From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 2272
Date: 2000-04-29
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gerry Reinhart-Waller" <waluk@...>
To: <cybalist@egroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, April 29, 2000 12:19 AM
Subject: Re: [cybalist] Linguistic Mathematics?
Walukiewicz (as it would be spelt in Polish) is a typical
name from the Polish-Belarusian border. The
suffix -ewicz/-owicz (as in Russian patronymics: Andrei
Pavlovich 'Andrew, son of Paul') may form surnames when
added to a personal first name. In this case the name is
Waluk, a diminutive of Walenty 'Valentine'. I know several
surnames analogous to Walukiewicz, e.g. Jasiukiewicz
(roughly = 'Jackson'). The formation is characteristically
eastern, Belarusian rather than Polish; in central Poland
the corresponding surname would be Walkowicz.
Your father evidently wanted to choose something which would
retain an echo of the original family name, but which would
be easily pronounceable and would not classify you
immediately in ethnic terms. I'm sure he wasn't thinking of
salt cellars.
Wasel(eski) could have several interpretations in Polish. If
the longer form is original, I think it may be Wasilewski or
Wasylewski, etymologically = Wasil-ew-ski. Vasili (Wasyl in
Polish orthography) is the East Slavic counterpart of
Basil; -ew is a possessive suffix often forming village
names, and -ski means 'coming from'. Like Walukiewicz, it
was originally a type of surname associated with the
ethnically mixed border regions of Poland, Belarus or
Ukraine.
Your ancestors' pronunciation of Walukiewicz was
[vah-loo-KYEV-ich] (I'll spare you the IPA version).
Piotr
> What about Waller referencing salt cellar? Supposedly my
birth
> certificate says Walukevich which is the name my father
changed to from
> Waller when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade. My parents wedding
certificate
> uses the name Walukewicz. My mother and maiden aunt used
the name Wasel
> but the cemetery plot stone uses Waseleski.
>
> Any help would be most appreciated.
> Gerry