Koldras Lacki na Turbaczu

Abstract

Professor Józefa Kobylińska, who was investigating her local dialect and Władysław Orkan’s language, paid attention to the writing on one of the rocks on Turbacz – Koldras Lacki, mentioned in W roztokach (1903), and associated it with the surname Koldras, found in southern Małopolska. It might have been used to denote a Roma from Kelderasz tribe, the people who made a living out of coppersmithing (from Romanian căldare ‘a boiler’), while the word ‘Polish’ Lacki might have been given by Russian-speaking Wallachian shepherds in Gorce. According to Kobylińska, the name Turbacz originated from the Russian *Turbacz with an ablaut, like in gorczanski dialect murczeć / mruczeć, frunąć / furnąć.