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.

Language / -ski/-ska, -scy/ski, -wicz - Polish surnames help [185]

KULASEWICZ: the -wicz ending and its equivalents in the Ruthenian tongues is always a patronymic tag indicating who one's father was. The root-word kulas can mean a cripple, someone who limps, or a horse-blanket. In fact, the term kulasy kozackie was known at one time to mean Cossack horse blankets (the cloth placed beneath the saddle). So Kulasewicz would have originated to identify either 'limpy's kid' or the son of someone somehow associated with horse-blankets (weaving or trading in them perhaps).

For more info on this please contact me

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

MAJEWSKI: root-word maj (month of May). Probably origianted either as a topo nick from Majewo (Mayville, Mayfield) or as an indicator of the month someone was born or converted to Catholicism in.

The respelling is understandable, because there would be a tendency in Angloland to Anglo-mangle Majewski into some such monstrosity as ma-JOO-ski. The best respelling would have been Mayeski (because the f-sound of the letter w is barely audible anyway, so why bother indicating it?).

DRZYZGA: regional version of drzazga (splinter, sliver, wood chip); typical peasant name based on words denoting common household objects, food, crops, animals, etc.

TREMBECKI/TRĘBECKI: probably originated either as a patronymic tag 'son of the horn-player or trumpeter' (trębacz) or a topo nick from places such as Tręby, Trębaczew, etc.

DUCHNOWSKI: topo nick from Duchnów, a village near Warsaw. Root-word duch (spirit, ghost, spectre), hence the locality could be roughly trasnlatable as Spiritville, Spectreton or Ghostburg.

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

MAZUR: Masurian/Mazurian; an inhabitant of northern Poland's Mazury region known for its lakes and forests. For centuries it had been part of German East Prussia.

For mroe info please contact me

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

JOJCZYK: probable source the verb jojczeć (to complain, gripe, grumble, belly-ache, *****).

MRUCZKOWSKI: probably topo nick from a localtiy such as Mroczków or Mroczkowo (Mumbleton, Mutterville); mruczeć = mutter, mumble, murmur or purr like a cat.

For more info on these and other Polish surnames please feel free to contact me

BOBROWSKI: root-word bóbr (beaver); topo nick from Bobrów or Bobrorwo (Beaverton).

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

CHARCZUK: -czuk is a traditional Ukrainian patronymic indicator. The root of this surname is the verb charkać/charczeć (to clear one's throat, wheeze, growl, speak with a hoarse voice). Such a one might have been nicknamed Charko and when he sired a son, fellow-villagers would have given the offspring ther Charczuk tag. The more Polish equivalent is Charczak.

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

BRZOZOWSKI: Certainly a possibility. If this had indeed been the soruce then it would have origianted as a topo nick from Brzozów or Brzozowo (Birhcville).

Another possibiltiy is:

BROŻEWSKI: In the USA Polish surnames ending in -ewski are often mispronounced -uski, so this could have been an attempt to respell the name the way it was widely pronounced. Brożewski would have been a patronymic from Broż, short for Ambroży (Ambrose).

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

CIS£O: possible root-word cis (yew tree); verb ciskać (to throw); verbal adj. obcisły (tight-fitting /garment/); topo nick from Cisie, Cisowo, Cisowa, Cisów, etc. (Yewville, Yewton); or Polish adaptation of Russian name Tисло.

Since the faint 'f' sound in Zalewski is barely audible, these two names are pronounced almost identically in normal speech. Their etymology however is a different story.

ZALESKI: comprises the prepositional prefix za (beyond) and the root-word las~les (wood, forest). It emerged therefore either as a topographic nickname to indicate someone living beyond the forest or as a toponymic tag for someone hailing from a locailty called Zalesie (Overwood).

ZALEWSKI: the root here is the word zalew (lagoon, inlet, bay). Topographically the adjecival nickame Zalewski would have been used to identify someone living on or near such a body of water or toponymically to indicate a native of a village known as Zalew or Zalewo.

For more info on these and other Polish surnames please contact me

Genealogy / Does anyone know where the name Ciupa is derived from? [28]

Zed is quite correct. I was referring to the name's origin which probably became lexicalised within a generation. In English, Baker, Cooper, Farmer, Weaver, Cartwright, Smith and many more were once occupational tags but have long since functioned only as surnames with no special meaning. So it is in Polish, where no-one thinks of Bednarczyk as the barrel-maker’s son or Brzeziński as ‘the bloke from Birchville’, as these are now just names.

But there are still names in Polish that might evoke giggles amongst primary- or middle-school classmates such as Fiut (pr*ck), Cipka (c*nt), Zad (bum), Pierdoła (old fart), Cycek (t*t) and Wacek (d*ck).

Genealogy / Does anyone know where the name Ciupa is derived from? [28]

Polish is rich in variant regional forms. So ciupa, ciapa, ciapcia, ciapchiocha, capcioń and ciapuga mean a dullard, fool or oaf, as do ciamajda, ciemięga, niezdara, niedorajda, niedołęga and others.

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

CIEMCIOCH: from cicia, ciemcia et al - in baby talk something nice and cuddly, a toy, cat, etc.

Genealogy / Does anyone know where the name Ciupa is derived from? [28]

CIUPA: there's a regional verb ciupać (tap, poke, hit lightly); the noun ciupa can mean a small dingy room, hence by extension a gaol cell; applied to a person it means the same as ciamajda (dullard, fool, village idiot)

Genealogy / KOSIBA in Frysztak and PLAZA in Korczyna [16]

Kosiba*Frodyma*Płaza*Cyran

KOSIBA: harvesting; possibly nickname for a scythesman (kosiarz)

FRODYMA: adaptation of Yiddish version of the German word Freude (joy); name most common in former eastern borderlands (kresy).

P£AZA: from płaz/płaza (flat of a sword) or płazy/płozy (sleigh runners).

CYRAN: teal (type of wild duck).

For more info on these and other surnames please contact me

Po polsku / Rodzice uczciwsi? [29]

Nie, wobec prawa. Także taki odruch jak znalezienie portfela pełnego banknotów. Zanieść na policję, czy zatrzymać. A jeśli zatrzymać to czy wyrzucić portfel z dokumentami do śmieci czy do skrzynki pocztowej, co gwarantuje, że prawowity właściciel je odzyska.

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

Wróblewski*Ryś

WRÓBLEWSKI: root - wróbel (sparrow); topo nick from Wróblewo (Sparrowville)

RYŚ: lynx or topo nick from Ryś (village)

Po polsku / Rodzice uczciwsi? [29]

Na pewno zniewolenie komunistyczne wycisnęło swoje piętno na pokoleniach zyjących w tym systemie, ale USA i Zachód? Podobne tendencje da się zauważyć także tam. Czyli gdy zada się pytanie wprost: czy uważasz za bardziej uczciwe Twoje pokolenie czy pokolenie Twoich rodziców (nie wnikając w przyczyny), dość często spotyka się taką konstatację.

Po polsku / Rodzice uczciwsi? [29]

Tego nie sprecyzowano...może mniej skłonni do kłamstwa, oszustwa, szopenfeldziarstwa (shoplifting), oszukiwaniu na PIT-ach, itp. W Stanach także może to dotyczyć ściągania na klasówkach/egzaminach.

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

*LENDZION*CHOD£OWSKI(??)*KARASZEWSKI*SZWED*NAPIERA£A

LENDZION: probably adaptation of the German word Land (land, province, farm field).

CHOD£OWSKI???: If this name existed, its root could have been 'chod-' (walking, going, moving) or the locality of Chodel.

KARASZEWSKI: root probably karaś (crucean); topo nick from Karaszew

SZWED: nationality name = Swede.

NAPIERA£A: from verb napierać (to press, exert pressure, push, insist).

For more information on these and other Polish surnames please contact me

News / Polish Miracle-Die Welt [12]

One thing nobody can deny is that the Tusk gang is a master in the poltical PR and image-marketing department. The prickly Kaczyński has regularly provided the ruling clique with opporutnities to come across as the more moderate, restrained and sensible ( as well as slick and glib) side of whatever row happens to be raging.

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

**HODLOFSKI/PABIAN/PRZYBOROWSKI**

GOD£OWSKI?: Names that end up starting with an 'H' in America are often a problem, because they could have originally been with a CH or G. In the absence of Hodłowski and Chodłowski, it may have been Godłowski which in Ukrainian-influenced areas would have come out sounding like Hodłowski, phonetically respellt Hodlofski in the US.

PABIAN: Dialectic form of the first name Fabian. Possibly topo nick from Pabianice near £ódź (Fabvianville).

PRZYBOROWSKI: topo nick from Przyborów or Przyborowo (Edgewood, Atwood).

For more information on these and other Polish surnames please contact me

Food / Polish Christmas cakes? [13]

Dunno about you, but my favourites include makowiec, strucla z orzechami, pierniczki w czekoladzie and keks warsazwski. Of course babka drożdżowa z rodzynkami and sernik wiedeński are always good, although some may regard them as more Eastery than Christmasy.

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

PO£CZYŃSKI/PÓ£CZYŃSKI: topo nick from Połczyn (spa) in West Pomerania or Połczyno in Kashubia (Gdańsk region).

KLIMASZ: root-word Klim, Klimek - pet form of Kliment (peasant and/or Ruthenian form of first name Klement, Klemens); possibly topo nick from Klimaszewnica in Podlasie.

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

Kubice is a village in SW Poland's Opole region. It would take a bit of research in historical geogrphy to determine how it got its name. One guess is that it started out as the holding of the sons of a certain Jakub or Kuba for short. Thta's what the -ice endign in Polłish place-naems means, so we might translate it as Jimson Corners or Jakesonville.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubice,_Opole_Voivodeship

There is also a place in the Czech Republic called Česká Kubice.
Jakub is a biblical name but it has been popular for centuries amongst Polish Jews and Gentiles alike. It remains so to this day.