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Posts by Polonius3  

Joined: 11 Apr 2008 / Male ♂
Warnings: 1 - Q
Last Post: 9 Apr 2018
Threads: Total: 980 / Live: 115 / Archived: 865
Posts: Total: 12275 / Live: 4521 / Archived: 7754
From: US Sterling Heigths, MI
Speaks Polish?: yes
Interests: Polish history, genealogy

Displayed posts: 4636 / page 145 of 155
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Polonius3   
7 Jan 2010
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

TRAWIŃSKI (Polish spelling): I would guess that the root is trawa (grass, lawn), but the
-ski ending 90% of the time indicates a toponmyic nick. So it probably originated to identify someone from Trawy or Trawniki.

her maiden name was Taran.

A taran is a battering-ram.

What does the surname Wojcik mean?

Wójciak and Wójcik = hamlet headman, village mayor.

the name Burcewicz

BURCEWICZ: possibly from the verb burcować (borrowed from Czech burcovati) to wake someone by shaking him out of his sleep. The son of someone nicknamed Burcek or similar

(-wicz is always a patronymic ending) could have been dubbed Burcewicz..
Or, alternatively, perhaps someone was nicknamed burcak (from German Brotsack) because he always seen carrying a bread sack or food bag. His son might also have ended up being called Burcewicz. There is also a locality in Poland called Burzec (pochodzi z Burca)which might have generated the Burcek or Burcak nickname.....etc, etc. But these are all simply hypotheses.
Polonius3   
6 Jan 2010
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

MUCHORSKI: toponymic nick for someone from Mucharz (pronounced the SIlesian way Muchorz)

JUCEWICZ: possibly metonymic nick "son of Juta" (variant of Judyta)

WOYCIAK/WOJCIAK: "son of the wójt" (village mayor)

KARWOWSKI: toponymic nick for someone from Karwów or Karwowo (Bullton); karw is Old Polish for bull, and karwa was the cow.

LEWANDOWSKI: toponymic nick from Lewandów, a section of the Warsaw suburb of Białołęka, or Lewandowsczyzna in the Lublin region. Etymology: lewanda - archaic term for lawenda (lavender).

the origin of the Karalus surname.

Karalus: possibly derived from the Lithuanian word for king karalius; or a form of Karolus/Carolus (Latin for Charles).
Polonius3   
5 Jan 2010
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

NOŻEWIK: variant of Nożownik (knifer, cuthrtoat); nearly 100 Nożewniks in Poland, the largest concetration being in the Poznań area.

KARZCEWSKI: 95% or mroe of all Polish surnames ending in -owski or -ewski are of toponmyic origin. Karczewski probably had nothing to do with felling trees but only happened to live in Karczew or Karczewo.

WINIARSKA: adjectival form from winiarz (wine-maker), hence Winiarska (wine-maker's wife)
Polonius3   
4 Jan 2010
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

LANGKOWSKI: There is one female in Poland in the Gdańsk area named Langkowska. Name does not look indigenously Polidh (lang is German for long). There are more than 2,200 Langowskis whose toponymic soruce is probably the locality of Langowo.

BOREJKO: Possible root 'bor' (fight, struggle), still exists in the Russian word борба. Or possibly a toponymic nick from some place such as Borki, Boreczek, Boreczno, Borowe, etc. Another possibiltiy is a hypocoristic (pet) form of Borys. The -ko ending is Ruthenian.

STYMA: Archaic form of estyma (esteem, respect).

KO£ODZIEJ: Wheelwright, maker of wagon wheels. Piast the wheelwright is only a legend so it's not likely you could be related to him.
Polonius3   
3 Jan 2010
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

More than 200 people in today's truncated Poland share the Pączko surname. Ponczko ahs been recorded but no-one uses that spelling at present.
Etymology: pączek (flower bud -- the doughnut is a secondary meaning). It could have originated as a toponymic nick connected to such places as Pączkowo, Pączek or Pączew (Budville, Buddington).

It definitely is an "eastern" surname. All but about 50 of its current users live in the recovered territories to which Poles stranded to the east of Stalin's redrawn border were repatriated.
Polonius3   
1 Jan 2010
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

FILARECKI: from Filaret. a member of a secret university club to which Adam Mickiewicz belonged in Russian-occupied 19th-century Poland-Lithuania. The adjectival Filarecki could have arisen to describe a son of such a member. The name comes from the Greek filaretos (lover of virtue). About 120 users.

FUCHSOVEN: Properly Fuchsofen, literally fox stove in German or Yiddish. No-one in today’s Poland uses this surname at present.
Polonius3   
31 Dec 2009
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

Rather than the -nycz being the Ukrainian word for night, the n is part of the hryc- adjective whilst the -ycz is the patronymic ending. My guess is that someone was nicknamed Hrycko, Hrycok, or something like that through some association with buckwheat or because he lived in a village whose name incorporated included the Hryc- root.

No-one in today’s truncatedf Poland uses the Hryckanycz surname. The only surnames incorproating the syllable hryck- are: Hryckiewicz Hrycko Hryckowiak Hryckowian Hryckowiarz Hryckowion and Hrycków. Maybe double-check the spelling. Problems have been known to arise when trasnliterating Cyrillic into Latin script.
Polonius3   
30 Dec 2009
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

Hryckanycz looks to be a Ukrainian patronymic from the word for buckwheat (hryka), however no-one currently uses it in Poland.
Truchan is a Ukrainian first name also appearing as Truchon and Trufan. First names sometimes serve as surnames.
Dancz might possibly have been derivfed from a first name sach as Danisław, Daniel or Danisz. Both Dancz and Turchan are used in today's Poland.

As for your question, children with their mother's surname were either illegitmate (born out of wedlock) or were orphaned and retained their late dad's surname after their mum remarried. Such irregularities always occurred but not as frequently as at present.
Polonius3   
30 Dec 2009
Language / Anglos don't distinguish kasza from Kasia? [22]

Whilst teaching Polish to English speakers has anyone run into an Anglo learner who could not distinguish the ś sound from sz? How did you deal with the problem?
Polonius3   
30 Dec 2009
Language / It is not possible to translate names into English or Polish! [52]

KOLlIŃSKI -toponymic nick from Kolin, a village in the Baltic coastal region.
NOTE: Perhaps as many as 90% of all Polish surnames ending in -ski are of toponymic origin, so the first thing to do is to trot out your atlas.

JASZCZAK: The archaic Polish word jaszcz once meant a wooden box, chest or other container for butter, powidła, curd cheese, etc. Someone who produced these could have

The preceding entry somehow got cut off...
Someone who produced the wooden food chests known as jaszcz could himself have been nicknamed Jaszcz, and when he fathered a son -- Jaszczak would have been the offspring's patronymic nick.

Jazscz is also a regional name for a small trash fish (no eating value) of the perch family known as a jazgarz in standard modern Polish.
Polonius3   
30 Dec 2009
Language / It is not possible to translate names into English or Polish! [52]

PAJDO: Mark Slice? (as in pajda chleba)

PASKOWICZ: Well, in Yiddish the -witz is a patrnymic indicator just as -wicz is in Polish and -вич in Russian etc. The root pask- must therefore be deciphred. Could a leatherworker been called Pasek (belt) and his son was referred to as Paskowitz? Or maybe it was actually Pasch- (Jewish Pejsach, Polish Pascha)?
Polonius3   
29 Dec 2009
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

If it was spelled Wełecki (with the slashed 'ł'), then it probably originated as a toponymic nick for someone from Wełecz in the Świętokrzyskie Mountnain region or perhaps Wełcza in Małopolska. Wełecka is the feminine form used by the womenfolk.
Polonius3   
28 Dec 2009
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

CHMURYCZ: Chmura is the Polish word for cloud. When someone surnamed or nicknamed chmura fatehred a son, local villagers apparently added the now archaic patronymic -ycz ending typical of the eastern borderlands of the old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. English equivalent: Cloudson.

BARAŃSKI: root word is baran (ram, male sheep). Could have originated as a patronymic nick for the son of someone nicknamed Baran or a toponymic one for someone from such localities as Baran, Baraniec, Baranów, Baranowo, Baranowice, etc. (Eng. Ramville, Ramton).
Polonius3   
27 Dec 2009
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

Names ending in -ała quite often are concentrated in Poland's southland but not necessarily in the Tatra Mountain region.
The largest concentrations of Poland's 93 Gembałas are encountered in Śląsk in and around Częstochowa (48) and Katowice (27). Only 3 live in the mountainous Nowy Sącz area and a mere 2 make their home in the also hilly neighbouring Bielsko-Biała area. 102 spell their name the original way Gębała, and their ancestral nest is SE Poland's Lublin region (81).

Other -a ending suranmes include: Biga 143 of which Tarnów (90); Przytuła more than 2,500 of which voer 500 in SE Poland's Zamość area.
Polonius3   
26 Dec 2009
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

Sołdyga is rather enigmatic. In general the -dyga ending is a pejorative one to cite only dziadyga (clumsy, flea-bitten old f*art) and bałdyga (crooked, gnarled stick or a person who fits that description). Sołgdyga might have been a negative to describe someone from the village of Sołdany in northern Poland. The only other word in Polish starting in sołd- is sołdat (from Russian, pejorative for soldier). But having a choice the toponymic Sołdany option seems more plausible.
Polonius3   
25 Dec 2009
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

KRASZEWSKI - toponymic nick from one of several localities in Poland named Kraszew or Kraszewo (Beautyville).

ODMINOWSKI - no such name in today's Poland. Could it have been Odmianowski. Possibly a nick identifying an odmieniec (oddball, someone who sticks otu like sore thumb).

Or from a locality called Odmianów or Odmianowo.
Polonius3   
23 Dec 2009
Food / "Browar Jabłonowo" beer, A Christmas word of warning [18]

Last year in Poland I ran across a beer called Donner (brewed by Poland's VanPur brewery) that was quite inexpensive (1.39zł for 1/2 a litre) that was quite accceptable when well chilled. It was only 4% ABW but refreshing on a hot summer day. That's roughly the same strength of many of America's so-called "lite beers". Incidentally, most of my American fellow-compatriots have been brainwashed into thinking "lite beer" is only "less filling", but are shocked when they learn it is also roughly 1% weaker than the ordinary brew.
Polonius3   
23 Dec 2009
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

Krysia -- No-one surnamed Kurwa in Poland at present, as far as I can determine, but there is 1 person surnamed Kurwacz, 1 Kurwan and 1 Kurwat.
There are a number of people named Fiut, however, and 58 that go by Sral.
Polonius3   
23 Dec 2009
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

SZYPKOWSKI: Possibly from szyp (archaic for arrow; in modern Polish - strzała).
Ending -owski suggests a toponymic nick, so Szypkowski might have originated to identify the bloke from Arrowville.
There are 147 Szypkowskis in Poland and 10 people srunamed Szypko.

RAJEWSKI: basic root raj (paradise); like -owski, the -ewski ending is also mainly toponymic, hence the guy from Rajewo (Paradiseville).
Polonius3   
15 Dec 2009
Genealogy / Zientara Surname [12]

Ziętara and Zientara surnames are traceable to zięć (son-in-law). Polish has a proclivity for variants so others of simialr derivation inlcude ziętaszek, zięciaszek, zięciak, ziętek, ziątek, zięciulo, etc.
Polonius3   
12 Dec 2009
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

Redko – hard to say where this surname came from, but the fact is that in Russian редко
(Polish trasliteration: redko) is an adverb meaning seldom or rarely (in Polish – rzadko).
There is also the toponymic option – the Pomeranian locality of Redkowice.
Polonius3   
9 Dec 2009
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

Mocarski - either toponymic nick from Mocarze or a patronymic one from mocarz (the village strongman)

Budfuloski - couldn't find anythign even close. Budfuloski is already quadrisyllabic. How long was the name from which it was shortened?

Pazder - probably derived from pazdur, regional form of pazur (claw). Possibly a nick for some nasty soul who clawed his way through life. Or a toponmyic nick from Pazdury.
Polonius3   
6 Dec 2009
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

Uchmanowicz - patronymic nick from Uchman, a name found largely in Ukraine, possibly of Turkish or Arabic origin. No coat of arms goes with Uchmanowicz. The closest is Uchański

Laks - probably originally Lachs (German or Yiddish = salmon)

Kurowski - toponmyic nick from Kurów or Kurowo (Cockville). The locality is now known as Rywałd and is in the Kashubian coastal area. WHen yoru ancestors lived there it was under German control and known as Riewald.
Polonius3   
5 Dec 2009
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

Brzegowski - toponymic nick from Brzeg or Brzegi (bank or shore in sing. and pl.- loclaities weould be Bankton or Shoreville in English.

Rywanowocz is impossible in Polish. Rywanowicz is more plausible but no-one uses that name at present. It would mean Rywan's son.

The cvit~cvet root in other Slavonic languages is the Polish equivalent of Kwiat.
Polonius3   
4 Dec 2009
Genealogy / Want to find a person [762]

I can't help you in the field of genealogy or family history, but the Jurkowski surname probably origanated as a toponymic nick from such localities as Jurków or Jurkowo (rough translation: Georgetown, Georgieville, ec.).