Genealogy / Family Name UNIATYCKI from Lwow [11]

Uniatycki -- possible patronymic nickanme from the old first name Unisław, or toponymic from such places as Uniejów. Perhaps a patronymic meaning "son of the Uniate". The Uniates (in Polish: Unici) were the Easterrn rite of the Catholic Church which had an Orthodox liturgy but remained faithful to Rome.

Food / Looking for a Pickle Soup Recipe - Polish ogórkowa [28]

Bottled przecier ogórkowy (grated brined cucumber) is available at Polish shops and delis in N. America. Just cook in meat stock, and whiten wtih sour cream and flour.

Genealogy / JARENTOWSKI/BIELAWSKI/MAKOWSKI [20]

Thadzinska cannot be Polish. TH does not exist in the language.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4501]

The root is from olch~olsz which indeed means alder, however nearly all surnames ending in -ewski and -owski originated as toponymic nicknames. In this case Olszewski would mean the bloke from Olszew or Olszewo (Alderbury, Alderton).


Sochacki -- basic root = socha (primitive plough); perhaps also toponymically from the locality of Socha in £ódź region

Jagielski -- from jagła (millet groats); toponymically from Jagiele, Jagielno, Jagłowo, etc.

Genealogy / Kolakowski / Kulakowski family in and around parafia Bogate and Baranowo [2]

Noit interchangebale but illiteracy was high, hence spellings often varied. Both names exist in Poland, probably toponymics from Kułaki or Kułakowice and Kołaki or Kołaków resepctively.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4501]

Góralczyk = son of the highlander (patronymic nickname).
Maybe the city was Katowice -- the capital of Śląsk (Silesia).

Genealogy / Kapushka name - what is the meaning? [17]

It would have to be Kapusia or Kapusza in Polish, assuming that it was correctly transcribed into English spelling. But no-one currently bears either the Kapusia or Kapusza surname. There are 2 people named Kapusa in Poland.

A kapusia might be the diminutive of kapka (drop, squirt of liquid)
A kapus was once a kind of mediaeval hood.
Or possibly it originated as a corrupted form derived from kapusta (cabbage) or a toponymic nickname traceable to Kapustowo, Kapuśniki or Kapuściska (Cabbageville, Cabbageshire). All in all, rather enigmatic!

Genealogy / Kapushka name - what is the meaning? [17]

If there is a river in Siberia called the Капуша, then Kapusha would indeed be the correct, traditional way of transcibing the Cyrillic into Latin-alphabet English.

Have you no information from any family member on where yoru ancestors were from?

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4501]

The word kłos in Polish means an ear of grain (usually rye or wheat), so it could have arisen as a nickname for someone associated wtih grain, a miller for instance.

But it could have likewise as a toponymic nickname from some locality containing the "kłos" root.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4501]

Fornek -- probably originated as a patronynmic nickname for the son of the "fornal" (stable hand). For a complete custom-researched analysis please contact me.

Belarussian version of Gawronik; Gawron = rook, large bird of the crow family. When someone nicknamed Gawron fathered a son, the offspring would have been called Gawronik or (in the eastern broderlands) Hawranik.

No-one named Kiełbaski in Poland at present, but there are quite a few with the Kiełbaska.
surname. Yes, the sausage connection is obvious.

Dudarz = piper (someone playing Polish-style goatskin bagpipes).

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4501]


Dobosiewicz, root = dobosz (army drummer), -wicz = patronymic suffix (son of), hence Dobosiewicz originated to indicate "the drummer's boy".


'Twas probably Jurzak which originated as a patronymic nickname for the "son of Jur or Jura" (eastern-bordelrland forms of the first name Jerzy/George).

Life / COMBATING "POLACK" JOKES [460]

May 15, 09, 23:09 - Thread attached on merging:
WHY DUMB POLLACK, NOT CZECH, SERB OR HUNGARIAN?

The "dumb Pollack" stereoptype, Pollack jokes, etc. are said to have originated because of the ignorance and illeteracy of the Polish immgrant masses that started arriving in America in the latter half of teh 19th century. But immigrants from Slovakia, Lithuania, Hungary, Ukraine, Croatia, Romania, Belarus, Serbia and other such places were not exactly aristorcrats. In fact, many of them were even poorer and less educated than the Poles. Of course, all ethnic groups have at one time or other have had the stuffing taken out of them over the years in America -- Bohunks, Hillbillies (ignroant WASPs), Scandihoovians, Kikes, Wops, Spics, Jigaboos, Cannucks, Krauts, Micks, etc., etc., but all those jokes came and went. The Pollack ones have displayed unusual durabiltiy. Anyone know why?

Food / Polish cookies recipes [43]

just say kroosh and add cheeky (kroosh-CHEE-ky)

Food / Borscht - Zurek / Bialy barszcz recipe [153]

I've noticed that Polish cooks in Poland and Polonia often cheat and sour their żurek and biały barszcz with a little citric acid crystals (kwasek cytrynowy). Of course, if they maek their own soup base, then that's still better than using the instant packet soups which are now quite widespread in Poland. These are avialable in Polish delis across America as well.

Food / Borscht - Zurek / Bialy barszcz recipe [153]

polana.com/category/Polish_Condiments

Polana of Chicago charges only $3.70 a bottle.

USA, Canada / List of colleges & universities (in the USA) that offer Polish courses [14]

Columbia
Univ. of Wisconsin
Univ. of Michigan
I imagine some Chicagoland univeristies should offer Polish coruses: U of Chicago, Marquette, Loyoya, Northwestern???
NOTE: Any such list usually fluctuates from semester to semster; courses depend on available staff and the number of interested students.

USA, Canada / A good Polish restaurant in Michigan? [25]

American-Polish Cultural Center is on Maple Rd (15 Mile) and Dequindre in Troy. BTW locals do not pronounce the street the French way de-KANDR but say de-KWIN-der.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4501]


DEPTA: In dialectic peasant Polish depta was a dawdler. It may also derive from the verb deptać (to tread upon, stamp with one's feet).

STACHOWSKI: Stach is the diminutive of Stanisław and the -owski ending is usually toponymic (place-name-derived), so the English equiavlent might be something like Stanton or Stanleyville.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4501]

Nikoniuk = son of Nikon (Ukranian first name).

SURNAMES JADCZAK AND HODAR

Jadczak appears to have originated as a patronymic nickname for the son of someone named Jadam (as in Jadam i Jewa -- a dialectic peasant pronunciation).

Hodar was probably originally Chodar either from chodzić (to walk) (Jaś Chodar would be something like Johnny Walker!) or a variant spelling of Chodor (one of several different Slavonic forms of the first name Teodor which also included Todor and Fiodor).

Genealogy / Knew I was Hungarian, but my DNA came back Polish? [23]

Could you please share a few comments on the DNA check? How is it done, what does it cost, etc.?

Food / MAKE TWARóG (Polish curd cheese) AT HOME [8]

Yes, commercial means industrially preapred and sold in shops. Nearly all commercially sold milk is pasteurised.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4501]


Chorążyczewski (if you are stuck with this surname in America I truly smypathise!!!)
Etymologically the root is chorąży (standard-bearer) and the source of this tioponmyic nickanme would be some locality such as Chorążyczew or Chorążyczewo.

Walczyszyn -- a Ukrainian-influenced metronymic nicknamde which worked in a rather strange way. The wife of someone named Walek (from Walenty or Walerian) was called Walczyszyna and when she Walek's son he was known as Walczyszyn (which means the son of the wife of Walek). Polish prefers straightforward patronymic nicknames such as (in this case) Walkowiak, Walczak or (in the east) Walczuk.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4501]

There are 24 people named Maka in Poland and more than 3,000 using the Mąka surname. Perhaps some Austrian official igmoredf the little squiggle under the "ą", and the illiterate Polish peasant got it written that way in his documents.

Genealogy / Aniela Swierczynski Born. June 21 1897 in Krakow [7]

No, that would have to be Świerszczyński. The root of Świerczyński i świerk (spruce).

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4501]

WILPISZEWSKI toponymic from Wilpiszewo. Since more than half of Poland's some 30 Wilpiszewskis live in the Szczecin area, their ancestral nest must have originally been east of the River Bug.

KWIECIEŃ - April -- either the month someone was born in or converted (usually to Catholicism)

RYDLEWICZ patronymic nickname (son of a bloke nicknamed Rydel -- shovel, spade, or hailing from Rydlewo).

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4501]

There is has been a great deal of German-Yiddish-Polish and other-Slavonic interaction in the name field over the centuries with an added sprinkling of Lithuanian, Hungarian and Turkish elements thrown in...

SPANKE - none in Poland more than 500 in Germany. There are 19 Spankowskis in Poland (son of Spanke or Spanek?) and 1 peson named Spanek. Spanek suggest a spanie (sleep) related etymology. Wygodne spanko is colloquial for a comfy sack.


ŚCIORA - from the verb now archaic ściorać or ściarać (to sully, besmirch, dirty, blacken). In a physical sense possibly applicable to a soot-stained chimneysweep, morally to someone with a sullied reputation.

DATA - obviously an Italian import. Means the same (calendar date not rendez-vous!) in both languages.

SZEJWA -Polonised respelling of German/Yiddish Schewe from the adj. schief meaning lopsided, crooked, bent-over.

Popieliński probably arose as a toponymic nikcname to describe an inhabitant of Popielin or Popielno.

Genealogy / Antoni Kowalski or Knop - Pabianice Poland Lodz? [2]

Parafia Najświętszej Marii Panny Różańcowej w Pabianicach
ul.Zamkowa 39 95-200 Pabianice
tel. (48 42) 215 28 23
e-mail: pabianice@misjonarze.pl

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Living in Poland - 2 veterans named Kowalski

Kowalski, Józef 01900-02-02 2 February 1900 107 Polish Russian Resides in Tursk, near Sulęcin, and fought with the Bolsheviks at the end of WWI[8][9]
Wycech, Stanisław 01902-06-27 27 June 1902 104 Polish Polish Military Organisation Enlisted at 15 years of age in 1917 and stayed in the army, eventually reaching the rank of captain[10][11]