I hadn't missed it. I read about it and was quite horrified! Ickblaghhhhyuksheesh! >:o On 11/18/2010 4:09 PM, Bronwyn Klimach wrote: > Michele, > I could not bear the thought of your having possibly missed this one! > Bron. > > On Tue, Nov 16, 2010 at 4:21 PM, Fred Hoffman<[email protected]> wrote: > >> Hi, >> >> Karen Carpenter wrote: >> >>> I hope this isn't a repeat question. (I'm new to the list.) My >>> gggrandfather's death record lists his cause of death as koltuny which >>> translates to tangles. What does that mean? >> The reference books tell you _koltun_ means "trichoma" or "plica polonica," >> an illness connected with matted hair. I didn't know till just now that >> English has a term for it: "Polish plait." See here: >> >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_plait >> >> I found this by going to the Polish Wikipedia site and searching for >> _koltun_ (with a slash through the L). Here's the Polish page: >> >> http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ko%C5%82tun >> >> At the left are links to similar pages on the Wikipedia sites for other >> languages, one of which is English. And that led me to the article on >> "Polish plait." >> >> This is always worth trying if you're looking for an unfamiliar term. The >> Polish Wikipedia may not have anything on it; or if it does, there may be >> no >> corresponding page in English, or the connection between the two may be >> erroneous. Also, you have to get the Polish spelling of the word right, >> including the diacritical marks. But a search of the Polish Wikipedia can >> prove very helpful. Sometimes, a Google search will lead you to a Polish >> Wikipedia page, and that may enable you to bypass the need for inputting >> Polish characters with diacriticals. >> >> I must admit, I've never quite understood how a hairstyle or even a disease >> of the hair could be fatal. But I guess anything that allows inflammation >> or >> infection can lead to death. Often, these causes of death are not very >> scientific. The person filling out the record frequently had no medical >> training. He just wrote down whatever was the most prominent symptom, even >> if it was only indirectly related to the cause of death -- or, in some >> cases, had nothing to do with the death. But if an otherwise >> healthy-looking >> person died, and the only thing you could find wrong was a massive tangle >> of >> hair with infection, I guess _koltun_ or the Latin word, _plica_, could >> seem >> like the right thing to record. I do know from my experience, you run into >> _koltun_ and _plica_ as causes of death far more often than you'd expect. >> >> Anyway, I hope that clarifies things for you! >> >> Fred Hoffman >> Co-Author, _In Their Words ... Vol. 1: Polish_ >> www.fredhoff.com > > http://www.nuvoforheadlice.com/Plica.htm > > Interesting, lengthy overview of plica polonica and its manifestation over > the > centuries in different countries. > > Barbara Proko > ********************************* > Need to contact the list manager? Write to Marie at [email protected] > ---------------------------------- > Discussion of Polish food, culture, and customs are welcome on the list as long as the discussion stays pertinent to the topic of this list: researching our Polish roots. > ---------------------------------- > Browse the list's archives here: > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=poland-roots > Search the list's archives here: > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?aop=1 > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Have you seen this? :)) * http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/nottingham/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_9172000/9172619.stm * ### below My greatgrandfather died of erysipelas and gangrene of his face. People died of things like that pretty routinely before antibiotics. In the case of Polish plaits, not being able to even see the infection would put off treatment for way too long and there probably wasn't much treatment available even then. ### I thought of you without even knowing about the ery... and gangrene. How do you seem to get so much information/TMI while I have almost none of this sort of thing - apart from gr-uncle who was injured in WWI and went on to die of nasty consequences? I hope the scarey photo of a healty Ranita has not given you nightmares etc. Bron. On Fri, Nov 19, 2010 at 5:04 AM, Michele <[email protected]> wrote: > I hadn't missed it. I read about it and was quite horrified! > Ickblaghhhhyuksheesh! >:o > > On 11/18/2010 4:09 PM, Bronwyn Klimach wrote: > > Michele, > > I could not bear the thought of your having possibly missed this one! > > Bron. > > > > On Tue, Nov 16, 2010 at 4:21 PM, Fred Hoffman<[email protected]> > wrote: > > > >> Hi, > >> > >> Karen Carpenter wrote: > >> > >>> I hope this isn't a repeat question. (I'm new to the list.) My > >>> gggrandfather's death record lists his cause of death as koltuny which > >>> translates to tangles. What does that mean? > >> The reference books tell you _koltun_ means "trichoma" or "plica > polonica," > >> an illness connected with matted hair. I didn't know till just now that > >> English has a term for it: "Polish plait." See here: > >> > >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_plait > >> > >> I found this by going to the Polish Wikipedia site and searching for > >> _koltun_ (with a slash through the L). Here's the Polish page: > >> > >> http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ko%C5%82tun > >> > >> At the left are links to similar pages on the Wikipedia sites for other > >> languages, one of which is English. And that led me to the article on > >> "Polish plait." > >> > >> This is always worth trying if you're looking for an unfamiliar term. > The > >> Polish Wikipedia may not have anything on it; or if it does, there may > be > >> no > >> corresponding page in English, or the connection between the two may be > >> erroneous. Also, you have to get the Polish spelling of the word right, > >> including the diacritical marks. But a search of the Polish Wikipedia > can > >> prove very helpful. Sometimes, a Google search will lead you to a Polish > >> Wikipedia page, and that may enable you to bypass the need for inputting > >> Polish characters with diacriticals. > >> > >> I must admit, I've never quite understood how a hairstyle or even a > disease > >> of the hair could be fatal. But I guess anything that allows > inflammation > >> or > >> infection can lead to death. Often, these causes of death are not very > >> scientific. The person filling out the record frequently had no medical > >> training. He just wrote down whatever was the most prominent symptom, > even > >> if it was only indirectly related to the cause of death -- or, in some > >> cases, had nothing to do with the death. But if an otherwise > >> healthy-looking > >> person died, and the only thing you could find wrong was a massive > tangle > >> of > >> hair with infection, I guess _koltun_ or the Latin word, _plica_, could > >> seem > >> like the right thing to record. I do know from my experience, you run > into > >> _koltun_ and _plica_ as causes of death far more often than you'd > expect. > >> > >> Anyway, I hope that clarifies things for you! > >> > >> Fred Hoffman > >> Co-Author, _In Their Words ... Vol. 1: Polish_ > >> www.fredhoff.com > > > > http://www.nuvoforheadlice.com/Plica.htm > > > > Interesting, lengthy overview of plica polonica and its manifestation > over > > the > > centuries in different countries. > > > > Barbara Proko >