ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2645 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2645 ************************************ 25 Mar 2003 From: Josh Mittleman Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether the given names , , , and , and the byname are appropriate for a woman in 14th or 15th century Poland. You also asked about a byname meaning "daughter of Wladyslaw". Here is what we have found. was a very common Polish masculine name [1] and would be the grammatically correct feminine form; but we have found no period example of the feminine form. It is plausible, but not the best re-creation. is a fine name, a pet form of (Catherine). We found examples of the given name dated 1377 and 1412, and in the spelling dated 1400 [2]. The name was pronounced \KAHKH-nah\, where \KH\ is the raspy sound of the in Scottish or German . It was _not_ pronounced \KAHTCH-nah\. The name you spelled most often appears in period sources as , pronounced \KAH-shah\. We found examples of this spelling in 1382, 1437, 1469, and other dates. Other spellings are c.1265 and 1373 and 1481 [4]. There was a Czech noblewoman of the 10th century, wife of the Polish king Mieszko I; she is known in Polish sources as [5]. The comma in the name represents a hook hanging from the bottom of the 'a'. In Czech, we think she is called [6]. As have found no evidence that this name was adopted in Poland, we can't recommend it as a good choice. We haven't found period examples of , but it is a plausible byname meaning "from Stodoly". There are three modern towns called Stodo{l/}y [7]. The symbol {l/} represents the crossed 'l' used in modern Polish; it was not used in your period. We don't know if any of the towns with this name existed in our period, but it would have been an unremarkable name: It simply means "barns" [8]. A woman from Stodoly in your period could have been surnamed , pronounced \stoh-DOHL-skah\. The \L\ sound here is actually halfway between an \L\ and a \W\; the modern pronunciation \W\ for {l/} did not develop until after your period [9]. We found several examples of masculine bynames meaning "son of Wladyslaw", including [10]: Wlodzislawsky 1471 Wlodzyslawski 1475, 1487, 1497. Wladzyslavsky 1477 Wladislawsky 1489 The 'o' spelling was more common. The feminine equivalent is , pronounced \vloh-jih-SLAHV-skah\; or , pronounced \vlahy-jih-SLAHV-skah\. As above, the \l\ sounds are actually halfway between an \l\ and a \w\. In your period, Poles had only one given name. A woman's name was recorded with one byname, though scribes might use different bynames in different circumstances. Thus, a woman identified as in one document might be known as in another. 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 Talan Gwynek, Adelaide de Beaumont, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Walraven van Nijmegen, and Juliana de Luna. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 25 Mar 2003 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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. Kazimir. [2] Taszycki s.n. Kachna. There is more evidence of the name in Kazimierz Rymut, _Nazwiska Polakow_ (Wroclaw: Zaklad Narodowy im. Ossolinskich - Wydawnictwo, 1991), s.n. Kachno. [4] Taszycki s.n. Kasza. [5] Taszycki s.n. Da,browka. [6] The Czech form appears in these articles on the web: http://www.warsawvoice.pl/old/v565/News04.html http://www.sendme.cz/trestik/VonSvatopluk.htm http://strony.wp.pl/wp/mestvinus2/Historia/Geneza.html [7] The three modern places Stodo{l/}y are * just NE of Strzelno, about 50 mi. E of Poznan * just NW of Rybrik, in southern Poland, 60 mi. W of Krakow * just E of Opatow, about 35 mi. NE of Kielce [8] We found another surname derived from the same root, 1387, which means "little barn". Taszyicki s.n. Stodo{l/}ka. [9] Gerald Stone, 'Polish', in Bernard Comrie, ed., _The World's Major Languages_ (Oxford: OUP, 1990). [10] Taszycki s.n. W{l/}odzis{l/}awski.