Hello William:
I am also sending this to the Kresy-Siberia group, in case it means
something to someone else.
Well, its rather late but better late than never.
Around 6 months ago I asked you about my surname, your response is below
and in it you refered me to:
Instytut Jezyka Polskiego PAN
I wrote them and I did receive a response. You asked that I share it
and here is are some excerpts from the Instytut. The Instytut also
found several similiar names as you did in the Polish register, but no
exact matches of Z.elwietro. There are certain diacritical marks that I
can not emulate so I will just place the mark after the letter it works
on (eg. Z.elwietro). One diacritical mark that I can't make is a
upside-down ^, which is heavily used in these excerpts. With your
indulgence I will use ^ in its place.
"Your surname seems to have a Lithuanian origin."
"In the Lithuanian alphabet your surname would be spelt Z^elvietro, but
I have not found any Z^elvietro nor Z^elvetro." First, I supposed, that
the source of your surname was the name of a village, but I have found
no village with such name. So I suppose that your name was created with
two parts: Z^e.ly~s and Ve.'tra (note there are 2 diacritical marks)
which were personal names. The name Z^e.ly~s comes from the Lithuainian
verb z^elti, apz^elti which means 'to grow up, to rise'. The name
Ve.'tra means'a whirlwind, a tempest'."
"I have found also the names of villages with the same source as your
surname:
Z^e.liai (in Lithuania, near Pagegiai, Plas^kiai and near the town
Gaideliai) and Ve.trakaimis (in Lithuania near Ylava, Udravangis,
Skrumbainai and nowadays Wiatrowiec in Poland, near the town of
Sepopol. The names of villages have its sources in personal names:
Z^e.ly~s and Ve.'tra, the same as the source of your surname."
That's the focus of the response. I feel better now than I did before,
so that's something. I'm happy with the results although I was upset to
hear that my International Postal Money order was not accepted in
Poland, (the fee for the service). I can't think of a more secure,
reliable method of sending money.
I also want to thank the many individuals on this list who have directly
and indirectly helped me so far (esp. Barbara, Stefan, William, Irene
and others. And to thank all listers who go out of the way to help
others and do their best to maintain calm when the topics get 'dodgy' as
you Brits say.
Thank you,
Joe
"William F. Hoffman" wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
To: Joe Zelwietro <deplib@...>
Hi,
I hope you can help. I have been trying to learn more about my heritage
and see if I have any family in Poland. I have NEVER found anyone with
my surname, not in Canada (my birthplace) nor anywhere else (major US
cities, London UK, Paris and (many Polish websites). I have been told
by other Poles that the name is unique. I am presently in the process
of confirming my Polish citizenship and even the Polish Consulate in
Canada admit that the name is rare. My father emigrated after the WWII.
The name has been anglicized to Zelwietro. Although on my father's Army
Polish discharge papers it is written:
Zelwietro (but with a . above the Z)
He was born in a small village near Wilno (now Vilnius) and was called
Bortkiwiecze in 1919.
Have you ever heard or seen that name.
I had not ever run into this name before, and none of my sources discuss its
origin. However, I can give you a little info that may prove helpful.
I use Z* online to indicate the dotted z, which is pronounced much like the
"zh" in "Zhivago," or like the "s" in English "measure." So for clarity's
sake, to distinguish it from possible forms with undotted Z, I'd spell it
Z*ELWIETRO, and it would be pronounced roughly "zhelv-YET-row."
As of 1990, according to the best data available (the _Slownik nazwisk
wspolczesnie w Polsce uzywanych_, "Directory of Surnames in Current Use in
Poland," which covers about 94% of the population of Poland), there were no
Polish citizens who spelled the name Z*ELWIETRO. But there were 13 who
spelled it Z*ELWETRA, all living somewhere in Bydgoszcz province. There were
another 8 who spelled it Z*ELWETRO, living in the provinces of Legnica (5)
and Opole (3). There was also 1 named Z*ELWIETR, living somewhere in Krakow
province. From the point of view of a student and names, it is highly likely
these are all variants of one basic name -- the differences in spelling and
pronunciation are very tiny, and the basic name is highly distinctive. It is
also quite possible they all came from the same area originally, and have
been widely dispersed because of all the dislocations caused by wars over
the last century.
Unfortunately I don't have access to further details such as first names or
addresses, so I can't tell you how to find that info. But in the July 2000
issue of the _Polish-American Journal_, the PAJ Answerman suggested one can
find individuals or families "by contacting the one office in Poland that
has on file the addresses of all people currently living in Poland:
Centralne Biuro Adresowe, ul. Kazimierzowska 60, 02-543 Warsaw, POLAND." I
have no idea whether this works or not, I've never tried it. But I thought
it worth passing on, in case it might help you find some relatives. This
name is rare enough that if you got in contact with any of the people
mentioned above, it might just lead somewhere.
None of the sources I have mention the origin of this name. If you would
like to get an opinion from the real experts and don't mind spending about
$20, you can write the Anthroponymic Workshop of the Polish Language
Institute in Krakow. The staff consists of Polish scholars specializing in
name origins, with access to large collections of material on the subject;
there is surely no one else in the world better qualified to answer
questions on Polish names. They can correspond in English, and the charge
for researching a single name is seldom more than $20. You write to them
with your request, and the individual who does the research will reply, and
will tell you how much he/she is charging and how best to send payment. It
is usually quite painless, and most people I hear from are very satisfied
with the results; but the staff has been a bit slow lately in answering
letters -- they have lots of other work to do, after all -- so patience is
advisable. If you'd like to give this a try, here's the address:
Instytut Jezyka Polskiego PAN
Pracownia Antroponimiczna
Al. Mickiewicza 31
31-120 Krakw
POLAND
If you do write them and get an answer, I'd be interested in hearing what
they say. I seldom run into a name for which I have no idea at all about its
origin. If you can pass on some info on the name's origin, I'd like to
include it in future versions of my book on Polish surnames.
That's about all I can tell you. I hope it's some help, and wish you the
best of luck with your research.
William F. Hoffman
Author, "Polish Surnames: Origins & Meanings"
