PolishOrigins(TM) Forum

Re: Polish Record Translation

Sophia — Sat Sep 12, 2026 12:54 pm

Author: Sophia

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2026 12:54 pm

marierpk wrote:

Sophia and Henry,

Again, thank you for your help with the translation. I have been trying to understand this branch of my father's family for several years. I still haven't figured out the "true" surname. The Lutherans list it as Insel or Inselis, the Catholics (sometimes in Latin, sometimes in Polish) as anything from Inzel to Idzelis to Insielis to Idzielis... Thank you again! Every little bit helps.

Best,
Marie

Hi Marie,

That's an interesting puzzle, trying to sort through variations on a surname to find the "true" one. Of course, there can be more than one that was true, if the name morphed over time. I'm sure that as you have looked at records, you have thought about which versions are just a matter of interpreting handwriting and which name endings have to be ignored because they are there for grammatical reasons in inflected languages. After all that, do you have a gut feeling about which one is the most probable?

I will just comment briefly on pronunciation. If you were to use German rules of pronunciation to say Insel it would sound very much like using Polish rules of pronunciation to say Inzel; you won't hear any difference between the "s" and the "z" (although you will hear a change in the "I"). You can click on the "listen" icon on google translate to hear how Insel is pronounced in German and you hear how much that "s" sounds like "z":

https://translate.google.com/?sl=de&tl=en&text=insel&op=translate

Sticking with Polish pronunciation, if you shift from Inzel to Idzel, there is a definite difference between the "n" and the "d" and if you go further still and add another "i" in there to make Idziel there is a bigger difference in that the "z" sound disappears altogether. The letter combination "dzi" in Polish sounds like an English "j." Here are the sounds of Polish Inzel, Idzel and Idziel:

https://translate.google.com/?sl=pl&tl=en&text=inzel%0A%0Aidzel%0A%0Aidziel&op=translate

As for names actually in use by Poles, one source does show Indziel and even Hendziel but these are incredibly rare. Hendzel appears more popular.

Just finding it interesting,
Sophia

Polish Record Translation

marierpk — Sat Sep 12, 2026 11:21 am

Author: marierpk

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2026 11:21 am

Sophia and Henry,

Again, thank you for your help with the translation. I have been trying to understand this branch of my father's family for several years. I still haven't figured out the "true" surname. The Lutherans list it as Insel or Inselis, the Catholics (sometimes in Latin, sometimes in Polish) as anything from Inzel to Idzelis to Insielis to Idzielis... Thank you again! Every little bit helps.

Best,
Marie

Re: Polish Record Translation

Sophia — Sat Sep 12, 2026 4:46 am

Author: Sophia

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2026 4:46 am

marierpk wrote:

Hi, Sophia,

Thank you very much for your help! I am sorry I did not include the headings. Here they are.

Best,
Marie

Thanks, Henry! Always nice to see you on the forum.

Marie, that helps. This column header where the answer was 30 is "lata od urodzenia" so it was his age, which matches what it said within the text. I do rather enjoy the style of the person who wrote the column headers. They were not dry labels but rather a set of reminders of what to include ("Kiedy? Gdzie? Kto? / "When? Where? Who?" and so forth).

Best of luck in your continued research,
Sophia

Re: Polish Record Translation

Henry Soszynski — Fri Sep 11, 2026 10:20 pm

Author: Henry Soszynski

Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2026 10:20 pm

Sophia wrote:

marierpk wrote:

I have attached a link to the death record of Adam Idzel from Kretinga parish. I think I can figure out some of the information: died at age 30 in 1830, unmarried. Would someone please translate the rest of the record? The numbers for the record are: 194, 13, 30.

Many thanks,
Marie

Hi Marie,

I am not a translator, but I will type out for you here the way I read the words in this record. You should be able to get a reasonably good translation from google translate.

Roku Pańskiego Tysięcznego Osiemsetnego Trzydziestego miesiąca grudnia trzynastego dnia, we wsi Bludzinkach umarł pracowity Adam Idzel ze poplexii S.S. Sakramentami opatrzony.

Wolnego stanu młodzieniec mający od urodzenia lat trzydziescie tego z kościoła Kretyngowskiego parafianin.

Którego ciało od W. Bl. Malachiaszego Dulewicza vice Kurata Kościoła Parafialnego Kretyngowskiego, roku biegącego miesiąca grudnia piętnastego dnia pogrzebione zostało na publicznych parafialnych mogiłach za miastem.

Your image did not include the headings of the columns, so that column with the number 30 could either represent the age of the deceased or it could indicate a house number.

Best regards,
Sophia

Google translate gives the following translation.
------------->
On the thirteenth day of December in the year of Our Lord 1830, in the village of Bludzinki, the industrious Adam Idzel died of apoplexy, having been fortified with the Holy Sacraments.

He was a young man of free status, thirty years of age, and a parishioner of the Kretinga church.

His body was buried on the fifteenth day of December of the current year by the Reverend Malachiasz Dulewicz, Vice-Curate of the Kretinga Parish Church, in the public parish cemetery outside the town.
<-------------

Hope this helps,
Henry

Polish Record Translation

marierpk — Fri Sep 11, 2026 9:13 pm

Author: marierpk

Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2026 9:13 pm

Hi, Sophia,

Thank you very much for your help! I am sorry I did not include the headings. Here they are.

Best,
Marie

Re: Polish Record Translation

Sophia — Fri Sep 11, 2026 5:54 am

Author: Sophia

Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2026 5:54 am

marierpk wrote:

Polish Record Translation

marierpk — Wed Sep 09, 2026 3:46 pm

Author: marierpk

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2026 3:46 pm

I have attached a link to the death record of Adam Idzel from Kretinga parish. I think I can figure out some of the information: died at age 30 in 1830, unmarried. Would someone please translate the rest of the record? The numbers for the record are: 194, 13, 30.

Many thanks,
Marie