 John the OFM  | 04 Nov 2008 3:05 p.m. PST |
I just picked up a HUGE copy of Sienkliewicz' "With Fire and Sword". It looks really good, and the video clips I see at the back in the dealer's room at Historicon look great, too.  However, I have an annoying defect as a reader. I have a hard time getting into a story if I can't pronounce the characters' names. Sue me. What makes things REALLY annoying is that the HERO is named "Skshetuski".
As a joke, whenever anyone asks how to pronounce anything, I refer them to Lieutenant Stanley Tadeusz Wojciehowicz on "Barney Miller" who always said, "Like it's spelled!" Can we assume that "Mangrove Throat Warbler" has already been suggested? That's a "given". So, how do we REALLY pronounce Yan's name, and can
I expect to come across any more such names? I am thinking that the answer to that is "of course!" Like "Hmyelnitzki "… Is there an on-line guide for this Nobel Prize winning piiece of literature? |
aecurtis  | 04 Nov 2008 3:12 p.m. PST |
"Like it's spelled!" That's not a joke. Allen |
| The Gray Ghost | 04 Nov 2008 3:24 p.m. PST |
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| John the OFM | 04 Nov 2008 3:30 p.m. PST |
Well, Allen, like the Irish, the Poles may actually use the same letters as English, but they will be damned if they will use them in the same way. Thanks, Gray Ghost.
Now I can start. |
| The Gray Ghost | 04 Nov 2008 3:37 p.m. PST |
a double s makes a sh sound.
All q in names are silent. |
| Wargaminginmaine | 04 Nov 2008 4:15 p.m. PST |
It is an excellent book, and the best of the trilogy. I hold it accountable for a large, and largely unused, collection of 25mm Poles, Russians, Cossacks, and Turks! |
| MiniatureWargaming dot com | 04 Nov 2008 4:37 p.m. PST |
I love that Trilogy. I hope you have the most recent translation, though |
| bogdanwaz | 04 Nov 2008 5:09 p.m. PST |
John, you might want to try The Trilogy Companion edited by Jerzy Krzyzanowski, available on Amazon for $10 USD link It is tiny book with mostly essays on the various translations but there is a very good map and list of major characters including both the original Polish and Anglicized names. It was intended especially for the translation by W S Kuniczak. If that is the translation you have, it is one of the better ones. Kumiczak also wrote a excellent epic novel about the German Invasion of Poland in 1939 called The Thousand Hour Day, which is actually available from the Amazon used books sellers for a penny (plus shipping) |
| John the OFM | 04 Nov 2008 6:17 p.m. PST |
Yes, I have the Kuniczak translation. I also have 5+ sweater boxes of a 25mm Essex and Hinchliffe Polish army. Pretty much unused, except for a WRG tournament back in the last century, and a brief appearance as a Kislevite army in a WFB game. |
| rddfxx | 04 Nov 2008 9:33 p.m. PST |
"Hmyelnitzki" I don't know if this is right, but I say "MEL nich shee", although I suspect the "Mel" is more like "Hmm-yell" elided together (one sylable, not two) |
| Swampking | 05 Nov 2008 12:44 a.m. PST |
It could be worse! Try explaining to your parents that you're marrying a girl with the last name of GRZEGOSZCZYK!
My Southern born and bred father had a field day with that one. Oh, the joys of living in Poland. Also, the Poles have a helluva hard time with normal 'American' names – like mine. The Sienkiewicz trilogy is awesome and the movies aren't too bad either. There have been a recent wave of small 'battle' books on the Potop era and I've been tempted but I've got too much unpainted metal as it is. |
| Frederick | 05 Nov 2008 7:04 a.m. PST |
A great book, a formidable thing to look at but a great read For the Cossacks, pronouncation uses rolling "c"s – for Khmelnytsky, "chamneskti" The book very much takes the Polish view of the great tragedy that befell the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth – if you want to read the Russian/Ukrainian view, read "Taras Bulba" by Gogol |
| sergeis | 14 Nov 2008 9:43 p.m. PST |
Ah, Polish language is really easy- just say: Esce Polska ne zgynela, poki my zshyeme! :-) Yep there are some sounds that are characteristic only for Polish.
I whould recommend also great Polish movies based on Sienkiewicz novels- Crusaders ( Crzyzhacy), Ogniem i Mecem( Fire and sword), Potop( Deluge) and Pan Wolodyevsky.
Russians just came out with new Tarass Bulba movie, and then there is always Yul Brynner masterpiece! |
| huevans | 21 Nov 2008 12:34 p.m. PST |
"The Sienkiewicz trilogy is awesome and the movies aren't too bad either. There have been a recent wave of small 'battle' books on the Potop era and I've been tempted but I've got too much unpainted metal as it is." Could you tell me what the "battle" books on the Potop era are and how to get them? These are English language books, I presume. There's a lot of stuff around on seventeenth century Poland……… but in Polish. It doesn't do me much good. |
