# Foltinowicz



## seitt

Greetings,

The name Foltinowicz is of great significance in literary history as Adelaide 
Foltinowicz was the main muse of the great poet Ernest Dowson.

Please see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Dowson

Please could you give me any information you can on its meaning and etymology.

Perhaps it can be divided up into ‘foltina’ (‘foltyna’?) and the suffix –wicz. What do these two elements signify, please?

All the best, and many thanks,

Simon


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## Thomas1

Hello, Simon,

I can only offer what I found out about the prefix 'owicz'.
It is a patronymic prefix, i.e. the surname with it comes from the name of the father. So, in this case, we have: syn Foltyna (the son of Foltyn). I have never heard this name, thogh.
In Old Polish, it used to look different, i.e. -owic (Foltynowic). However, under the influence of Rutherian, Ukrainian and Belorusian it took on another form, which we use today (Foltynowicz).


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## seitt

Many thanks, very helpful indeed.

Btw, as a female, her surname would have been Foltynowicza, wouldn't it?


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## Ben Jamin

seitt said:


> Many thanks, very helpful indeed.
> 
> Btw, as a female, her surname would have been Foltynowicza, wouldn't it?



Foltynowicza is the genitive case of Foltynowicz
'Foltynowiczowa' was once a standard version of the name of Mr Foltynowicz's wife, while 'Foltynowiczówna' of Mr Foltynowicz's daughter. These forms are now obsolete and people born after, say, 1970 never use them. The separate endings for female surnames only survive in names with typical *adjective surname endings* like -ski. -cki. The paradox is that surnames sounding like common adjectives (for example Chudy) do not change their endings either nowadays.

By the way, I can see that the spelling of the name has been changed form Folt*i*nowicz to Folt*y*nowicz. The latter is a more likely spelling for a Polish name, as there is no 'i' after 't' in Polish (except, of course, of newer loanwords). An even more Polish spelling would be 'Fołtynowicz'.


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## Thomas1

To add to what Ben Jamin has said, the surname 'Foltynowicz' is indeclinable in the feminine.


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## seitt

Thank you so much – Fołtynowicz does indeed exist:
http://www.google.co.uk/#sclient=psy&hl=en&source=hp&q=Fo%C5%82tynowicz&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=85be7de52198e892&biw=1280&bih=666

Since the lady in question was born around 1880, she would have been Adelaide (Adelajda?) Fołtynowiczówna, then, wouldn't she?


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## Thomas1

It is possible, but I think that Adela is a more accurate translation of Adelaide.


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## Ben Jamin

seitt said:


> Thank you so much – Fołtynowicz does indeed exist:
> http://www.google.co.uk/#sclient=psy&hl=en&source=hp&q=Fo%C5%82tynowicz&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=85be7de52198e892&biw=1280&bih=666
> 
> Since the lady in question was born around 1880, she would have been Adelaide (Adelajda?) Fołtynowiczówna, then, wouldn't she?


 Adelajda was once used in Poland. 
There is a possibility that her name in official registers was spelled Fołtynowicz, without the daughter suffix -ówna, since Polish was not an official language in the Prussian and Russian partition. The German speaking officials disregarded the Polish endings and the Russians used their own. So, at that time the name endings were mostly private matter.


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## seitt

Many thanks, perfect.


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