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dnowicki
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Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 10:22 pm Post subject: Diminutives of first names

When my maternal grandfather immigrated to the USA from Poland his younger brother and two sisters remained in Poland. Since we lived in the same house with my grandparents as we were growing up I remember his relatives sending letters and pictures. Recently I came across a photo from not long after the end of World War II which lists the individuals in the picture and I am able to identify everyone except one of his nieces who is listed under a diminutive with which I am not familiar---Jerka. Does anyone know the proper name for which Jerka is the diminutive? I have no problem with anything else written of the back of the photograph.

Tomasz, Maryanna, Roza i dzieci.jpg

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Ute
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Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 12:23 am Post subject: Re: Diminutives of first names

dnowicki wrote:

When my maternal grandfather immigrated to the USA from Poland his younger brother and two sisters remained in Poland. Since we lived in the same house with my grandparents as we were growing up I remember his relatives sending letters and pictures. Recently I came across a photo from not long after the end of World War II which lists the individuals in the picture and I am able to identify everyone except one of his nieces who is listed under a diminutive with which I am not familiar---Jerka. Does anyone know the proper name for which Jerka is the diminutive? I have no problem with It anything else written of the back of the photograph.

It might also be JEVKA (Jevgenia).

Zenon
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Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 12:31 am Post subject:

Dave,

Although it is no longer used and it is probably local dialect I would say it is from 'Jarosława'. This is an old Polish first name and its male form 'Jarosław' is much more popular than its female equivalent.

Ute wrote:

It might also be JEVKA (Jevgenia).

Ute, because 'v' is not used in Polish (only in case of borrowed from foreign language words) I think there is 'r' in the middle of the word.

Ute
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Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 1:03 am Post subject:

Zenon wrote:

Ute wrote:

It might also be JEVKA (Jevgenia).

Ute, because 'v' is not used in Polish (only in case of borrowed from foreign language words) I think there is 'r' in the middle of the word.

Thanks, Zenon, of course you are right, I didn't think about the v not being used in Polish -- I know the letter doesn't look like a 'w', otherwise I would say it could be JEWKA.

I found this post at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GaliciaPoland-Ukraine/message/15697
"Although my great grandmother's name was Jewka -- she mostly went by Eva, but apparently also went by Nellie."

And another one on women's given names here http://warholic.tripod.com/Smerek.htm
Women's given names: Hala (Halina, Helena) [Helen], Nacia (Anastazja) [Anastasia, Nancy], [b]Jewka (Eudokja, Ewa) [Eva][/b], Ancia (Anna) [Ann], Marysia (Maria) [Mary], Magdalena (Magdalena) [Magdalena], Paraska (Paraskewia) [Pearl].

Beatta

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Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 2:58 am Post subject:

Maybe not ,,Jerka,, and ,,Jurka Hanka,,. Father Jurek (Jerzy - George) - daughter Hanka ?

Elzbieta Porteneuve
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Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 3:36 am Post subject:

The Polish text is so warm and nice, just a little distant from today orthography, but certainly not from the spelling. Very well handwritten, all dots and all cedillas in place. Not much place for speculation.

To som nasze dzieci
Jerka Hanka z merzem i syn Tadeusz
i my Oboje z merzem i Ciocia
Rozia i nasza wnoczka Halinka
Na pamiatke Wam

==

To są nasze dzieci
Jerka Hanka z mężem i syn Tadeusz
i my Oboje z mężem i Ciocia
Rózia i nasza wnuczka Halinka
Na pamiątkę Wam

My first hypothesis, I thought about Janka - which is diminutive of Janina, popular name (I remember few Janka's among my parents friends). But clearly there is no "a".

Then looked up Polish diminutives, and found this
http://leksykony.interia.pl/imiona?nr_strony=0&nr_paczki=6&kid=22&l=J

60. JERZYSŁAWA
Żeńska forma imienia -> Jerzysław. ZDROBNIENIA: Jerzka, Sławka. INNE FORMY: Jarzysława.

Could be Jerzka, or Jerka.

In my own family archive I noted writing of today Maria as Marja, or Marija - the long i.
If the intial J is like Ji, then it could be Jirka, Irka, diminutive of Irena.

Elzbieta

dnowicki
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Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 2:44 pm Post subject:

Thanks to all for your replies. I'm still unable to link the diminutive to any child of my granduncle of whom I am aware. The children of Tomasz & Maryanna in birth order were: Klara (1906), Marta (1908), Bronislaw (1910), Antoni, who was named after my grandfather (1912), Anna (1914), Kunegunda (1915), Zuzanna (1917), Maryanna (1920) and Tadeusz (1922). The individuals in the photo are: Seated: Roza holding Halinka, Maryanna & her husband Tomasz; standing are Jerka, Hanka & her husband Wincenty Olejaniczak who were married in 1935 and are the parents of Halinka, and Tadeusz. The photo was taken outside the family home in Paniewek, Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Poland. I don't know the year of Halinka's birth so I can't be sure of the date of the photo, but it must have been around the time of World War II. I suppose that it is very possible that Jerka is a daughter of whom I'm not aware. Again, Thanks for your help.
Dave

Tomasz, Maryanna et al.jpg

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Elzbieta Porteneuve
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Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 6:41 pm Post subject:

Dave,

On the picture Jerka looks circa 16 years old. Assume picture from 1940 and her birth year 1924. Today her age would be 88.

Elzbieta

dnowicki
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Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 7:47 pm Post subject:

Elzbieta,

Thanks for your guess of how old Jerka appears to be. Guessing a woman's age is certainly not a skill which I have.

Dave

Elzbieta Porteneuve
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Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 3:45 am Post subject:

Dave,

The years of birth are the generation of my parents.
An old lady of 88 today, she could be living somewhere?

Elzbieta

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