Surname Smolen and Swierk

bzedThreads: 4 Posts: 2 Joined: Sep 24, 08	Jan 29, 09, 21:30 / #
Looking for surname Smolen and Swierk. Thanks

Polonius3Threads: 1,005 Posts: 4,833 Joined: Apr 11, 08	Jan 30, 09, 02:54 / #
Smoleń, a variant of smoluch, is derived from smoła (tar, pitch) but used figuratively to mean a grubby, soot-streaked slob. In the olden days it also meant a scruffy drunk and in the hunting world -- a boar wont to bed down or hide in a den covered by coniferous branches. It could have also derived from such localities as Smolany, Smolechy (Tarville, Pitchly) et al. A tar-maker incidentally is a smolarz, but it's not inconceivable that one got humorously dubbed Smoleń. Świerk is a spruce. Possible toponymic sources: Świerki, Świerkocin, Świerczyna (Spruceville, Sprucewood).

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07	Feb 28, 09, 14:54 / #
There is an Agnieszka Smolen here, she was one of my students a long time ago. She might be on nasza-klasa.pl, I don't know