Life / Which animals are native to Poland? [58]

kozica - a chamois, a Tatra mountains goat (770 in 2008)
niedżwiedż - a brown bear (150)
wilk - a wolf (about 500-640)
ryś - a linx (280)
żbik - a wildcat (200)
bóbr - a beaver (6235 in 2007, reintroduced from Belarus, 108 in 1958)
żubr - a wisent, a wood buffalo (4230)

dzik - a wild boar (244,000)
łoś - a moose (6,480)
jeleń - a red deer, but known here as an elk (160,000)
sarna - deer (760,000)
daniel - a fallow-deer (19,600)
lis - a fox (about 200,000)
zając - a hare (530,000)
bażant - a pheasant (412,000)
kuropatwa - a partridge (408,000)

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


One possibility is that the name is Russian, but has been somewhat corrupted and should be transliterated with the letter "v" at the end, not "b". The possible source of such error (if there is one indeed) is this that the Russian character "в" actually represents sound "v" not "b".

There could be two possible Russian surnames here:
Russian Cухарoв, from "сухарь", Polish "suchar", English "biscuit". English transliteration of the surname: Sukharov
Russian Caхарoв, from "сaхар", Polish "cukier", English "sugar". English transliteration of the surname: Sakharov
The later surname is quite popular (3 million hits in google for the English spelling, 8 million for the original Russian spelling). The Cухарoв and Sukharov forms are much rarer: 0 and 13500 hits, correspondingly.

Language / When would one use nowy and when would he use nowego? [23]

We call it book reading.
Seriously, this is how the patterns sink in. Although I have received a solid foundation in grammar and spelling in my primary school it was through novels I read that I gained my language confidence and quite extensive vocabulary.

History / "Westerner's" most ridiculous beliefs about the time of communism in Poland [73]

Let me put in perspective: European films were often introspective. It was a time of great European movie directors: Antonioni, Fellini, Kazan, Buñuel, Forman, Truffaut, Bergman; great actors: Mastroianni, Belmondo; beautiful actresses: Ingrid Bergman, Sophia Loren, Claudia Cardinalle. On this background the Polish movies did not look bad at all. But that's the theme for another topic; partially covered by one of those Pawian's puzzle threads.

Take a look at this: youtu.be/pyXN8rlprB4

Here you have a quick view at one of Polish movies from that era, directed by one of the best directors, with the music score of one of the best Polish jazz composers, and with the voice of one of the best Polish singers at that time - Polish Edith Piaff, the Black Angel.

Film: Bariera
Year: 1966
Technical data: b & w, 77'
Director: Jerzy Skolimowski and Barbara Sass-Zdort
Scenario: Jerzy Skolimowski
Prizes: 1966 Bergamo - Grand Prix, 1968 Valladolid - Special Jury Prize

Music: Krzysztof Komeda
Composer (including the song): Krzysztof Komeda
Text of the song "Z ręką na gardło": Jerzy Skolimowski
Singer: Ewa Demarczyk

Jarosław Śmietana: A Story of Polish Jazz
Jarek Śmietana tells the story of "The Story of Polish Jazz", the title piece of his newest [then, in 2004] record.
Full text in Polish here: diapazon.pl/PelnaWiadomosc.php?bn=Artykuly&Id=310
...
He wanted it to be rap, he wanted it to be short, and he wanted it to be in Polish. But he could not squeeze it below 10 minutes.

...
He joined the Polish Jazz scene in 1970s, so had to read a lot to learn about 50s and 60s.
...
The work is made of 14 verses, interspersed with choruses of solo singers: 12 invited guests, himself and his piano player, Piotr Wyleżol. Each verse ends up with a name of some important person in specific period of Polish jazz, and that person (or somebody else) plays his symbolic four tacts. The first one is Duduś Matuszkiewicz, from where it alls started. [Jarek apologizes for forgetting to mention NOVI Sigers]. Two authentic rapers from Nowa Huta, calling themselves Bzyk and Guzik, were invited to run the show. They are helped by an American bass sax player, Steve Logan, who responds in English to all the basic question of the story:

-Duduś Matuszkiewicz: kto to jest?
- The first giant of Polish jazz



A Story of Polish Jazz

words: Jarek Śmietana / Jacek Pelc
music: Jarek Śmietana
8 taktów intro: "Horns and Brass Band"

diapazon.pl/PelnaWiadomosc.php?bn=Artykuly&Id=310

This is too much copying and pasting, and too much Polish language in an English language thread. This post may be moved later

History / "Westerner's" most ridiculous beliefs about the time of communism in Poland [73]

Few of them are here:
PRL TV Ads

History / "Westerner's" most ridiculous beliefs about the time of communism in Poland [73]

I got your point Rybnik. However, to explain my point a bit more: Before watching those movies, most of us already knew something about USA. We all read some American writers by then, or rather whatever was available in Polish translation then: Cooper, Twain, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Faulkner, Caldwell, Steinbeck, Salinger or so - until the attention of our few publishing houses was turned away first to the Japanese literature, and then to the prominent South American writers. So, watching those American movies did not contaminate our innocence, or worse. :-)

History / "Westerner's" most ridiculous beliefs about the time of communism in Poland [73]


I do not remember anyone looking at this your way when watching them. None of my friends ever though about them as anti-American propaganda movies. Come one Rybnik, you are just too sensitive, we were not the idiots; those movies were actually good, won many Oscars, they were shown all over the world (maybe few years earlier than in Poland :-)).

But frankly, we were more interested in Italian, French, Swedish movies, etc. then. And Magdalena was right - the DKFs (Film Discussion Clubs) were fantastic. You may want to see for example the article (in Polish) about DKF Żak in Gdańsk, one of the first DKF in Poland: klubzak.com.pl/doc_59.html

Its premiere took place on January 22 1956 with the presentation of Vittorio De Sica's "Miracolo a Milano" 1951 (Cud w Mediolanie). Officially it supposed to be a presentation of Russian children story "Konik Garbusek" (A hunchback Pony).

History / "Westerner's" most ridiculous beliefs about the time of communism in Poland [73]


but many of the American films were top ranking, such as:
All About Eve, 1950 - Wszystko o Ewie, 1959, dubbing
12 angry men, 1956 - Dwunastu gniewnych ludzi, 1959, 1973, dubbing;
Anatomy of murder, 1959 - Anatomia morderstwa
To kill a mockinbird, 1962 - Zabić drozda, 1962

Language / When would one use nowy and when would he use nowego? [23]

Lyzko, you are a nice guy, and we all try to protect you and give you credits for your valiant efforts. But "artyścia"? Where on earth did you get it from?

n. artyst-a artyści
g. artyst-y artyst-ów
d. artyś-cie artyst-om
a. artyst-ę artyst-ów
i. artyst-ą artyst-ami
l. artyś-cie artyst-ach
v. artyst-o! artyści!

Genealogy / Is it Likely One of My Polish Ancestors Did Some Funny Business With a Bulgarian? [16]


Why are you so angry? Just learn some basic facts - maybe from here: /wiki/Bulgarians

Language / Stworzyć and Utworzyć [14]


It was created to form a space.

It is easy to memorize, using this verb => noun pattern
stworzyć => stwór
utworzyć => utwór

Language / Stworzyć and Utworzyć [14]


Actually, there is a difference. See Słownik języka Polskiego PWN,
sjp.pwn.pl/szukaj/utworzy%C4%87
sjp.pwn.pl/szukaj/stworzy%C4%87

Genealogy / Is it Likely One of My Polish Ancestors Did Some Funny Business With a Bulgarian? [16]


One explanation could involve Tatars, who are partial descendents from Volga Bulgars.

So when you say "Bulgarian chromosome segment" what do you mean: Slavic, Turkish, Mongolian?


David_18, please name at least one Polish "richer folk" travelling to Bulgaria for vacation in 18th century. I can easily imagine and actually dig out names of many Polish aristocrats and nobility travelling to France, Greece and Italy for pleasure, others travelling to Western Europe for business of for education, but I somehow do not see Polish travellers resting in Bulgarian Black Sea resorts in 1700s. I am not taunting you; I am just curious. If you prove me wrong, then I will be happy learning my lesson for free. But since you said it, the onus is on you to support your claim now. :-)

I bet, more Poles travelled to Turkey proper (of Ottoman Empire) than to Bulgaria over the centuries: as envoys, diplomats, spies, merchants and romantic figures of The Great Emmigration dreaming of restoration of Poland with the help of the ancient enemy - Turkey: Mickiewicz (died in Istanbul), Słowacki, genaral Józef Bem (later known as Murad Pasha, Murat Pasa, Yusuf Paşa), Michał Czajkowski (Mehmed Sadyk Pasa), general Marian Langiewicz. The existence of Polish village Adampol-Polonezköy (30 km west from Istanbul, on Asian side of Bosphorus Straight) says something too about strong Polish-Turkish relations in 19th c.


There is the old saying in Polish: "Gdzie Rzym, a gdzie Krym?" - in other words, "this two things/ideas are not related at all".

The topic was: Polish Bulgarian contacts. Statistically one cannot deny presence of Bulgarians in Crimea. And yes, Poles tradesmen were always present in Crimea in small numbers during middle ages, in places like Caffa (Kaffa, Kefe, orig. Greek's Theodosia, now Feodosiya), Soldaia (Sudaq, now Sudak), Lusta (Alushta), Caulita (Yalta) or Cembalo (Balaklava).

They were part of European colonies on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula, initially run by Venetians and later by their arc-enemies Genoese (since 1365) - embedded in the sea of Crimean Tatars, to whom they paid annual tribute. In 1462 Caffa placed itself under the protection of King Casimir IV of Poland. However, Poland did not offer help when real danger came. It all end up in 1475, when Ottommans captured all the outposts. They killed most of non-Italian Europeans (including Poles) or took them into captivity for a ransom, and deported the rest of the population to Istanbul. Italians were sent to Genoa, after paying hefty ransom.

As far as I know, aside of the Varna Battle, which I mentioned in my previous post, Poland was never directly involved in Bulgarian affairs. However, Poland and later Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth messed with the Moldovian affairs, and through the Moldovian Hospodars (Poland's Fiefs since 1387) extended its posession as far south as Białogród (White Stronghold) na Dniestrem (Akerman, now Bilhorod-Dnistrovs'kyi - Ukraine), on Dniester Lagoon, about 20 km NW from the Black Sea coast. When the town was captured in 1484 by the Ottomans its name was changed to Akerman, meaning "white fortress".

Then there were Vlachs/Romanias (Wallachians), Wołosi in Polish. And there were plenty of contacts with them. Great Wallachian migration brought Karpathian shepherds to Poland, Wallachian soldiers served in Polish armies, and PLC was involved in wars with Principality of Wallachia (1599, 1629-21, 1633-34, 1599-1600, 1620-21, 1633-34). In many of those battles the Wallachians were the allies of the Ottomans. So was Moldavia from time to time.

Language / When would one use nowy and when would he use nowego? [23]


-LA

News / Przemysław Gintrowski died.... [8]

"These were the songs that gave us courage and strength to act. This was our form of protest against sad reality of PRL" - said Krzysztof Kwiatkowski in the TVN24 program "Kawa na ławę". This is how he recalled singer and composer Przemyslaw Gintrowski who died last Saturday. Another guest of Bogdan Rymanowski, Jacek Kurski, sang to the sounds of the guitar one of the artist's songs.

Not bad, not bad at all.

Language / Polish pronunciation of "W Meksyku" [6]


Yes, I would think so.

Sorry, Jacek, I cannot deliver samples of my speech; I have no mike handy to record my voice.

But believe me, the synthetic "Jacek" voice is completely wrong in "ulica"; it should be "u-li-ca". "He" sounds so-o-o Czech, :-) This is actually a good example to demonstrate the Czech-Polish difference in stress. Use translate.google.com to translate Polish "ulica" to Czech "ulice" then press those little speaker icons in both panes. You should hear very clearly the exaggerated sounds "u-li-ca" vs. "u-li-ce", pronounced by the same "speaker".

Some Polish dialects, such as Highlander's dialect, or more specifically Podhale dialect ("under mountain meadows", foothills, piedmont) usually put the stress on the first syllable (or on a preposition if it exists).

By the way, the word "ulica" comes from Hungarian and it originally meant a gorge, ravine, entrance.

Language / Polish pronunciation of "W Meksyku" [6]

Your observation appears to be correct. Of the five synthetic Polish voices there, three seem stressing the first syllable, and two - the second one. The voice "Agnieszka" clearly belongs to the second group - following this classical description of stress in Polish:

In Polish stress is mixed -- tonic-dynamic. The following three elements form the word stress:

- beginning of a word is characterized by high level of intensity,
- increase in tone of accented syllable,
- lengthening of accented vowel and weakening of articulation at the end of the word.

In the two-syllable words (with the stress on the first syllable) accent is primarily dynamic and generally there is also some lengthening of the vowel (especially if the word is pronounced in isolation). The difference in pitch is less regular.

In longer words the stressed penultimate syllable has a higher tone than at least one of the syllables surrounding it and also the stressed vowel may be lengthened.

In the four-syllable and longer words - in addition to the penultimate stress - a secondary stress is put on the first syllable. The secondary accent has higher level of intensity than the next syllable.

translated from pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fonetyka_j%C4%99zyka_polskiego

The voice synthesizer of the Google translator, although not that good as Ivona, very clearly stresses the second syllable in "w Meksyku".

I am quite impressed with the Ivona voice production: it is of much higher quality that I had ever been able to achieve many years ago (Yes, yes - I just happened to be involved in voice production software and hardware). But I would not take any of their synthesized voices for the ultimate authority of Polish pronunciation. :-)

One more thing: a sentence and a word stress interact somehow, so the phrases "w Meksyku" and "byłam w Meksyku" may appear having different stresses.

News / Poznan's Citizens Budget - expenses for the year 2012 [8]


This is it.
About 40 hectares used to belong to St. John of Jerusalem Parish, and were taken away by the communist authorities in 1952 when the artificial lake was created by damming the Cybina river. Some of its property is now under the water table of the Lake Malta. Since 1990s the Parish and the City of Poznań have been fighting this issue in courts. The subjects of dispute are: a compensation for use of the Parish property in the past, a compensation for the the property at the bottom of the lake, an annual lease agreement for the recreational properties along the lake, or alternatively - the land swap. The numbers differ, but in January last 2011 the District Court granted about 75 000 000 PLN of compensation plus return of 8 hectares of land. In May 2011 the Court of Appeal quashed that judgement. I do not know what is the current status of this dispute.

• 
  Lake Malta and disputed properties
  

Language / Polish pronunciation of "W Meksyku" [6]


There is no such rule, as far as I know. The exceptions to the standard "penultimate syllable stress" include words of Latin origin (bo-ta-ni-ka, w bo-ta-ni-ce, but bo-ta-ni-ka-mi; po-li-ty-ka, w po-li-ty-ce, but po-li-ty-ka-mi); plural forms of verbs in past tense (zro-bi-liś-cie, po-je-cha-liś-cie - the third syllable from the end); singular forms of subjunctive verbs (zro-bił-by, po-je-cha-ła-by - the third syllable from the end) or plural forms of subjunctive verbs (po-je-cha-li-byś-cie, zro-bi-li-byś-my - the fourth syllable from the end).

However, nobody would chop your head off if you did not follow these exceptions.

The stress "w Me-ksy-ku" is no different than stress "w I-ra-nie", "w Af-ga-ni-sta-nie" or "w U-rug-wa-ju" - it is put on the second syllable from the end. I think your confusion comes from the fact that the English "Mexico" is pronounced with the strong stress on the first syllable. Polish "Meksyk" has also similar stress, but the stresses in the phrases "in Mexico" and "w Meksyku" differ.

News / Poznan's Citizens Budget - expenses for the year 2012 [8]


I absolutely agree. And I think these kind of projects could motivate young people more than the old. And that's the point.


I understand that this project is just a continuation of Strzeszyńska path, although some say that this street is too busy and suggested alternative solutions. Probably too late.

But at least this should be some alternative to the very picturesque hiking/bicycle trail from Rusałka Lake to Strzeszynek. Is it back in use?

[A private owner of a property, through which the trail passes, expected Poznan authorities to buyout the land and - after lack of any response - he plowed about five hundred metres of the trail in the spring this year. Was he just pissed off, or was he trying to force the negotiations?]


I do not know whose idea it was but - considering it a fantastic PR - I suspect there was very little opposition to it. [Just about 0.326% of the budget!]

Genealogy / Is it Likely One of My Polish Ancestors Did Some Funny Business With a Bulgarian? [16]


Not very likely because Bulgaria was subjugated to Ottoman Empire since 1396 and only got liberated in 1878. The only significant Polish-Bulgarian connection was a "Polish-Hungarian crusade commanded by Władysław III of Poland set out to free the Bulgaria and the Balkans in 1444, but the Turks emerged victorious at the battle of Varna." Young Władysław III, later known as Warneńczyk, died in that battle.

News / Poznan's Citizens Budget - expenses for the year 2012 [8]

And the five top winners, which will be put to the budget, are:
01 - 39.02% - 1 500 000 zł - Expansion of Palium hospice
02 - 30.11% - 1 730 000 zł - Pedestrian and bicycle paths along Warta river
03 - 27.75% ‑ 2 500 000 zł - Short Stay Centrum for people with disabilities
04 - 21.69% ‑ 3 000 000 zł - Bicycle road from Juraszów St., Strzeszyńska, Biskupińska, Krajanecka, Strzeszyn
05 - 21.32% ‑ 1 870 000 zł - Family playground at Malta lake

Delphiandomine: three of your wishes came through.
I am happy for number 4, for personal reasons.
The results came up three days ago. Number of votes: 61 561. You could vote for maximum five projects. Number of participants: 20 238. Spoils (like missing some info): 978

News / Papal Day in Poland JP2 [26]


Yes, indeed, you were the first mentioning it. I do not claim the birthright to the word, but I referred Rybnik to my previous post because it had links to the definitions, including etymology ILLEITY => "IL Y A". Then I followed it up with the related concepts, to provide some further insight. What's wrong with that? I did not think I would have to explain this to you. :-(


And this supposed to be funny, right?

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

Hryshchuk seems to be an Ukraininian or a Belarusian version of Polish version Grzeszcz-ak, Grzeszcz-ek, Grzeszcz-ok. Grzeszcz-uk, Grzeszcz-yk - meaning a son of Grzeszcz.

Grzesz, Grzeszcz, and about 50 other surnames starting with the root GRZES-, all derive from the name Grzegorz (apearing in Poland since XII c.), and this from Greek gregorios, meaning "gorliwy, czuwający" (zealous, watchful).

Here is the standard Polish-Belarusian or Polish-Ukrainian transformation of the sounds G and RZ:
G => H; RZ => R, hence
Polish transliteration: Grzeszczuk => HRESZCZUK, and then
English transliteration of Hreszczuk => HRESHCHUK
I have no idea why HRY and not HRE. Maybe it just sounds better?

News / Papal Day in Poland JP2 [26]


IFLEITY is Polunius'es "itchy fingers" typo, which happens to him quite often recently. The real word is ILLEITY, which I referred to three posts ago.

I happen to have at home Ryszard Kapuściński's collected lectures, under the name "Ten Inny" (This Other), 2006. It includes "Wykłady Wiedeńskie (I-III) (Vienna Lectures) - 2004, "Mój Inny" (My Other) - Graz 1990, "Inny w innej wiosce" (The Other in Another Village) - Kraków 2003, "Spotkanie z Innym jako wyzwanie XXI wieku" (Meeting with Other as a challenge of XXI century).

Here is his relevent quote of Józef Tischner, from his "The Pholosophy of Drama" (1998):


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zef_Tischner

The philosophy of drama is a direction, orientation or a trend, which intends to handle the basic problem of man - I and his relation with Other man.

In modern times this trend was created and developed by Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, Gabriel Marcel and most often recalled by Tischner - Emmanuel Lévinas.

News / Papal Day in Poland JP2 [26]


From Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Entry: Emmanuel Levinas. He introduced a concept of "he-ness", Illeity.

plato.stanford.edu/entries/levinas

From fractal Ontology, refracting theory: politics, cybernetics, philosophy. Article: "Ipseity and Illeity, or Thinking Ethics without the Other of the Other"

fractalontology.wordpress.com/2009/05/02/ipseity-and-illeity-or-thinking-ethics-without-the-other-of-the-other/

Genealogy / Jerzy Skublicki- his sons Tomas and Pawel [10]

I would like to help but your post is quite vague since it is lacking important details, such as dates, from which the age of the Jerzy's sons could be inferred. Fortunately you were more specific in your other post, 10 years ago, to a certain genealogy site: genealogytoday.com/genealogy/research_query.mv?ID=21213, on 2002-05-02 :


So - combining the information from these two posts:
You are looking for two middle age men, approximately 41-44 years old originally from Krosno, Poland. (not Krakow)
Their names are: Paweł (spelled with £, L with stroke) and Tomasz Skublicki - so not Povo, not Tomas, and not Pawel.
Their father, Jerzy, known as Jerry in USA, a Polish national tennis table champion, died in car accident in October 1975, presumably in USA.

Googling "Jerzy Skublicki" Krosno: Several positive hits come along, confirming the data. One of them is his photo and a short bio note in Polish:


nowiny24.pl/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=nw&Date=20091130&Category=plebiscytsportowy&ArtNo=812979571&Ref=ph&Params=Itemnr=42

The next step is to check the distribution of the surname "Skublicki" in Poland. There are 29 people of that name in Poland, and most of them - 16 - live in Krosno. Good sign. moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/skublicki.html.

Googling "Tomasz Skublicki" Krosno brings some result but it looks like that that Tomasz is too young - 22-27 years old. Not the one you seek.

Googling "Paweł Skublicki" Krosno, brings some genealogy record, which looks more or less like this in translation (and after some data massaging):


piotrowscy2006.republika.pl/exodus-k.html
So if Magdalena is 40 years old then she would be a good partner for somebody aged 41-44.
This Paweł Skublicki is a veterinarian and he works for the government.
Further search reveals mode details:
He actually works for "Główny Inspectorat Weterynarii" (Main Veterinary Inspectorate), Warsaw. He is listed as a contact to several international programs, such as this:

EUROPEAN COMMISSION. HEALTH & CONSUMER PROTECTION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL
Unit 04 - Veterinary Control Programmes
Programmes for the eradication and monitoring of animal diseases, of certain T5Es and for the prevention of zoonoses. Monitoring and eradication programme of TSEs. Poland

contact: lek. wet. Pawel Skublicki (as of 2006-05-31)
pawel.skublicki@wetgiw.gov.pl
ec.europa.eu/food/animal/diseases/eradication/programme2007/2007_tse_pl.pdf

The link also provides his work's fax and telephone numbers, but you may want to start with the email first. I hope this is the person you are searching for. Good luck.

Language / Busha and JaJa [140]


boletus said: "here is a jocular Kashubian text, where the word Busia is used."

Harry quoted the above

Harry responded: "Kashubian is not a dialect of Polish; it is a language."

Oh, so Harry was contradicting himself, not me? Oh, how clever!

Another Harry's lie: "Yet again a voice from North America claims to know better than a Pole with 85 years' experience of living in Poland."

Where did I say that? Or Harry is about to say that "a voice from North America" actually meant Harry himself on a business trip to America?

I have no time for your garbage Harry.

Language / Busha and JaJa [140]


Here you go, mister liar. Where do you see me stating that Kashubian=dialect?


LIAR!
As for the rest of your garbage >> to the garbage it goes.

Language / Busha and JaJa [140]


Hard as you try, Harry, twisting the truth will just make you look stupid. I object to the lines #3, #6. Never said such things, you liar! Next time I am going to report you without hesitation.

Line 4: Controversy between Silesian dialect vs. Silesian language aside - there are dialects of Silesian, such as Cieszyn Silesian dialect, Niemodlin Silesian dialect, Prudnik Silesian dialect, etc.

I said "Lower Silesian dialect", cannot you fecking read? There is a word of difference between "Silesian language" , "Lower Silesian dialect", and Wijewo dialect, or rather sub-dialect (gwara).

Summing up: Harry is hilarious again in claiming to be a linguistic expert of Polish, its dialects and sub-dialects ("gwaras"), but yet he does not even speak Polish and he does not understand that dialects are the foundation of any literary language, including Polish.