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

WADOWSKI: root-word probably wada (defect, shortcoming, failing); most likely originated as a topo nick from Wadowice (JPII's birthplace).

JACKOWSKI: topo nick from Jacków or Jackowo (Hyacinthville)

KOS: blackbird or topo nick from Kosy or Kosów.

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

GABAŃSKI: topo nick from the village of Gabanie (now Gaboń) in Stary Sącz district; root-word: gabać (archaic verb meaning to harrass, pester, annoy, prey on).

For more info including genealogical and family-tracing leads please contact me

News / A devestating verdict on the Polish church [279]

When a majority fo people follow or try to follow the essence of Christiniaty -- the 10 Commandments and 8 Beatitudes -- when people realise that 'you're not alone in this world, your brotherr is here too', then life in this valley of tears can be roughly tolerable. But when these are rejected in favour of total egoisation -- do your own thing and f*ck with the next guy, anything goes, grab as much as you can for yourself here and now and run, then we have the kind of hell on earth you can see all about. And if you can't see it, then you really are in poor shape.

Genealogy / Want to find a person [773]

Both names exist in Poland but have different etymology:

JOŃCZYK: patronymic nich from first name Jonasz (Jonah of whale fame).

JUŃCZYK: patronymic nick from someone 'juny' (young, plucky) as in the word junak (spirited. brave young lad).

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

GRAJKWOSKI: root-word grajek (fiddler); either patronymic nick = fiddler's son or topo nick from Grajów or Grajewo.

For more info including genealogical and family-tracing leads please contact me

NIES£AWSKI: root-word niesława (infamy, shame, disgrace)

KASPRZAK: patronymic nick from Kasper (Casper, Gaspard) = Casperson

GO£ĄB: dove, pigeon

KACHARSKI: probably misspelt Kucharski; someone may have brought the the 2 prongs of the handwritten lower-case letter 'u' to close together, leading the next copyist down the line

to mistake it for an 'a'.

For more info on the above and other Polish surnames as well as helpful genealogical and family-tracing leads please contact me

News / A devestating verdict on the Polish church [279]

Let's not forget the famous wager of French philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal who raised the issue of gains and losses. No-one can prove God exists but if one lives accordingly he stands to gain eternal life. If there is no God and one lives as of there was one, all one has to lose is this miserable valley of tears.

News / A devestating verdict on the Polish church [279]

Nietzsche is dead. God lives!

Life / Is/was Polish society patriarchal or matriarchal? [37]

Historically Polish males were often off to war or fomenting insurrrections, thrown into prisons or sent to Siberia, where members of the 'weaker' (?) sex had to hitch themselves up to a plough and keep the family togteher. Nowadays, men can lose jobs leaving the woman as the sole breadwinner. This plus the constant feminist agitation in ther news and entertainment media has undermiend traditional roles to a considirable extent. Morever, men are more inclined towards irresponsibile libation and infideltiy with all the problems that can entail for the family...

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

From the standpoint of a surname being used in today's Poland or not, landing on the Soviet side of the border in 1920 or 1945* would have removed someone from the Polish realm. If the last bearer of a surname emigrated or died without leaving a male heir, that would spell the end of the line. If the name got inadvertently misspelt (by a semi-literate priest, village scribe, clerk of the partitioning powers or immigration official) or purposely respelt (to facilitate pronunciation or shorten the name) -- any of those factors make tracing a name's meaning and tracking down a given family more difficult.

*However many of those stranded on the Soviet side of hte border in 1945 were subsequently repatriated to the new, small, truncated so-called 'People's Republic'.

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

Surnames shared by a very small number of people may mean that most of them:
--died heriless or emigrated;
--were stranded on ther wrong (Russian) side of the border in 1920 or 1945;
--had their name changed (inadvertently misspelt or deliberately respelt) beyond recognition.

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

WIDULSKI: either from widać (able to be seen) or topo nick from Widuch, Widowo or similar.
Extremely rare (9 users in Poland).

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

STETZ: German hypocoristic form of Stephan (like English Steve); adapted in Polish as Stec

SPIESKI: ??? uncertain, obscure; no users in Poland; perhaps misspelt?

Life / Is/was Polish society patriarchal or matriarchal? [37]

I might do if I thought it would sell, but sad to say we live in an increasingly anti-book era.

Life / Is/was Polish society patriarchal or matriarchal? [37]

The majority of today's Polish families.

Language / Niech będzie pochwalony Jezus Chrystus - a religious greeting? [39]

Let's not forget that 'Szczęść Boże' is a greeting widely used by Silesian coalminers. It is emblazoned in large lettering at the entrance to Polish collieries. Maybe it has been reinforced by the German 'Gruß Gott'.

Life / Is/was Polish society patriarchal or matriarchal? [37]

Nominally yes, but efffectively?

News / A devestating verdict on the Polish church [279]

All Church-bashers are sick people who deserve our pity and prayers.

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

I merely stated to no-one in Poland at present uses that spelling nor any of the other hypothetical versions I listed.

Language / Niech będzie pochwalony Jezus Chrystus - a religious greeting? [39]

Even simpler and not requiring a separate response is: Szczęść Boże (literally: May God grant you happiness) - rough equivalent of God speed.
The response to Szczęść Boże is the same: Szczęść Boże. This is always used when greeting priests, friars and nuns.
One would use this greeting with only those laypersons who are Catholic or parish activists as per the custom in a givern communtiy.

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

And more than one wife also means more than one mother-in-law! My case rests.

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

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.

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

£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.

News / A devestating verdict on the Polish church [279]

Father Wiśniewski's critique may be a thought-provoking stimulus aimed at helping the Church get its act together. Assuming that his remarks were sincere and that he wasn't put up to it by someone. Au contraire, Gazeta Wyborcza - its feigned solicitide over the Church resembles that of Trybuna Ludu's -- so concerned about the Polish Church becoming more trendy and progresssive like that of Western Europe.... Luckily under Hlond, Wyszyński and Glemp, the Church stayed on course and still enjoys a position of authority in Poland. Sure it has problems. We are not a church of angels, B16 said recently. Rather than sweeping controversies under the rug (like Michnik does about in reference to his Stalinist family roots), let's hope the problems are weeded out the Church can more effectively perform its mission of evangelisation.

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

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.).

For more info please contact me

Mea maxima culpa! Forgot to switch off my computer's typo-creating attachment. It should be CISZEWSKI, not Cieszewski.

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

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.

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

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.

News / A devestating verdict on the Polish church [279]

Apparently not that educated after all. Do they know how Michnik & Co. hijacked the newspaper. Wałęsa appointed him to head the Soldiairty as the organ of the entire anti-ciommunsti oppositon, but crafty little Adaś and his fellow-ethnic comaptriots turned it into a private corporation called Agora. Since the paper stopped serving the Soldiarity movement and effectviely became the organ of KORite types, Wałęsa had to withdraw the Solidarity emblem from the paper's front page. By then, the GW corproate structures and distribution network had been firmly developed and reading Wybiórcza had become de rigueur for egghead circles and wannabe intellectuals or 'wykształciuchy' as they're called in Polish.

Niech żyje salon!

News / A devestating verdict on the Polish church [279]

Anotehr exercise in hypocrisy by professional Church-bashers. Gazeta Wybiórcza (Poland's non-Gentile press organ) is continuing the line of the long defucnn Trybuna Ludu. Trybuna used to shed crocodile tears over how backward the Polish Chruch was and had nothign but words of praise for the 'progresive' Church of France and other Western countries. Was the communist organ concerned with the Church's development? Of course not. They knew that all the trendy innovations would only undermne the Chruch and they were right. Look what has happened to the 'progressive' Catholicism of France.

Funny that Father Ludiwk accused the Chruch of becoming politicised, but only as regards thsose who support PiS or Radio Marya. The priests and bishops who favour Tusk's platform and like Wybiórcza were somehow let off the hook.

Wybiórcza zeroed in on the Chruch a while back when it turned out that 10% of the clergy had played ball with the SB. But Wybiórcza never blinked an eyelash over the much higher percent of collaboration amongst writers, journalists, actors, academics and others. Not to mention the percentage of Michnik's compatriots who were Stalin's willing henchmen. That is routinely swept under the rug.

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

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.