Ambiguous Origins
The spelling with an Jend- is derived from
the Polish Jed-, the e having a tail, or as some people put it a comma coming out of the
bottom of the letter. This is
what it looks like:
If you cannot see what that looks like in the text
of this page on your computer, change the view/encoding setting on your
browser to central European, Polish or Baltic to see the letters correctly.
Web TV viewers might not be able to see this. That special e is
pronounced en as in the word end. The root of this syllable
comes from the diminutive of the name Andrzej (Andrew): Jedrzej, also meaning
Andrew. The -ewski commonly means "son of -" or "from the town
of Jedrzejewo". There is no telling which of the two meanings can be
derived from this particular name. A name based on one of the apostles, of
course, is bound to be common in a Catholic country and is. There are also
many towns and villages in Poland that are based on the name Andrew. None of
these facts are helpful clues as to the origins of the family as such. In any
case it is pronouncedYen' zhe YEF skee oren zhe YEF skee accounting for some variants in American spelling, which are taken
from the correct Polish pronunciation of the name.
|
