into a coffee pot. True Turkish uses ultra-find ground coffee but the stuff widely available in Poland is a bit too coarse so the strainer is needed. Then you only get maybe 2 or 3 little dregs at the bottom of the cup.

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

CZU£OWSKI: Since nearly all names ending in -owski are of toponymic origin, probably this one too origianted to identify an inhabitant of the village of Czułów in Małopolsksa. There is another Czułów in Śląsk -- one of ther districts of Tychy where the Fiat Panda and Ford Ka are built.

Czuły means sensitive or tender (in the emtoional sense), so we could roughly translate Czułów as Sensitiveville or Tenderton (the latter sounds better in English).

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

Are you still harping on this? Busia/busha is a bona fide word in colloquial Polish-American speech. There are even 'I love my Busia' T-shirts and suchlike gadgets.

The masculine equivalent is dziadzia. Not dziadek, dziadziuś or dzadunio, but dziaidzia. If you don't like it you can lump it. I say: Long live BUSIA & DZIADZIA!

Love / Online matrimonial - a good way to find a true Polish man/woman on the net? [51]

I know some RC-bashers will fret and fume at the prospect, but for young adults a far safer bet of meeting someone sincere and suitable would be at a Duszpasterstwo Akademickie (Campus Ministry). No, I'm not that naïve toi believe those are all angels. Hell, even the throngs of pilgrims that flock to Częstochowa each August are peppered with pickpockets, thieves and assorted con artists. But on balance, chances of meeting someone decent for a serious relationship leading to matrimony are much better in those circles than at a pub or club.

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

ŚWIŚ, ŚWIST and numerous derivatives are definitely Polish. They come from the verb świstać (to wheeeze, make a whistling sound like a bullet whizzing past someone's ear).

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KUROWICKI: toponymic tag from Kurowice (in Świętokrzyskie region)

BEDNARCZYK: patronymic nick (cooper's son oir apprentice)

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

OBRANIAK: possibly patronymic tag from obraniec or obrany (the chosen one), hence 'the chosen one's son'.

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

BIERNOTEK: Originally a name of Polish origin, slightly Germanased with the double consonant. It comes from Biernat, a variant form of the name Bernard. Biernotek or Biernatek would either be a diminutive (little Bernie) or a patronymic tag 'Bernie's son'.

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

There's no such word as BUSIA in Polish, but there is in Ampolonian.
BTW why discrimnate against poor ol' jaja -- that's how some AmPols write dziadzia which is Ampolonian for granddad. In Polish it should be Dziadzio, Dzadziuś, Dzadunio, etc., etc. but Ampolonia is not Poland and is able to coin its own words and phrases. And it has done over the decades, attesting to its vitality.

Busia and dziadzia are widepsread acrossdthe US Polonia from NY to LA, dunno if that's also the case in Canada. PolCanadians, what say ye?

Probably not in the UK. Any Britpols on PF? Subjects of HM of Polish extraction?

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

DAMBOK: root-word dąb (oak). In Old Polish the ą was pronoucned as 'am', so oak would have been pronounced damb. This has survived only in certain names such as Dambczyński.

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

STALICA: It could theoretically be the way a Belarusian pronounces stolica (they regularly change the o into a). But in Old Polish stalica was an alloy made of iron and carbon used in swords and sabres. Collectively it meant bladed weaponry.

Po polsku / O co chodzi z tymi Żydami. [144]

Może na tym polega demokracja, że wszytskich po równo miesza się z błotem. Irlandole i Angole specjalnie nie oszczędzają własnych krjaów.


Z tym trudno się zgodzić, zwłaszcza jeśli mamy na myśli XX wiek. Żydzi, czy Polacy żydowskiego pochodzenia (jak kto woli), byli podstawą polskiej literatury (by wsponieć tylko Brunona Schulza, Juliana Tuwima, Jana Brzechwę czy Bolesława Leśmiana) jak i przemysłu rozrywkowego.

Food / Are there any Polish wines worth purchasing? [65]

Why doesn't someone develop a piątniak -- semi-dry Polish mead which could serve as a table wine? The sweeter versions -- półtorak, dwójniak, trójnika, even czwórniak -- are excellent dessert wines, but to serve at diplomatic banquets during the Polish Presidency something drier would be required. I understand Hungarian Tokay is being served at such banquets in a throw-back to the Old Polish szlachta tradition of quaffing węgrzyn.

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

NIEDZIÓ£KA: diminutive of niedziela (Sunday); maybe the original bearer was born or converted on Sunay; or hailed from the village of Niedziałka or Niedziały.

BAR: could be a short form of the Polish name Bartłomiej, the Jewish name Baruch or the German word/nickname Bär (bear).

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

KURA: hen

CHRAPUSTA: probably derived from chrapać (to snore), chrypka (hoarse voice)˛

DRYZNO: possibly dialectal for Drezno (Dresden, Germany)

POBRA: possibly from Old Polish pobran (taken by force, captured)

HO£OD: Ukrainian for hunger, famine

JANIA: first name Jane, Jean, Janine

BALAWENDER: variant of Walewender (also Walawender and Walewandor); etymlogy obscure but probably of Germanic origin

£OŚ: elk (largest representative of the deer family).

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

JAROCH is the correct spelling, whilst Yaroch was an attempt to phonetically make it more pronounceable to tongue-tied Anglos. The jar- root has to to with spring, something young (spring lambs or spring crops for instance), and it can also mean robust, spry or apply to vegetables: jarzyna is a cooked vegetable, a jarosz is a vegetarian. The saying "stary ale jary" means "old but "spry".

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

TURBAK: from archaic noun turba (Old Polish for mob, crowd); or from verb turbować (to be perturbed, worried, to fret). It could have been shortened from, let's say, Turbakiewicz, but you would need family vital and/or travel documents to determine that.

EJSMONT: in various spellings is encountered in Poland. It comes from the German name Eismund whose original etymology is: Eisen (iron) and Mund (protection).
Spellings incldue Aismont, Ajsmunt and similar.

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

SMOLAREK: diminutive of smolarz (tar-maker); probably tar-maker's son (patronymic)

WOTKE: from Latin votum (votive offering); most -ke names are Germanised Slavic -ka names, so originally this probably was Wotka.

KRUPOWICZ: patronymic for the son of Krupa (krupa = groats, milled grain)

KINGSOVITCH: ???? 'kings-' segment obscure; -ovitch is a typcial German respelling of Slavic patronymic -owicz/-ович ending commonly found in Jewish names. Presumably Vladgeskava must have been Władysława (the Polish barred ł often gets taken for a t or k by foreigners).)

Genealogy / Searching for Wincenty Dec born 1888 - emigrated to Argentina 1929 [14]

DEC: hypocoristic (pet) form of Dionizy (English: Dennis)

SZAST: rustling sound (of a loose-fitting garment) or spendthrift

KOSINA: diminutive of kosa (scythe) = small, dinky, miserable excuse for a scythe; ground-hugging plant; toponymic nick from Kosina or Kosina.

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

No coat of arms for Matusiak. But there were coats of arms for the etymologically related Matuszewski and Matuszewicz surnames.

Food / Polish bacon doesn't fry up? [70]

Probably Brits have also gone the soyabean route. Soya granules are dissolved in water and then injected into hams and other cured meats to increase their volume. When I asked the spox of the Polish Agriculture Min. a few years ago why the porpensity for 'fake food', he replied that was the 'modern way of high-yield food processing'.

Bread has also deteriorated -- chemical packets known as bread improvers are added to the dough to ensure high yields and picture-perfect baked goods which are often artificially coloured. Nearly all the darker razowy (whole-grain) type breads in particular owe theri darker hue to chicory, carmel, treacle or suchlike.

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

TYSZKA and its variant form Tyszko originated as hypocoristic (pet) forms of such first names as Tymoteusz (Timothy) or Tytus (Titus). Ostrołęka north of Warsaw is approximately pronounced ostro-WAIN-ka. If you are able to pronounce the Spanish soft 'ñ', then a more precise phonetic rendering would be ostro-WEÑ-ka.

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