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


That would be incorrect. They are distinctly Eastern Slavic languages that have been highly influenced by Polish, to about the same degree that English has been influenced by Norman French. That doesn't make them dialects of Polish, any more than English is a dialect of French.

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


Indeed. A lot of our ideas about ethnicity evolved around that time. People from before that time had very different concepts of identity.


Very true. Poles, Lithuanians, Belarusans and Ukrainians are part of a continuous gene pool that stretches across northern Europe. There are no clear genetic dividing lines, and there are certainly no "pure" populations anywhere in Europe. Even highly endogamous groups like the Jews and Gypsies have an enormous admixture of European genetic material.

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

@Krakowiak

I think it would be impossible to find a Polish person who did not have a "Ruthenian" ancestor as recently as five or six generations back. Or anyone living in Belarus or the Ukraine that did not have a recent Polish ancestor. The populations have been in intimate contact with each other for many centuries.

If you are talking about the languages, then there was an very large zone of overlap for centuries that included all of what is now Belarus and most of what is now the Ukraine, as well as the southern edge of what is now Lithuania and the easternmost parts of what is now Poland. The Belarusan and Ukrainian languages were highly influenced by Polish. Polish less so by either.

As for settlement patterns, many Poles settled in the east and many easterners settled in the west. Ethnicity was a lot more fluid at times, and was not necessarily mutually exclusive.

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


The distribution of the name in Poland. See this map:

moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/pucykowicz.html

Of course, these people may have settled there after the war, coming from what is now the Ukraine. Only documentation will reveal what the case was.


Essentially yes. That is what polonification means.


Yes, that is possible, and it did happen, though historically people who were Orthodox were less likely to identify as Poles, unless they were Russified Poles. It's actually pretty complicated and depended on the historical period in question.


Very much so. Ethnicity as we understand it now is a relatively recent development, from the Romantic Era. For Ruthenians and Ukrainians, the idea of ethnicity didn't catch on until much later. Most people just considered themselves "tutejsi", or "people from around these parts". And others had no problems with considering themselves members of more than one ethnic group.

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

Should also point out that both Stankiewicz and the Russian site are only guessing. Without actual documentation, that is the best anyone can do.

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


Stankiewicz derives it from Polish: "Pucykowicz - od podstawy puc-, pucz-, por. puc 'usta, policzki, brzuszek', puczyć, pucyć 'gnieść'."

A Russian site derives it from Ukrainian: "Фамилия Пуцыкович ведет свое начало от прозвища Пуцыкович. Прозвище Пуцыкович восходит к украинскому слову «пуцьнути» - «упасть, бухнуться». Вероятно, его получил человек, не слишком осторожный, невнимательный. Не исключено, что основатель рода Пуцыкович был наездником. Однако такое прозвище могли дать и человеку, подверженному какой-либо болезни."

Personally, I find Stankiewicz's first etymology a bit more plausible, and his second one and the Ukrainian one as a bit of a stretch. Your mileage may vary.

As far as form goes, it conforms to both Polish and Ukrainian.

Life / Orphanages in Poland [82]

Ever since Poland joined the EU, it has become quite difficult for US citizens to adopt Polish children, especially healthy infants. There are programs that facilitate the adoption of children with health or developmental problems, or older children. Even then, the requirements are quite stringent.

Here's one such organization:

childrenofallnations.com/adoption-programs/europe/poland-adoption

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

@gumishu

No. The "wice" in the town names you mentioned is not a patronymic ending. It's a toponymic ending. The patronymic ending in Polish has always been "wicz", and still is.

Study / Easy to find a part time job in Poznan? - applying for the University of Poznan of Economics [30]

@redxel

Your chances are astronomically small that you will find a job either during your studies in Poland, If you do not have enough money to pay 100% for your studies and stay, then Poland is not the country for you. Nor are any of the other countries in the poorer parts of the EU where youth unemployment is high: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, the countries of the former Yugoslavia, Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Male your plans on the very safe assumption that you will never be able to earn even a single penny in any of these countries.

Also, degrees from English-language courses at Polish universities are generally of very low quality and are not helpful for finding work anywhere in the EU. Especially degrees in economics or business related fields. If you want a degree that can help you find a job, then study a field that requires lots of advanced applied mathematics, like econometrics, financial mathematics, financial engineering or actuary sciences. Or study a highly paid field of engineering, like petroleum, geological or biomedical engineering.

The best place to study that is either in your own country, or, if you can afford it, one of the richer countries like the UK, Germany, Switzerland, and especially the US.

Learning Polish will take you many long, hard years. It's not worth the investment unless you have concrete and definite plans for a long future in the country, which you don't have.

My advice is to focus on getting the best education you can in your home country or other Arabic speaking country, in a field that can realistically help you find a job (with lots of advanced applied mathematics).

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

@kranskylover

There is a (very uncommon) Russian girl's name "Parasha", much more common in very old literature and folk stories than in current use. I can't think of anything, nor have I ever heard, anything like it in Polish.

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


It's the Russian term for a sort of bucket with a cover that was used as a sort of primitive toilet, used in labor and prisoner of war camps, for example.

There is a Polish surname Paraszka, with a "k", that derives from an old spelling of the word for "disaster, calamity, catastrophe". It's a very, very rare name, though.


Totally false, as are any notions that it is Jewish. It's Polish as Polish can be.

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


Roughly like the English words put-sick-of-itch, with the accent on the "of". It's a Polish surname of Polish origin. It's rather rare, unique to a single family, and is found predominantly around Krosno in southern Poland.

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


Exceedingly unlikely. Stankiewicz derives it from a old Polish word for "mouth" or "cheek".

Study / How to extend a student visa in Poland? [4]

Just go to the immigration office, and they will give you the application, with instructions, and a list of the documents you have to supply. It's not difficult, as long as you do what they say.

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

@Konwinski

It's a native Polish name, based on the Polish word for gray or white (hair). No need to look outside of Poland for an origin.

USA, Canada / Poles Living in the Chicago Area [343]

I used to live in Chicago myself, up in Lakeview. I know what you are talking about. Poles in Chicago keep to themselves and fly under the radar. You might not know they exist until you speak the language well, and then they are very easy to find. So learn the language! It's really hard work, and it will take you years, but it is worth it. I ended up living in Poland for twelve years myself.

The best place to start is at the international student office at your college and at other colleges near you. There are quite a few students from Poland in Chicago.

Also, you have to go out and look for them in the real world, and not on your computer. The air and sunshine will do you good.

Good luck!

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

@Konwinski

There are two possibilities, and they are both probably variants of what was originally the same name. Both are centered around Kielce county, which contains Gęsice. The first is Siwoń, and the second is Siwonia. Neither name is common, but neither is very rare, either. Both occur in about the same frequency. Siwoniów is an inflectional form, so ignore it.

Language / First Year Polish Second Edition Revised and Expanded - Oscar E. Swan (White Cover) [13]

The third edition, complete with sound files, is available online for free, together with the reference grammar, at:

lektorek.org/lektorek

Click on First Year Polish Course, then Computer Drills, and you will have a list including the main program and all of the associate sound files and instructions to use them.

The third edition is much better than the second. And it's free.

Law / Visa for Work in Poland [29]


You are totally wasting your time with this approach. You'll never find a job that way. The best jobs are advertised person-to-person, face-to-face in the real world. Recruiters and internet sites get the table scraps, When you find a job on an internet site, chances are that it has already been filled, and that thousands upon thousands of your fellow Indians and people from all over the world applied for the same job.

Build up your network of personal professional contacts and use them to find a good job. Focus on making friends with colleagues who work or have worked in the countries you want to go to. They have first-hand knowledge of the job situation in those countries, and can put you in touch with the managers who do the actual hiring.

Stay away from "recruiters", "agents" or "consultants" who promise to help you find a job or enter the EU for a fee. They are all frauds, every single one of them.

Good luck!

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

@St M

It means "son of Lawrence" (Wawrzyniec in Polish).

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


Or not. That is a very recent sound change that first arose after WWI far from centers of immigration and only began to spread after WWII. If the ancestor in question had immigrated before WWI, as most did, then this would be a very unlikely spelling attempt. I've never seen an "O" become an "A" in a Polish name from that time, except for names from Belarus, where "akanie" is prevalent.

Genealogy / Easy way to find out which Polish coat of arm/Clan you belong to. [105]

There probably isn't one. Do you have any evidence that any of your ancestors of that surname were nobles? Or even Polish in the 18th century?

The name is apparently ultimately Ruthenian (Ukrainian) in origin, and is derived from the Turkish word "karak", which means a type of "minor leader or official". The name is used by a very small number (27) of modern Poles, both in that spelling and in the more Polonified spelling of Karakoszko. However, they are almost certainly the descendants of Ruthenians who had become Polonified at some point in time. The current day Poles with that surname live near Jarosław in southeastern Poland, not far from the Ukrainian border. My guess is that there are also people with that surname in what is now the Ukraine.

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

Everywhere. It's a common name shared by many different unrelated families.

moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/sok%25C3%25B3%25C5%2582.html

Law / Poland's invitation letter validity. [26]

No, it is not valid. A real invitation letter has to be issued by the local government.

It is clear that you are trying to pay some "agent', "consultant" or "recruiter" to get you into the EU. They are all frauds, and will only steal your money and give you nothing.

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


Not now. They are extinct in this area every since they built the dam over the Wisław in Włocławek. But they were until recently (1970s), and even more so a century before that.

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


That seems very farfetched. Sorry, but guessing isn't going to help much here. You'll need documentation.

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


Very abundant. They made up a significant part of the diet just about all over Poland, until the 1970s, when the eel population began to crash.

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

The worm is named such because it looks and wiggles like a little eel. If you ever saw nematodes under the microscope. you would agree that that is a good description.

And,,,,, no $hit, I just looked for a Youtube video of nematodes, and the very first thing it says is "These microscopic worms look like tiny little eels". Here's the link:

youtube.com/watch?v=qc9CMLNfrHc

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

@kaprys

Wrong Lubasz. Check the other one in Galicia, the Austrian partition.

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

@kaprys

By the way, do you know about this site:

moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/.html

You can type in a surname, and it shows you a map with the distribution of registered people with that name by powiat. With gender-specific names, you have to either search twice (under Kowalski and Kowalska), or just double the result for either of them.

That's how I eliminated Zupka.