Mirrors, Echoes, Dialogues
Significant onomastics
Characters of Pan Graba are often given significant surnames, a phenomenon very common in the writer’s early work. As Anna Martuszewska explains:
This tendency to bestow significant names on characters could be linked to Enlightenment didacticism, and this is certainly their origin. However, their function should probably not be limited solely to creating the work’s axiology; very clear without these names, as well. Rather, differently. It would be fair to say that their appearance stems from a general tendency characteristic of the novel’s early days: the desire to express as quickly as possible what is most important to the work, to establish the scope of preliminary information, and to enter into a referential pact between the sender and the recipient.[1]
The Słabecki family, of course, has such a “fitting” surname (słaby ‘weak’, while weakness of character and lack of will seem to characterize most of its members, except for Ryta); positive characters associated with the village have surnames derived from trees (the Klońscy [derived from the name of tree: klon ‘maple’] family, the Jedliński [derived from the name of tree: jodła ‘fir’] sisters). The main character’s surname, however, may evoke associations not so much botanical (with the tree: grab ‘hornbeam’) as warning (with the verb grabić [to plunder]).[2] Kalikst Graba, an experienced card player, robs the guests he entices of their property, while forcibly keeping his wife, who wants to leave him, by his side.
Names also have a significant character. The basic meanings of names referred to in the 19th century corresponded to contemporary ones, as evidenced by, for example, a popular publication from the end of the century Znaczenie niektórych imion i wyrazów przyswojonych[3] [The Meaning of Some Names and Loanwords] – according to its author, Edward it is a ‘rich caretaker’,[4] Ignacy ‘fiery’,[5] Kalikst ‘beautiful, shaped like a cup’,[6] Kamill (only the masculine form of the name was mentioned) ‘spiritual servant’,[7] Marcin ‘bold’, Michał ‘who is like God’, Małgorzata ‘expensive pearl’,[8] Stanisław ‘become famous’,[9] Teodor ‘a divine gift, pleasing to God’, Wiktor ‘victor’. The meaning of some names was interpreted slightly differently than in today’s etymological research, but the explanations proposed at that time seem to fit well into the world created by Orzeszkowa: Adela (Adelajda) ‘fair’,[10] Celina,[11] Laura ‘goddess of flowers,’[12] and Matylda ‘nice child’. This explanation fits well with the weak and spoiling mother of Kalikst, her only son; all her actions are delayed and her protests futile. Another example of somewhat more complex cultural references is the name of the squatter, gossiper, and hypocrite Ignacy Jodek, who so often gives “the word of an honest man.” This name was widespread and early in Ruthenia (St. Ignatius is the patriarch of Constantinople), and in Sarmatian Poland it gained greater popularity thanks to the cult of St. Ignatius of Loyola, brought by the Jesuits.[13] It would therefore emphasize the character’s locality, his noble ancestry, and perhaps also his truly Jesuit hypocrisy?[14]
In addition to their function of presenting and concisely characterizing the characters, linked to the axiology of the work, the names refer to extratextual knowledge and cultural codes common to the Polish author and reader in the 19th century. In this way, they reflect the social stratification of the time, for example, the servants bear popular, old baptismal names of Slavic origin (Kazimiera/Kazimira) or from the New Testament (mainly Hebrew: Jan – Jehō + hānān ‘God is gracious’; Michał – mīkhā’ēl ‘who is like God’), sometimes Latin, derived from martyrs and saints of the first centuries of Christianity (Marcin – Martinus, Martius ‘dedicated to Mars’). “The Lords” are called fashionable names, often having Latin or Greek origins, linked to literary and cultural associations (from the 18th century onwards it was mainly the influence of fashionable novels[15]), also evoking positive connotations, such as the baptismal names of the proud Kamilla G., the good and naive Jedliński girls or the Słabecki siblings.
Significant onomastics are also used in the novel’s context for local names – the names of the young Kloński family’s estates (Wieńczyn, Dobra Wola[16]) evoke positive connotations. The contrast between the only two specifically named streets, the “largest and smallest” of the city of M.: Złota [Gold] Street, home to the cream of society, and the modest Nadrzeczna [Riverside] Street, home to hard-working craftsmen, impoverished noblewomen, and Jewish moneylenders, evokes and develops the familiar urban/rural contrast: on one hand, wealth, culture, entertainment, corruption, and decline; on the other, poverty, nature, work, family, honesty, and life ideals.
Przypisy
- A. Martuszewska, Początki powieści Elizy Orzeszkowej [The Beginnings of Eliza Orzeszkowa’s Novels], [in:] W świecie Elizy Orzeszkowej [In the World of Eliza Orzeszkowa], ed. J. Rajman, Kraków 1990, p. 14.
- Słownik wileński [Vilnius Dictionary] notes that the second meaning of the verb to plunder is: ‘[to rob] something from someone; to take something from someone, to seize something, to hold it by force; to trade for a debt’.
- K.J. Urbański, Znaczenie niektórych imion i wyrazów przyswojonych [The Meaning of Some Names and Loanwords], Radom [1892], access: https://polona.pl/item/znaczenie-niektorych-imion-i-wyrazow przyswojonych,ODk3NDYyNjk/4/#info:metadata.
- Anglomaniac and original, wealthy entailer Zrębski was given the appropriate Old English name Edward (ead ‘wealth, fortune, happiness’ + weard ‘guardian, protector, lord’). The name was made famous by St. Edward the Confessor, founder of Westminster Abbey, and by several British kings (J. Grzenia, Słownik imion [Dictionary of Names], ed. 4, Warszawa 2008, p. 106). According to Jan Stanisław Bystroń, this name began to spread in Polish lands due to English influence, and even in the first half of the 19th century it could be considered eccentric. This is evidenced by the figure of the “affected pseudopoet Edward Bzik in A. Wilkoński’s Salon literacki [Literary salon].” However, Rousseau’s New Heloise may also have influenced Edward’s popularity (J.S. Bystroń, Księga imion w Polsce używanych [Book of Names Used in Poland], Warszawa 1938, pp. 161–162).
- Taken literally, the Latin etymology of Ignatius (ignis ‘fire’) or Egnatius (‘belonging to the Egnatius family’) does not contribute much to the characterization of Ignacy Jodek – unless it was meant to emphasize his enthusiasm for good meals and gossip (J. Grzenia, op. cit., p. 154).
- Kalikst (gr. kállistos) means ‘very beautiful, very good’ (ibidem, p. 182), which contrasts literally with the physical beauty of the character (who compares himself to Cherubino’s page) and ironically describes his villainous character.
- Kamilla, similar in demeanour to Juno, bears a name that is the feminine equivalent of the Roman nickname Camillus, “a noble boy,” later also “a priest’s assistant”). She is the daughter of Wiktor G., a noble patriot of great birth who died in exile (Latin: Victor). The name Camilla appears in the Aeneid as the name of a warrior from the Volscian tribe. It began to be used in Poland in the 18th century, and gained popularity in the following century, among others, thanks to the positive literary heroines of Malwina by Maria Wirtemberska and Józef Korzeniowski’s Kollokacja (ibidem, pp. 182–183).
- Ryta Słabecka was probably baptized as Margarita; perhaps the name was not used in its full form in the world chamberlain family because in the 19th century it was considered old-fashioned (ibidem, p. 225).
- Stanisław Kloński, converted to the good path, bears an old, Slavic name with a connotation of good wishes and good fortune (ibidem, p. 296). Since the Middle Ages, it has been one of the most popular names in Poland (J.S. Bystroń, op. cit., p. 296).
- The name Adela, of medieval provenance, is derived from the German adal, meaning “noble family.” Adela was re-popularized in Poland at the turn of the 18th century under the influence of the fashionable romance by Madame de Genlis – translated in Polish as Adele y Teodor czyli listy o edukacyi [Adèle and Théodore] (Kraków 1787), see J.S. Bystroń, op. cit., p. 98.
- Celina is not found in Urbański’s dictionary, but related versions of the name appear: Cecylia (“poorly sighted” – from Latin caecus “blind”) and Celestyn (“heavenly”). Long blinded by love for her Staś, Celina Klońska is also called an “angel” by her repentant husband, and her name is derived today from the Latin noun caelum (coelum) “heaven.” The name was introduced to Polish intelligentsia circles only in the 19th century under French influence (J. Grzenia, op. cit., p. 87).
- Laura may come from the Latin laurus ‘laurel’ or also from the Latin Laurentia ‘woman from Laurentium’. This name is preserved, for example, in Petrarch’s sonnets, in Franciszek Karpiński’s sentimental idyll, and in Juliusz Słowacki’s dramas (ibidem, p. 202).
- Ibidem, pp. 154–155.
- According to Słownik wileński to act “in a Jesuitical way” figuratively meant “cunningly, in a scheming way.”
- J.S. Bystroń, op. cit., p. 41.
- As opposed to Wieńczyn, Dobra Wola was a very common place name. Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego records several Dobra Wola / Dobrowola, including Dobra Wola, a village and manor near Pińsk, belonging to the Pusłowski and Massalski families (Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, ed. F. Sulimierski, B. Chlebowski, W. Walewski, Warszawa 1881, vol. 2, p. 68) and several villages of Dobrowola in the Augustów, Borysów, Mariampol, Władysławowo and Wołkowysk counties, as well as a large estate in the Mariampol county on the Neman, comprising “sixty villages, several manors, the town of Sapieżyszki and several hundred hectares of forest” (ibidem, pp. 80–81). The names Wiączyń/Wiączyn Dolny, Górny and Nowy are given to colonies and forest settlements in the Łódź district (Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, ed. B. Chlebowski, Warszawa 1893, vol. 13, pp. 277–278).
