Polish and Lithuanian
Some of the letters of the alphabets of both languages represent similar sounds that are rendered differently in the orthography of each language. These include
Polish Lithuanian
cz č
sz š
ż ž
Here are some generalizations. They should in no case be treated as hard and fast phonetic rules. They are merely intended as a very general guide.
1. Many times when the vowel is “o” in Polish, it is rendered as an “a” in Lithuanian (and vice versa)
Troki vs Trakai
Poporcie vs Paparčiai
2. The Polish plural endings -y, -e and -i
frequently are rendered as –ai in Lithuanian
Daugi vs Daugai
Gielwany vs Gelvonai
Komaje vs Kamajai
3. The Polish suffix –iszki/yszki may appear in Lithuanian as
-iškis Dorsuniszki vs Darsūniškis
-iškės Ejszyszki vs Eišiškės
4. The Polish suffixes -ów and -owo may appear in Lithuanian as
-ava Lacków vs Leckava
-avas Retowo vs Rietavas
-ave Kiernów
vs Kernave
-uva Datnów vs Datnuva
5. Place names beginning with H in Polish usually will not retain this letter in Lithuanian and will start with a vowel
Hanuszyszki vs Onuškis
Hoduciszki vs Adutiškis
6. Phonetic Miscellanea
When Polish uses w, Lithuanian will use v. Additionally, there are no nasal vowels in Lithuanian, and the rendition of these sounds is too varied to categorize here. In general, the Polish nasal vowel ą represents a sound similar to but no means equivalent to – on or – om and Polish nasal vowel ę is vaguely represented by –em or –en.
7. In some cases the place name was translated from one language to another. This is true only of place names with lexical items that are able to be actually translated from one language to another. For example, Czerwony Dwór vs. Raudondvaris.
Polish vs Belarusian
Polish and Belarusian are both Slavic languages and their lexical stock and grammatical structure are quite similar. However, Belarusian is written in the Cyrillic alphabet and Polish in the Roman. Therefore, in addition to phonetic conversions, you also have to deal with another alphabet. Some of the more common generalizations on converting the Polish name to the Belarusian name are as follows:
1. The Polish plural endings in many place names, which mostly end in the vowel –e, will appear in Belarusian as some form of –i
Polish
suffix transliterated Belarusian
-ie i i
Bieniakonie vs Beniakoni (Беняконі)
-cze i чы
Baranowicze vs
Baranavichi (Баранавічы)
-ce chi чы
Mrozowice vs Morozovichi (Морозовічы)
2. The Polish suffix -szczyzna is usually –shchyna (-шчына) in Belarusian
Dzierkowszczyzna vs Dzerkaushchyna
(Дзеркаўшчына)
3. The Polish suffix –ów frequently is rendered as –ava (ава) in Belarusian
Kossów vs Kosava (Косава) or Janów vs Ivanava (Іванава )
4. Polish o is frequently –a in Belarusian
5. Polish w pronounced as an English v, frequently
appears in Belarusian as a sound approximating English w, and represented by
the letter -ў
Adamówka vs Adamouka ( Адамоўка); Budsław vs Budslau (Будслаў )
6. Polish H is frequently represented by the letter symbol for G (г) in Belarusian
Holszany vs Galshany (Гальшаны )
7. Polish rz is usually a plain r in Belarusian
Krzywicze vs Krivychi (Крывічы)
In the parish master list,
the Russian version of the place name is also provided. This is not because any
of these localities was really ever known by their Russian names. Rather,
because these localities were part of the Russian Empire and later many were in the
Please note that because of the age of the original in materials from which the village lists were compiled, the letter “x” was still in use. This letter has been replaced by ks in modern Polish. Thus, if your village of origin is spelled with the letter combination ks in modern Polish, substitute an “x,” to locate it in the listing e.g. Alexandrowo vs Aleksandrowo.
Parishes listed in italics
are those which were not part of the diocese per se but certain of the villages
within these parishes were assigned to the Wilno Archdiocese after its borders
were reorganized in the late 19th century.
Click here to return to the Wilno Archdiocese homepage.