Genealogy / Coats of arms of Polish cities [51]

...
Sam święty Jerzy, siostry,
przygłądał się i dziwił:
"Ho, ho, nasz anioł Paweł
bije się jak Radziwiłł.
Dobrodziej też by chwalił,
lecz właśnie śpi w obłokach".
Tak mówił święty Jerzy
i dalej męczył smoka...
- K.I. Gałczyński, Ballada o Trzech Wesołych Aniołach, fragmencik

Even San Georgio, my sisters,
Watched him in sheer delight,
"Ho, ho, our Angelo Paolo
He knows quite well how to fight.
The Boss would also praised him,
but he is on the wagon"
So said Saint George, my sisters,
Further tormenting the dragon ...

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  Bia³a Podlaska: St. Michael tormenting the dragon
  
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  Dzier¿oniów: St. George tormenting the dragon
  

Language / -ski/-ska, -scy/ski, -wicz - Polish surnames help [185]

^^
Jedliżanka, of course.

Genealogy / Mackowiak surname, Maćkowiak [17]

You may want to start with Poznan Marriage Indexing Project.
poznan-project.psnc.pl/project.php

Read the introduction; it is in English. Then search the database. It is very friendly, since all you need is to know just one surname (bride or groom), unless you know exact names of both parties. First names are usually written in Latinized version, but that depends on a parish. If you are lucky and find the match or few, look for the location of the the original marriage certificate and then fetch the copy (in person or by proxy) from the local parish. This could tie you to a baptism certificate of at least one surname, since in those times many married in the same parish where they were born. The database handles various denominations and you do not have to specify it during the search.

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

KOSZTOWNIAK: from "koszt" ("wartość, wydatek") - cost (value, expenditure); from "kosztowny" - costly, expensive, valuable. The suffix -AK is one of the forms signifying an offspring of somebody. In this case: Kosztowny => Kosztowniak. But it could be also a means of converting an adjective "kosztowny" to a noun "kosztowniak".

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

If you ask me, I am not getting into such speculations since everything is possible in border areas: surname Polish, given name German - nothing particularly strange. National allegiances change too. People with Polish surnames became very German and vice versa. General Anders, a commander of Polish Second Corps in Italy, a great Polish patriot, was born to his Baltic-German father Albert Anders and his mother Elizabeth, born Tauchert. Even one branch of the Habsburgs became proud Polish patriots. See for example this:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archduke_Wilhelm_of_Austria

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

^^
Nadworna, Nadworny, Nadworniak - from "nadworny", belonging to "dwór", a manor house

Jansa - from a given name Jan (Jan is used in Poland since XIII c.)

Burda - from "burda", a brawl; or from "burdać się" ("przewracać się, rozrzucać"), to fall over, to scatter

Haman - from German personal name Hamann, this from Hann or Hanne (Johann); same as Jan in Polish (Han was used instead of Jan in Old Polish)

Peter, Petera - from a given name (German: Peter, Petir, Piter), (Polish: Piotr, Piotro, Pietr, Pioter, Piotyr, Pietyr). All those names come from the Greek word "petra", meaning rock.

Genealogy / Coats of arms of Polish cities [51]

Bełchatów

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Genealogy / Coats of arms of Polish cities [51]


Often English sources are not complete or satisfactory ...
From Polish wikipedia: The former village Bochotnica was renamed Nałęczów by Stanisław Małachowski in 1772 but the spa itself was established by the next owner of Nałęczów, Michał Górski, sometimes after 1863. Nałeczów became a town not until 1963.

Genealogy / What does Germanised mean? [29]

^
Check this first, then ask if you have any questions:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanisation

Genealogy / Coats of arms of Polish cities [51]

A brine is pumped from the underground source up to the top of the tower (actually more like a Great Chinese Wall) to special throughs. Next it is filtered along the walls constructed with big poles of oak, spruce and pine, and filled with blackthorn branches. Due to the wind and the sun action, the water evaporates on the blackthorn - creating a microclimate rich in iodine, sodium, chlorine, bromine for people to enjoy therapeutic inhalation there.

But it is also used during the multi-stage process of brine concentration from where it is pumped to the salt plant, where salt, mud and medicinal lye are produced.

Language / What is the proper term for Gesundheit ? [7]

Do you remember that old joke, strzyga?
A meeting of Central Committee of Communist Party. Stalin reads his speech. Someone sneezes loudly. Stalin stops, looks around. Everyone trembles. [Polish transliteration of Russian sentences follows]

- Kto czichnuł?
- Kto czichnuł?
- Kto czichnuł?
- Eto ja, towariszcz Stalin.
- Nu, zdarowja żełaju, comrade!

Genealogy / Coats of arms of Polish cities [51]

This is the biggest one in Poland, made of three walls of the total length of 1741 m and the height of 15m. Built in 19th c.

There is also a much smaller one in Inowrocław: 300m x 9m. Built in 2001
And finally there is a tiny one in GrudziÄ…dz: in a form of a sigle 9 m pillar under a glass pyramidal roof.

History / An American studying medicine in the PRL 1978-1985: my story [142]

Oops! I agree. Mods: please erase my last posts.

History / An American studying medicine in the PRL 1978-1985: my story [142]


From some Belgian source (I forgot to copy URL)


What I also remember, this prompted the mine owners to negotiate new contracts with other Mediterranean countries: Greece, Spain, N. African countries. Slowly recruitment of non-ECC natives stopped, although some exceptions still existed until 1970s for Polish experts, such as mechanics. The Belgians feared communists, so they made sure not to recruit communists from Italy. North Italy seemed safe in this respect.

Life / Do Poles drink before noon? [95]

I somehow distinctly remember early morning habit of (some) Mediterranean farmers: pastis drinking on the way to work. A shot of Ricard (merged with Pernod in 1970s). A magic of water (5:1), turning your amber coloured Ricard into milky-greenish liquid.

History / An American studying medicine in the PRL 1978-1985: my story [142]


This is what you may want to listen to one day, on a visit to "Archiwum Historii Mówionej".
[The main objective of Archiwum Historii Mówionej, Oral History Archive is commemorating the outgoing generation. To this end we engage various communities and collaborators from all over Poland to record and develop oral histories. ]

Projekt [Project]: Zapomniani świadkowie XX wieku [Forgotten witnesses of XX c.]
Wywiad przeprowadził/a [Interviewer]: Piotr Retecki
Sygnatura nagrania [Record signature]: AHM_1140
Miejsce nagrania [Recording place]: Mieroszów
Data nagrania [Recording date]: 13.01.2009
Czas nagrania [Recording time]: 02:06
Język nagrania [Language]: polski [Polish]
Nagranie do odsłuchania w Czytelni Multimedialnej Domu Spotkań z Historią
[Recording available at Multimedia Ewading Room, History Meeting House, dsh.waw.pl]
audiohistoria.pl/web/index.php/swiadkowie/nagrania/id/2327/from/ahm/idwyk/148

Opis nagrania [Description]:

Relations - Poles in France duing interbellum: customs, occupational structure.
Working class social structure, dominated by Poles employed in mining industry of North-East France, a region with the greatest density of Poles.
Living conditions: life in the mining settlements.

German occupation in France during 1940-1944: the activities of guerrilla organizations, lack of repressions typical of the German occupation of Poland - the round-ups, mass executions, ghettos, etc...

Agitation of the Polish authorities to return to Poland after 1945. The reasons for return: longing for the country that they left as children, agitation of authorities declaring that Poland is now a "paradise for all".

Living conditions: worm-infested (bed-bugs?) flats, although furnished by proprty left behind by the expelled Germans.

Social relations found in Lower Silesia: the presence of Poles from the Eastern Borderlands, France, central Poland, Westphalie, and Jewish, Greek and a large German community.

The attitude of the "French" to the contemporary reality: initial approval of the communist system by willingly joining the PPR and PPS, and then PZPR, MO, ORMO, UB, and Corps of Homeland Security.

Dissapointment associated with significantly poorer living conditions and lower cultural level of Wałbrzych land compared with Nord / Pas-de-Calais, repressions by the authorities for maintaining contact with relatives remaining in France, social conflicts with strongly anti-Communist groups, attempts to escape to France, service in the Polish People's Army in the years 1948-1980.

========
Adding what I remember about my father-in-law. He was taken from a street-round-up in Lublin and sent to Germany to work at the age of 17. After the war, he was recruited by Belgians - alongside other 23,000 new Eastern-European miners - 'displaced persons' from occupied Western German territory. He married another DP, came back to Poland in around 1960. When I met him his was so much anti-communist that his wife lived in constant fear of him being arrested due his uncontrollable mouth.

It didn't take long for Gierek to rise through the ranks, and in 1957 he was appointed as the regional head of the Communist party. He set about his task with ideological zeal, approving grandiose projects like the Spodek and Park of Culture and Recreation in Chorzów.

That was about time of intensive communist agitation among Polish miners in Belgium and France.

History / An American studying medicine in the PRL 1978-1985: my story [142]


Nice explanation Ziemowit, but it does not change anything in my previous statements. All I was saying was this, more or less:

The word "menu" - as applied to serving food - in Polish means "karta dań", "spis potraw" or "jadłospis". The word "menu" itself came from French (not English), its pronunciation has been altered to "meni", with the accent on the last syllable. In this sense it existed in Polish for many years before WWII and it was, as I remember it , also used in some Polish restaurants during PRL.

It is not unusual that loan words change their meaning significantly. We probably have some threads about it around.

[However, the word "menu" in a sense of a computer list of items or functions came from English. I do not know how it is pronounced by Polish computer users.]

pl.wiktionary.org/wiki/menu

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

Weinar: From German personal name Woiner, and this from Wagner

Wagner: from Middle- and High- German wagener; or from Middle-German wainer, or weiner. It means a craftsman involved in making wagons, or the wagon driver (in southern Germany). In the North-East and the South-West Germany it means a wheelwright, cartwright; here and there it also means a smith making wheel rims or even a saddler making harnesses.

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


Cassandra, cheer up, don't try to take it too seriously. I am only reporting some historical tidbits. Things have no real meaning over the ages. One of my favourite characters from the novel "The Three Musketeers" were the clever servants, such as Mousqueton or Picard, who actually saved their master's skins more than ones.

Life / Polish film and serial riddles [137]


Yes, it is. But I decline the medal for now. :-)

Life / Polish film and serial riddles [137]


Again, due to the power of deduction (I hope): Bohdan Poręba, Hubal

History / An American studying medicine in the PRL 1978-1985: my story [142]


My father-in-law was mad at himself as hell. Nevertheless it is worth pointing out that mines were a privilege class in PRL. After he contracted pneumoconiosis they would send him to a sanatorium every year for few weeks. He never recovered.

"Pneumoniocosis constitutes 50% of all diagnosed occupational deseases in Katowice, and 88% in Wałbrzych."

History / An American studying medicine in the PRL 1978-1985: my story [142]


He did. "He emigrated as a child to France and worked with miners in France and Belgium."
"He dressed well, he could behave in a drawing-room and at the conference table like any other normal man."

History / An American studying medicine in the PRL 1978-1985: my story [142]


That ones two. :-)
But they had to go into hiding later on.

History / An American studying medicine in the PRL 1978-1985: my story [142]


I already posted the link in #99. See the pictures of two menus from Bristol Hotel is printed in Russian, Polish and French. Yes, it was year 1906, Warsaw was still ruled by Russian.

History / An American studying medicine in the PRL 1978-1985: my story [142]


Funny you said that since I actually married a daughter of a miner from Liege who emigrated to Wałbrzych. She speaks fluent French. But I had in mind the pre-war socialites, artists, students, restaurant owners, waiters, etc.

Language / how to say drum in polish? [7]

But this is fun!

I taką sobie myśl wyodrębnię,
Że ja ma bęben i na nim bębnię,
Więc sobie w końcu to umożebnię,
aby pobębnić na zamku w Dębnie.

• 
  Dêbno Castle
  

History / An American studying medicine in the PRL 1978-1985: my story [142]

I somehow remember the word "menu" adorning "bill of fares" of many restaurants during PRL, supposedly pronounced in somewhat mispronounced French - but definitely not menoo, as many Poles would say it today. There were some people left still speaking French during PRL (my mom did), and this word did not come to Polish from English, but French, you know... Some better restaurants called it "Karta dań" instead.

And how this was done before WWII let be best described by the blog Sto smaków.
stosmakow.blox.pl/tagi_b/1249/kuchnia-polska.html
Search for the word menu, and you will find many good examples, in three languages, French included.

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


Ciurczyński, as well as about 30 other such names - Ciur, Ciura, Ciuraczek, Ciurakowski, Ciurkiewicz, Ciurko ... - derive from Old Polish "ciura" - a camp-follower.

This word "ciura" is so described in the Old Polish Encyclopedia by Zygmunt Gloger:
Polish nobility going to war, especially militia, more properly known as "pospolite ruszenie" (mass movement), took with them carts filled with arms, food, and fodder - accompanying by the bravest of their servants. For this reason the armies were followed by numerous caravans with apprentices, servants, attendants; which were much feared by the rural population, as they stole whatever and whenever they could. For this reason peasants called them maliciously "ciury" (plural) - "ciur, ciura" being originally just an onomatopoeic sound. Wacław Potocki composed in his "Jovialitates" the following satirical tombstone inscription:

"Ciura leży w tym grobie, radujcie się kury!
Ale o cóż na świecie łatwiej jak o ciury?"
(Here lies a "ciura", rejoice chicken! But what in the world is easiest to find than "ciury"?)

In the parliamentary debates, concerning wars, there were provisions regarding "ciuras". Many commanders successfully used them during the war. Stefan Czarniecki took Warsaw back from the Swedes with the help of "ciury". They distinguished themselves with courage in the battle of Chocim 1673. Later, however, the word has gained only disdained meaning of an incompetent and a fool.

Genealogy / Coats of arms of Polish cities [51]

Krynica Zdrój.
That's the manly image. :-)

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