Hallo Liste
da mein Name auch auf ski endet habe ich bereits vor einiger Zeit im Netz
gesucht und bin bei polishroots f�ndig geworden.
hier ein Auszug aus dem Text in englich mit ein bischen deutscher
�bersetzung von mir zwischendurch.
viel Gr��e
Lutz (Dropczynski)
Basic Explanation of Surname Endings
Grundlegende Erkl�rung zu (polnischen) Nachnamenendungen
-ewski, -owski, -ien~ski, -in~ski, und -yn~skis
Das -ski isrt ein zus�tlicher Suffix welches direkt einem Wortstamm
hinzugef�gt wird - so dass piekarski vom B�cker (piekarz) bedeutet - oder
mit anderen suffixen verbunden wird.
Zwei gebr�chliche Suffixe, die vor -ski stehen k�nnen sind
1) ew oder ow (grundlegend dasselbe, abh�ngig ob der Wortstamm mit einem
harten oder weichen Konsonanten endet) und
2) in oder ien oder yn (dasyn wird f�r Wortstamm mit Harten Endkonsonanten
die anderen zwei f�r Weiche verwendet. Auf alle F�lle kann -ien als eine
Variante von in die oft nur eine Aussprache unterschied anzeigt.
Beide Prefixe haben anzeigende Bedeuteung so dass owski/ewski und -I[e]nski
/-ynski von/aus den _'s bedeutet. In den Suffix Kombinationen ~inski und
~ynski wird das nweich mit akzent gesprochen.
Man sieht auch diese Suffixe (ew oder ow) in Namen ohne ~ski so dass Janow
"von Jan " und das Russische Stalin "Mann aus Stahl" bedeutet. Es gibt Orte
die Janow genannt werden die nichts anderes Bedeuten als Ort von Jan. Zu
diesen Suffixen k�nnen weitere hinzugef�gt werden. Wie z.B. Janowo welches
auch Ort von Jan bedeutet; oder Lipiny Ort der Linden (von Lipa = Linde)
-ewski, -owski, -ien~ski, -in~ski, and -yn~skis
The -ski is an adjectival suffix, which can be added directly to a stem --
as piekarski means "of the
baker (piekarz)" -- or can be compounded with other suffixes. Two common
suffixes that can precede -ski are: 1) -ew- or -ow- (basically the same
thing, dependent on whether the stem ends in a consonant classified as hard
or soft); and 2) -in- or -ien- or -yn. The -yn is added to stems ending in
hard consonants, the other two added to "soft" stems; for all intents and
purposes, -ien- can be regarded as a variant of -in-, often indicating some
dialect difference in pronunciation. Both prefixes have a possessive
meaning, so that -owski/-ewski and -i[e]nski/-ynski mean "of the _'s." In
the suffix combinations -inski and -ynski the N is softened and spelled with
an accent, which I render on-line as N~ (-in~ski and -yn~ski). We also see
these suffixes added to names without -ski, so that Jan means "John" and
Jan�w means "of John," and Russian Stalin means "[man] of steel" (stal'). We
see places called Jan�w, which just means "[place] of John." Suffixes can
also be added to those suffixes, so that we also see Janowo, also meaning
"[place] of John," and Lipiny, "[place] of the lindens" (from lipa,
"linden").
I believe Slavic linguists have written articles on when and why -ew-/-ow-
is added in some cases, and -in-/-yn- in others, but that gets into
complicated issues that are best left only to those who want to study Slavic
linguistics in a serious way. The bottom line is that once either set of
suffixes -ow/-ew and -in/-yn has been added to a stem to form a place name
X, the suffix -ski can be further added to them to mean, in effect, "one
from X."
Thus kowal is "smith," Kowalew or Kowalewo is "[place] of the smith," and
Kowalewski is "one from the place of the smith." Or lipa is "linden," Lipiny
is "place of the lindens," and Lipin~ski is "one from the place of the
lindens." Incidentally, we see the -in/-yn suffix added sometimes without
the preceding vowel, yielding names such as Lipno, also meaning "place of
the lindens"; this place name, too, can yield the surname Lipin~ski. These
processes are very common in Polish surname formation.
These suffix complexes -ewski/-owski and -in~ski/-yn~ski can also be added
directly to nouns sometimes to simply indicate a connection. Thus L~omz*a
(slash through the L, dot over the Z) is the name of a major town in Poland,
and l~omz*yn~ski is an adjectival form meaning "of L~omz*a." So surnames
ending in these suffixes don't always have to refer to place names. More
often than not they do, but they don't have to.
You might notice that there's considerable overlap in meaning between, say,
Jan�w [kin or place of John] and Janowski [kin of John or one from John's
place]. In fact, we sometimes see both names used, and in older records a
family may appear with the forms used interchangeably. In more modern times
the -ski forms have tended to predominate; but there are Poles named Jan�w.
As with any aspect of onomastics, it doesn't pay to make flat
generalizations -- almost anything you say that is correct most of the time
can have glaring exceptions.
-ski
* I'm A -SKI, I Must Be Noble! *
Ich bin ein ~ski ich bin adlig
Wenn man �ber Namen in Aufzeichnungen aus dem 14ten Jhd. Spricht trifft das
zu. Namen die mit ~ski enden waren adlig geboren. Ebenfalls bei Namen die
auf owicz oder ik oder einem anderen Suffix enden. Mit anderen Worten nur
Adlige benutzten Nachnamen.
Erst sehr viel sp�ter wurde begonnen auch nicht Adligen regelm��ig Nachnamen
zu geben, im Algeminen ab dem 16 bis 17 Jhd. Die Zeit ist nicht genau belegt
da Aufzeichnunge vo ca. 1600 im allgemeinen keine Nichtadligen erw�hnten.
Again and again I hear "Someone told me names ending in -ski are noble. Is
that true?" I've responded so often I'm sick of the whole subject. Still,
it's a legitimate question, so let's start with it.
If you're talking about names found in records from, say, the 14th century,
then yes, names ending in -ski were borne by nobles. So were names ending
in -owicz, or -ik, or whatever suffix you care to mention. Back then, all
surnames were noble! In other words, only nobles used surnames.
It wasn't until much later that non-nobles began using surnames regularly --
generally not until the 16th or 17th centuries. It's hard to be absolutely
certain of the dates because there are very few records before the 1600s
that mentioned non-nobles at all; so we have don't have much evidence as to
when the practice of bearing unchanging, hereditary names spread to the
middle class and the peasants. But by and large, most scholars agree that
peasants seldom used surnames before the 1600s; there are exceptions to
every rule, but this one is pretty reliable.
So at one time -ski indicated nobility. But that ceased to be true, oh, a
good 300-400 years ago. When the use of surnames of any sort stopped being
exclusive to nobles, so did the forms of the names themselves.
What does -ski mean? In Polish it's an adjectival suffix, meaning simply
"of, from, connected with, pertaining to." The form X-ski is an all-purpose
way of saying "somehow associated with X." Thus Warszawa means "Warsaw," and
Warszawski means "of Warsaw." The noun _piekarz_ means "baker," and the
adjective _piekarski_ means "of the baker, the baker's."
In surnames, X-ski usually began as a short way of indicating some close
connection with X. Thus Piekarski would generally mean either "kin of the
baker," or "one from the place of the baker." There are subsets of the -ski
names that are especially likely to refer to place of origin -- we'll look a
them in a minute -- but clearly a name such as Warszawski would mean "one
from Warsaw," or in a broader sense, "one connected with Warsaw in some way
clear enough that calling this guy Warszawski makes sense." Similarly
Bydgoski, literally "of Bydgoszcz," would mean "one from Bydgoszcz, one
connected with Bydgoszcz."
Please notice: when -ski is added to a noun, a letter or two at the end of
the noun may disappear: Piekarz -> Piekarski, Warszawa -> Warszawski.
Sometimes the change is even greater, as in Bydgoszcz -> Bydgoski,
Zamos~c~ -> Zamojski. Poles tended to add -ski to what they regarded as the
base form of the noun in question, and clear away final suffixes or
consonant combinations that weren't essential parts of the name.
The practical consequence of this is that a lot of -ski names referring to
places are ambiguous; they may refer to a number of different places with
names derived from the same base form. Thus you can't be positive Warszawski
must refer to the capital of Poland. There may be another place, or two, or
five, with names beginning Warszaw-; the surname, by itself, gives no clue
which one it's referring to in a given instance. There's a Warszawa in
former Zamosc province; there's a Warszawice in Siedlce province; there's a
Warszawiaki in former Lublin province; and a Warszawskie Przedmies~cie in
Elbla~g province. It is POSSIBLE the surname Warszawski could refer to any
of them.
Obviously most of the time Warszawski would refer to the nation's capital.
My point is that you can't take that for granted! The moment you assume
that, it will surely turn out YOUR Warszawski was the one in 100 who came
from Warszawa in Zamos~c~ province. That's why even surnames that refer to
place names MUST be interpreted in light of a specific family's history --
it's the only way to make sure you're focusing on the right place.
Of course, a lot of -ski names don't refer to places at all. Piekarski might
refer to a place named Piekary or something similar; but most of the time it
probably started out meaning "the baker's kin." Kowalski would usually mean
"the smith's kin" (from _kowal_, "smith"). Szczepan~ski would usally mean
"kin of Szczepan (Stephen)." Nosalski can mean simply "kin of the big-nose"
(_nosal_). This suffix can be added to all kinds of roots, whether they
refer to a ancestor's place of residence or origin, his occupation, his
first name, his most obvious physical feature, and so on.
-SKI vs. -SKA
As basic as this is, I still get asked a lot: why does my
great-grandmother's name end in -ska? The answer is simple: Polish
adjectives have different forms for the genders. Surnames ending in -ski are
regarded as adjectives, so they, too, reflect gender with different endings.
Thus Janowski is the nominative form for a male; Janowska is the same form
for a female. The endings differ in the other cases, too: "of Janowski" is
Janowskiego if referring to a male, Janowskiej if referring to a female. But
the nominative forms are the ones we encounter the most, and you can save
yourself some wear and tear if you just realize that X-ska normally means
"Miss X-ski" or "Mrs. X-ski."
Now nothing's ever too simple, and there is one factor that can throw a
wrench into the works: names derived from nouns than end with -ska, e. g.,
_deska_, "board," _maska_, "mask," _troska_, "care, worry." These have to be
handled on a case-by-case basis. But the rule of thumb is as stated above.
When you see -ska, replace the -a with -i and you'll usually have what we
regard as the standard form of the name.