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What is the Polish name for the English name Chester?


posts: 17

D2ns Edited by: Moderator  Feb 9, 11, 17:15    #1
What is the Polish name for the English name Chester?
Thank you
gumishuThreads: 17
Posts: 3,943
Joined: Apr 6, 09  Pictures: 1 ♂ 		 Feb 9, 11, 18:53    #2
there is no such ie. there is no Polish counterpart to Chester
HarryThreads: 62
Posts: 8,508
Joined: May 2, 07 ♂ [Suspended] 		 Feb 9, 11, 19:00    #3
Very unlikely to be one, given that the name is of Latin origin.
WroclawThreads: 77
Posts: 7,404
Joined: Apr 1, 06  Pictures: 3 ♂ [Moderator] 		 Feb 9, 11, 19:07    #4
D2ns:
What is the Polish name for the English name Chester?


you'll have to find Chester's birth cert to know where the name came from.

Chester seems to be one of those names (usually in america) that is chosen to make life easier.
jonniThreads: 26
Posts: 4,181
Joined: Nov 27, 07 ♂ 		 Feb 9, 11, 20:52    #5
gumishu:
there is no such ie. there is no Polish counterpart to Chester

Exactly - it's an English place name derived from the Roman word for castle. Though sometimes when Poles emigrated to the US in the early C20, they would change their name from Czesław to Chester.
isthatu2Threads: 13
Posts: 5,225
Joined: Apr 3, 08 ♂ 		Edited by: isthatu2  Feb 9, 11, 22:04    #6
Never heard of an Englishman called Chester.
Cytadela (?sp) (citadel) would be the Polish translation of Chester as it is an anglisised version of caister or 'caster ,Roman for walled town /fortified place.

edit,this gets confusing...I live near a town called Doncaster.....or " Fortified town on the river Don" in english,but in Roman days it was called Danum......
TrevekThreads: 33
Posts: 2,155
Joined: May 21, 08 ♂ 		Edited by: Trevek  Feb 9, 11, 23:55    #7
"Chester" means "city" in latin (caestra), "fort" (castrum) or "camp" (castra). It's a common suffix to a number of English towns (Manchester, Chester, Lancaster).

I think it's more popular in the States as a given name. In britain it is more known as a surname.
EurolaThreads: 6
Posts: 2,647
Joined: Dec 2, 06 ♀ 		 Feb 10, 11, 00:06    #8
jonni:
Czesław to Chester

True. It is a hard name to pronounce for Americans, well actually - any foreign language speaking person.

That's what I found here:

http://www.behindthename.com/

CHESTER
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: CHES-tər [key]
From a surname which originally belonged to a person who came from Chester, an old Roman settlement in Britain. The name of the settlement came from Latin castrum "fortified place".

CZESŁAW
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Polish
Pronounced: CHES-wahf [key]
Derived from the Slavic elements chest "honour" and slav "glory".
Polonius3Threads: 1,005
Posts: 4,833
Joined: Apr 11, 08 ♂ 		 Feb 10, 11, 00:13    #9
The correct translation of Czesław into English is Ceslaus.
Wacław is Wenceslaus, Bolesław -- Boleslaus, Władysław -- Ladislaus.
Chester~Czesław, though lingustically unsubstantiated, is in fairly widespreade customary usage in the US, as is often Walter for Władysław or Włodzimierrz,
Stanley for Stanisław and Bill for Bolesław.
alexw68  Feb 10, 11, 00:18    #10
Polonius3:
Wacław is Wenceslaus

These and the others are latinisations, rather than anglicisations. Where there is no direct English equivalent, this is of course felicitous; but sometimes closer alternatives can be found.

Ceslaus, while correct by application of the rule, simply doesn't exist.

The English equivalent of Wacław - via Dutch - is Wesley.
jonniThreads: 26
Posts: 4,181
Joined: Nov 27, 07 ♂ 		 Feb 10, 11, 00:29    #11
Polonius3:
Ceslaus

Which isn't (and has probably never been) in use. It is not an English name, as Alex68 rightly points out.

A bit like people called Jacek coming up to you and saying "Hi, my name's Hyacinth". Sorry, but it isn't, regardless of what they've heard.

@Polonius3, your reference book on names is simply wrong on this matter.
isthatu2Threads: 13
Posts: 5,225
Joined: Apr 3, 08 ♂ 		 Feb 10, 11, 00:29    #12
Polonius3:
The correct translation of Czesław into English is Ceslaus

Why isnt it Cheswav? I mean,all Polish names seem to get translated into English via a germanisation of pronunciation. Krakow becomes Cracow pronounced like Krakau,why not Crackoff or Crackuff?
alexw68  Feb 10, 11, 00:40    #13
isthatu2:
Why isnt it Cheswav? I mean,all Polish names seem to get translated into English via a germanisation of pronunciation. Krakow becomes Cracow pronounced like Krakau,why not Crackoff or Crackuff?

Translation != transliteration.
isthatu2Threads: 13
Posts: 5,225
Joined: Apr 3, 08 ♂ 		 Feb 10, 11, 00:50    #14
yes,so,why not transliterate then mister smart arse ? :)
Why are Poles happy to mangle the pronunciation of their names in order to make them only a tiny bit easier for people to spell,why not go the whole way?
Polonius3Threads: 1,005
Posts: 4,833
Joined: Apr 11, 08 ♂ 		 Feb 10, 11, 14:34    #15
Let's not confuse translation, official lingustic equivalents, with customary similar-sounding equivalents, ie names that have been used as replacements without regard to etymology.
The proper translation (via Latin) of Mieczysław is Miecislaus but in the US it is customarily Mitchell. The well-known late PolAm historian hiowever bukced that tendency and officially signed himself Miecislaus Haiman.
Władyłsaw and Włodzimierz often pass themselves off as Walter, Jadiwga as Harriet (although Hedwig is the proper translation), Bronisława as Bernice (correct translation of Bernice is Berenika) and of Bronisława -- Bronislava.
Yes, there is a parish in Wisconsin pw. św. Bronsiałwy which sports St Bronislava RC Church on its display board. And similarly Stanisław (correctly Stanislaus) is customarily (zwyczajowo)Stanley, but it is always St Stanisław Bishop and Martyr or St Stanislaus Kostka.
The etymology of English Stanley is Old English for stoney lea (field). Polish Stanisław is also dithematic but comes from stanica (encampment) and sława (fame, renown) or, taken together --'glory of the camp'.
Many a Polish Jacek passes himself off in the English-peaking world as Jack. A Jerzy may go by Jersey or Jerry but there is no St Jack's or St Jersey's Church, only St Hyacinth's.
Hope that clarifies the difference between 'właściwy odpowiednik' and 'zwyczajowy'.
KsysiaThreads: 39
Posts: 545
Joined: May 6, 09 ♀ 		Edited by: Ksysia  Feb 10, 11, 14:54    #16
this word got inserted into Polish twice:

castrum> castel>kasztel [medieval]
castrum> castel>kościół [early Christianity in Poland, IXth century]

same are the word 'helm':

first time as 'szłom'
second time as 'hełm'

kościół (church) originally meant castle, same as 'ksiądz' (priest) originally comes from 'koenig', as does 'książę' (duke) - baby koenig

So I guess if you want to play, you could call Chester 'Kościelno', or 'Obozy'
babynogin  Aug 1, 11, 10:55    #17
Chester in its original form is actually 'Deva'!after the river that runs through the town, its called the river Dee, its Roman. I loved there for long enough.


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