Funny meaning of the names

[Zbyszek]

I spent last few days in Switzerland with international society. There were people from four continents including ‘antipodic’ Australia. We had a lot of fun trying to speak as many languages as possible at the same time . A young Australian guy named Jim was remarkably active. He noticed that Slavic names can be extremely difficult and he gave his Polish friend’s name Borkowski as an example. It was difficult enough for his friends to invent a shorter, easier version Bo[rkow]ski = Boski. While he was explaining this, I said that the name developed a meaning it had been deprived of before. Jim listened with interest what it should be.
Boski or bozhy means divine in Polish but it also means: heavenly, wonderful. When Jim heard this he started to roar with fit of uncontrollable laughter. It took some time until he was able to speak again. It turned our that his male friend’s body was a blatant contradiction of what can be called a heavenly body! He was extremely fat, short, with uncombed red hair and disproportionately high voice. Jim, staying for ten months already in Rorschach on Lake of Constance, Switzerland used this opportunity to call Australia immediately and let Boski know with mischivious joy that he was boski.

By the way - is boski/bozhy also bozhy in Ukrainian?

[bm-21Lemko]

Usually names like that don't transfer over because they give an origin.

for instance a lot of ukrainian names end in -ak, -uk, enko, -o, or -ch or -ev

[Zbyszek]

Originally Posted by bm-21Lemko

Usually names like that don't transfer over because they give an origin.

for instance a lot of ukrainian names end in -ak, -uk, enko, -o, or -ch or -ev

Vasyl, thanks for your input. Polish names typicaly end in -ski but it also happens sometimes with Russian or Ukrainian names. My own family name ends in -ak and I know that there was occurence of it in Ukraine.

The etymological variation of names which end in -ski is very simple. One little example:

Kowal (smith) is a noun - kowalski (smith-like) is an adjective
Bóg (God) a noun - boski (divine) an adjective
Borek (town name) - borkowski

More other examples
Rada - radzhietski
Varshava (Warsaw) - varshavski
Lemko - lemkovski
Bojko - bojkovski
Dobko - dobkovski

Ukraina - ukrainski


It happens sometimes that people are not satisfied with their names and it is legally possible in my country to change one's name. There are some restrictions to this procedure, though. It is not allowed to adopt a famous nobility name like Zamoyski, Branicki, Sapieha or Radziwill (Radvil).

[bm-21Lemko]

I have some polish genes on my ukrainian side

With polish names such as marszalek(marshall) and Zubek(tooth)

Most ukrainian surnames are names such as son of -

speaking of do you know where the village of soundex (joo-bloy-ka) is in Poland?

[Zbyszek]

Originally Posted by bm-21Lemko

I have some polish genes on my ukrainian side

....do you know where the village of soundex (joo-bloy-ka) is in Poland?

I did not quite understand the spelling of this village name?

Is it Yablonka? (derived from an apple yabl'ko).

Please give me the written name again.

[lisaparx]

Originally Posted by Zbyszek

He noticed that Slavic names can be extremely difficult and he gave his Polish friend’s name Borkowski as an example.

I have this last name in my family!
My grandmother's father's name was Klim Borkowski
hers, Anna Borkowska.

so...maybe there is Polish on my Ukrainian side?

[lisaparx]

This story reminds me of something that happened to a teacher friend of mine.
She puts stickers on her students' homework that is done correct.
One of her Polish students did great work....
and she put a sticker on their paper with a common American phrase
'super duper'
the student just laughed for hours.