Genealogy / What certificate is this?; birth certificate from the greek catholic church [63]


I'm not sure. I can read contemporary Cyrylic but this is written with the old calligraphy, which is sometimes hard to read. Besides, there are not enough words to properly compare the letters. But if the first letter of the mother's name isn't O, then I don't know what else it could be. I tried D but it doesn't make sense, as the second letter is "c"(Cyrylic for s).

For me it looks like Osinia.
I know it would be a rare name but stranger things have happened, and the last name Biel doesn't sound Polish either - the mother might have been of Byelorussian origin and I don't know Byelorussian names well enough to be sure.


Could be either... But I'm for Tarnawce on this one, mostly by the look of the second letter. "Y" in Cyrylic looks different. Unfortunately, again, there's no other "y" to compare it to.

Genealogy / What certificate is this?; birth certificate from the greek catholic church [63]


I admit it was a miss. I didn't know that October was also called "zhovten" (in Polish that would be "żółcień", a beautiful name indeed), so just by comparing all the months' names to the writing I thought "fiewral'" to be closest. Kudoz to you for this one.


Could be "t" but I can't think of any name that would fit then. Besides, "t" in "Kostia" is written as "m".

The fourth letter could be also cyrylic "g".
As for the ending, it's -ji therefore in Nominative would be -ja - and that's fine - before WWII some Polish female names were spelled and pronounced this way, e.g. Zofija, especially in the east of Poland.

So - Osinja, Asinja - ??? Might be some Eastern name. The Eastern Orthodox believers have a lot of names which sound strange to Poles (Eastern saints' names). But I can't Google anything similar.

The name Michalczyk is quite popular in Poland too.

And what's your take on Tyszowce/Tarnawce?

Language / Too many English words in the Polish language! [709]

I thought she was asking about "kimono"?

Language / Too many English words in the Polish language! [709]


Make it a 0.7 l and you'll find a relation to "chilly" too :)

There might be some common ProtoIndoEuropean root though.


really? and what does it stand for in Greek?

Life / Lack of Spacial Acuity in Poland [69]

Yep. Try it and you'll stop bumping into people so much.

Maybe the Brits subconsciously apply the left-hand rule and hence the problems?

Life / Best-looking Polish post-war celebs.... [12]

I'm not a girl anymore, but hey...




nauseously sweet and cheesy


just irritates me, so I'm not even sure if he's good-looking or not


he's a good actor and I like him a lot, but good-looking? come on!!!


:D the flag macho of III RP


no. please...


is he male???


now you're talking. he's getting old though, used to look better a few years back.


just OK

Life / Best-looking Polish post-war celebs.... [12]

Tomasz Kammel

yupi! it works
so:

Paweł Deląg

Marcin Zakościelny

Bogusław Linda

Zbigniew Zamachowski

Life / Polish Brand names in everyday usage. [6]

elektroluks for vacuum cleaner - I think Electrolux was the first available brand here
neska for instant coffee (Nescafe) - not so much now, but it used to be in the past, when there weren't that many brands available

Language / Pronunciation of "lepiej" [13]

because there is no z in them: lepiej, najlepiej.

I think you've confused them with lepszy, najlepszy, which are adjectives. Lepiej and najlepiej are adverbs (they answer the question: how?)

Language / Pronunciation of "lepiej" [13]

jem, jesz, je, jemy, jecie, jedzą

Genealogy / What certificate is this?; birth certificate from the greek catholic church [63]


Thanks for this one! I've always wondered what the dashes are for and where you should put them.


Kinia? But again, if you look at the K in Kostia, it's very different.


It is, but they use strange names too.


It's the place of birth of Iwan Michalczyk.


There are two Śliwnicas in Poland, close to each other:
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Śliwnica

Love / Is she genuine? - I would like some advice please re a Polish girl. [130]

Oh come on, give the guy a break. A Nigerian scammer wouldn't have a working mobile with Polish number. As for her honesty, this remains to be seen, but it's exactly the same as in "real" life. There are normal people using the net too, not everybody is a scammer.

Genealogy / What certificate is this?; birth certificate from the greek catholic church [63]


Could it be Tarnawka? "Tarnawce" would be an inflected form - "born in Tarnawka" - "urodzony w Tarnawce".
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarnawka_(powiat_przemyski)


No harm in trying ;)
It's interesting. A detective-like stuff. Proves that internet forums can actually be useful :)

Love / Is she genuine? - I would like some advice please re a Polish girl. [130]


All right, but that's a great way to become paranoid. Just watch your wallet and personal data until you know what you're doing, and that's it. Common sense should suffice. As you've said yourself, what do you know about somebody you meet in a bar? They might be a serial murderer for all you know, but it's not a reason to lock yourself up at home and stop talking to people. I know some great people that I've met on the Internet first, they're very real and we remain good friends - yes, I've met them in person too. And there is a married couple among them, who also met on a net forum and it wasn't even a dating site.

Am I to believe that all the nicks here on PF are boots and scammers? ;)

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


It's a big aristocratic name and hence another possibility: in the 19thc. there were a few armed uprisings and fights with the Russian forces occupying parts of Poland, all of them unfortunately lost. After that, in order to punish the aristocrats who supported these uprisings, the Russian tzar (or tzarina) gave their names to numerous Jews. Lots of Potockis, Czartoryskis and others appeared then. So if you know nothing about your ascendants coming from an aristocratic family, then there are good chances that one of them might have been a Jew.

There are many "real" Potockis' descendants alive now though. You may also look them up in Wikipedia - a lot of important historical figures there.

Love / Is she genuine? - I would like some advice please re a Polish girl. [130]


I certainly hope so too :)

Language / Pronunciation of "lepiej" [13]

no, sorry, I can't ;) I've never had to learn Polish conjugation groups.
Probably it's some exception.

UK, Ireland / WHAT IS SO SPECIAL LIVING IN U.K [90]


Everybody's got planes. Even in Poland, we've got LOT.


Tulips?

Love / What do Polish guys think of Irish girls? [187]


Now, at last a statement that I truly like.

Language / Polish slang phrases - most popular. [606]

generally, yes.
still what Aga said is correct.

Language / popełnić (extended usage)? [5]

Ironic. Similarly, you hear sometimes "popełnić małżeństwo".

Genealogy / What certificate is this?; birth certificate from the greek catholic church [63]


Why are you so sure?

Genealogy / What certificate is this?; birth certificate from the greek catholic church [63]

Of course it is very close because it's how Śliwnica would be spelt in Ukrainian and with the Cyryllic alphabet. All the three Śliwnica names are exactly the same. The difference in the last letter that you mention is just declension - the stamp says: Gr.-kat. Uriad Parochialnyj w Sliwnici - Greek-Catholic Parish Office in Śliwnica - "in Śliwnica" translates as "w Sliwnici", the ending is declined so it changes.

The "backward R" letter is "ja" in Cyryllic.

The certificate was issued in 1944, state borders hadn't been established yet, there wasn't any Poland nor Ukraine yet. Ukrainian was spoken in the whole area and as far as I know it was the language of the Greek-Catholic church, hence the language of the stamp. You need to check which of the three Śliwnicas had a parochial office (was the seat of a Gr.-Cath. parish). Wikipedia doesn't give the information, you need to look elsewhere. If I were you I'd try to email gmina offices to which the Polish Śliwnicas belong asking if there is/was a Greek-Catholic parish in them. Another way would be to look up the web pages of Greek-Cath. church in Poland.

Language / Pronunciation of "lepiej" [13]

More or less so.
You don't hear "z" in these words as its "sz", pronounced roughly as English "sh".
Check out other threads in this section, there was a link somewhere to a website where you can check Polish pronunciation (you get male/female voices pronouncing words).

Language / iec conjugation [47]

jeść

Present: jem, jesz, je, jemy, jecie, jedzą
This is imperfective, as present tense can never be perfective (I think...)

Past imperfective (male): jadłem, jadłeś, jadł, jedliśmy, jedliście, jedli.
Past perfective: zjadłem, zjadłeś, zjadł, zjedliśmy, zjedliście, zjedli.

So perfective and imperfective are the same, the only difference is the prefix "z".

Frankly, I don't understand the explanations that you've quoted. Which consonant do they have in mind?

Language / "Zaraz wracam" - Why not "zaraz wrócę" ? [32]


now this is simply wrong. Bad Polish, bad grammar.
Prosić kogoś o coś, so: proszę matkę o kawę.
Proszę kawę - o co??? Can you ask coffee for anything?
The correct version is poproszę kawę or proszę o kawę.


No, he's not. He's making too many non-native mistakes,and I don't mean the one with coffee, which is actually quite common among Polish native speakers.

Language / Declension of town names in prepositional phrases in Polish [22]

It's the locative case (miejscownik) of the place name.

A church in Nieborów (kosciół w Nieborowie)
A shop in Lewiczyn (sklep w Lewiczinie) w Lewiczynie
A palace in Warszawa (pałac w Warszawie)
A street in Siedlce (ulica w Siedlcach)
A house in Paprotnia (dom w Paprotni) Paprotnie? w Paprotni; "w Paprotnie" would be correct if the name were Paprotno
A school in Nowy Ręczaje (szkoła w Ręczajach Nowych) w Nowych Ręczajach - why change the order?
also, I think that should be Nowe Ręczaje

Some place names are tricky and problematic even for the natives.

Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]


;))) I really like your attitude :)

Language / Declension of town names in prepositional phrases in Polish [22]

this one? panoramio.com/photo/18891399

yes, it's a nice picture. Unfortunately, the commentary under says that the shrine doesn't exist anymore; it has been taken down. Shame.

The map says Nowe Ręczaje. Looks like the author of the picture unwittingly changed the order of the words.

Language / iec conjugation [47]


raczejłbym = i would rather raczej is not a verb
pojechał = he rides/ he was riding he went
szukałem = i search/ i am searching I searched/was searching
będę iść naprzółem = i will go forward będę iść naprzód
Święciam = i celebrate/ i am celebrating święciłam - I was celebrating; święcę - I am celebrating