Regarding diminutives --- In 2000, I spend three weeks teaching at a school in Poland. There were two Sebastians in my class, so one of the boys suggested that I call him Bastek to distinguish him from the other boy. I then began to notice other "nicknames" that seemed to be created by taking one syllable of the original name and adding an -ek to it. (Can't recall any of those examples right now, but there were a few). It seemed to me to be the equivalent of English nicknames having -y added, such as Jim to Jimmy, Bill to Billy or Catherine to Cathy. My uncle, Stephen, was called Tepek. Could that be an example of this? Or have I just made some inaccurate assumptions based on a few examples? Another thing I noticed was the inability of the Polish speakers to pronounce "th" as in thumb. A goal of my teaching was to improve spoken English of students, so I had them practice that sound. It really made a difference and they were proud when they could say "Thank you!" According to them, their language doesn't have that sound. Could be why my Polish aunts and uncles always said "Tank you" and other "th" words as "T". (We kids giggled whenever they said the word "third.") So, could some linguist on this list (Fred Hoffman?) let me now if my observations and conclusions make sense? In a message dated 7/17/2008 1:21:33 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, GkneeoloG@aol.com writes: I visited some relatives from Poland and was amazed and astounded by the diminutives used for given names. First of all, there are more than one for any given name. Secondly, sometimes they don't even look - sound - or being with the same letter as the given name. For example, Ola for Alexandria, Gosia for Malzgorata. I bet it was Tekla. **************Get the scoop on last night's hottest shows and the live music scene in your area - Check out TourTracker.com! (http://www.tourtracker.com?NCID=aolmus00050000000112) ********************************* Need to contact the list manager? Write to Marie at Poland-Roots-admin@rootsweb.com ---------------------------------- 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 POLAND-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message **************Get fantasy football with free live scoring. Sign up for FanHouse Fantasy Football today. (http://www.fanhouse.com/fantasyaffair?ncid=aolspr00050000000020)

Polish language does not have the sound th, so your students were not pulling your leg ;=). Also, Polish language is a phonetic language - what you see is what you say - and follows the set rules of pronunciation. For Poles, especially daunting are the English vowels and the gazillion ways they are pronounced depending on the word. Polish lang uses pure vowels - one letter=one sound (like in Italian or Spanish). As for the diminutives, all Slavic languages have an infinitive possibilities of creating them. Some diminutives are well established and wide spread in use, some people make on the spot as the mood or situation dictates. And what is incomprehensible to the English speakers - all of those diminutives are grammatically correct and well understood by other native speakers. That is one more reason why the Slavic languages are so extremely difficult to learn if you've never been exposed to them. Ella > > According to them, > their > language doesn't have that sound. Could be why my Polish aunts and > uncles > always said "Tank you" and other "th" words as "T". (We kids giggled > whenever > they said the word "third.") > > So, could some linguist on this list (Fred Hoffman?) let me now if my > observations and conclusions make sense?

You conclusions are absolutely valid. The ending -ek is quite common in forming diminutives for male names. The Polish language has a wide variety of diminutive forms and each expresses a certain degree of familiarity or endearment level. Some evolve and are a bit difficult to connect to the original name. For example, diminutives for Sebastian might be Bastian or Bastianek from which we finally get the shortened form Bastek. Stephen is likely spelled Stefan or Stepan in Polish from which we get Stefek, Stepek and then Tepek. Alexandria to Ola is a bit more difficult to see. However, the Polish form can be either Aleksandria or Oleksandria from which we get the shortened forms Olka and, finally, Ola. Małgorzata produces the diminutive Małgosia and the shortened form Gosia. Roman Gizmo21323@aol.com wrote: > Regarding diminutives --- > > In 2000, I spend three weeks teaching at a school in Poland. There were two > Sebastians in my class, so one of the boys suggested that I call him Bastek > to distinguish him from the other boy. I then began to notice other > "nicknames" that seemed to be created by taking one syllable of the original name and > adding an -ek to it. (Can't recall any of those examples right now, but > there were a few). It seemed to me to be the equivalent of English nicknames > having -y added, such as Jim to Jimmy, Bill to Billy or Catherine to Cathy. My > uncle, Stephen, was called Tepek. Could that be an example of this? Or have > I just made some inaccurate assumptions based on a few examples? > > Another thing I noticed was the inability of the Polish speakers to > pronounce "th" as in thumb. A goal of my teaching was to improve spoken English of > students, so I had them practice that sound. It really made a difference and > they were proud when they could say "Thank you!" According to them, their > language doesn't have that sound. Could be why my Polish aunts and uncles > always said "Tank you" and other "th" words as "T". (We kids giggled whenever > they said the word "third.") > > So, could some linguist on this list (Fred Hoffman?) let me now if my > observations and conclusions make sense? > > > > In a message dated 7/17/2008 1:21:33 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, > GkneeoloG@aol.com writes: > > I visited some relatives from Poland and was amazed and astounded by the > diminutives used for given names. First of all, there are more than one > for any > given name. Secondly, sometimes they don't even look - sound - or being > with the same letter as the given name. > > For example, Ola for Alexandria, Gosia for Malzgorata. > > I bet it was Tekla. > > >