ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2518 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2518 ************************************ 13 Apr 2002 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a Polish woman living between 1250 and 1450. Here is what we have found. is a fine name for your period, but this is a modern spelling which we do not believe is likely in medieval Polish: Polish spelling changed significantly between the 16th and 19th centuries [5]. In medieval documents, it is written and . The former is probably a Latin form; we recommend you use the latter, which is recorded in 1388 [1]. We haven't found evidence of the name or . There is an uncommon modern name , but it also isn't listed in our references so we can't tell you much about it. It may be a modern spelling that didn't exist in period. The website you found that discusses Polish clans may use modern spellings of names; we've found some other inaccuracies on that website, so we don't consider it a reliable source [2]. We have found some similar surnames that might appeal to you. The closest is , recorded in 1398 [3]. It was pronounced \ke~-DZIN~-skee\. \e~\ indicates a nasalized \e\, like the last sound in the French word . \N~\ represents the sound of the in French or Italian , or of the n-tilde in Spanish . Other possibilities that might appeal to you are [4]: Kadza 1430 \KAH-dzah\ Kadzydlo 1490 \kah-DZEED-woh\ [6] Kadzeusky 1425 \kah-DZEV-skee\ As you know, you can construct a feminine form of a name ending <-ski> by changing the ending to <-ska>. It would take further research to determine the correct feminine form of the other surnames -- and we may not be able to do it at all. If you are interested in one of them, let us know and we'll try to help. We hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Talan Gwynek, Adelaide de Beaumont, Julie Stampnitzky, Walraven van Nijmegen, and Ursula Georges. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 13 Apr 2002 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Taszycki, Witold (ed.), _S{l/}ownik Staropolskich Nazw Osobowych_, vols. I-VII (Wroc{l/}aw: Zak{l/}ad Narodowy Imienia Ossoli{n'}skich, Polska Akademia Nauk, 1965-1987), s.n. Zofija. [2] Paolo Gilberto Geliski, "Imigrantes Poloneses: Braso~es da Estirpe" http://www.terravista.pt/fernoronha/5130/ [3] Taszycki, s.n. Ke,dzin/ski. The comma represents a hook hanging from the bottom of the letter; this indicates a nasalized vowel in modern Polish. The slash represents an acute accent mark on the preceding letter. [4] Tasycki, s.nn. Kadza, Kadzidl/o; and in the supplement s.n. Kadzewski. stands for the Polish crossed 'l'. The citation for the last name is 1425; the author takes this to be an error for . [5] Gerald Stone, "Polish", in Bernard Comrie, ed., _The World's Major Languages_ (Oxford: OUP, 1990). He implies that the modern spelling system post-adted the introduction of printing. The first book in Polish was printed in 1513. [6] The \w\ in the last syllable -- which is the modern pronunciation -- is only an approximation of the right sound for your period. The actual sound is a sort of cross between \l\ and \w\.