[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Kaminski ethnicity

[Jan Textor]

Kamin~ski is a Polish surname, variations are Kamien~ski and Kaminski.  The 
stem of the name is Kamien~, not Kamin.  The Polish word Kamien~ means stone 
or rock.  In German, stone or rock is Stein.  Therefore, the German names 
Stein, Steinke and even Koberstein were sometimes Polonized into Kaminski 
etc.  I do not think you will find the stem of a Polish surname in German 
dictionaries or telephone books.

You can read more about the name here:
http://www.polishroots.com/surnames/surnames_33.htm#KAMIN~SKI

Jan Textor


>From: "Mike  McHenry" <maurmike1 at verizon.net>
>To: "'Otto'" <otto at schienke.com>
>CC: "'S G G E E'" <ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
>Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Kaminski ethnicity
>Date: Sun, 18 Feb 2007 14:28:01 -0500
>
>If you do a search in Das Telefonbuch for Kamin you get over 2000 hits. 
>That
>seems to make it a legitimate German name.
>
>                                         Mike
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: ger-poland-volhynia-bounces at eclipse.sggee.org
>[mailto:ger-poland-volhynia-bounces at eclipse.sggee.org] On Behalf Of Otto
>Sent: Sunday, February 18, 2007 1:05 PM
>To: Mike McHenry
>Cc: S G G E E
>Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Kaminski ethnicity
>Importance: High
>
>Mike,
>I sent an E-letter to Hal and Jan directly yesterday evening at 7 PM.
>I welcomed them home to SGGEE and announced they'd stumbled onto the
>mother-lode.
>I will include an excerpt from it here.
>
>I support the comments of Gary. He has parsed of a vast amount of names.
>An E-letter just came in.... I agree with Richard Stein also. Carved
>in stone.
>
>A brief excerpt from my letter to Hal:
>   "One uses the surname core, "Kamin". (greek 'kaminos/furnace latin
>roman 'kamin', German 'kamin'/furnace.  Probably a builder of
>fireplaces, or hearths"
>
>I'll here add a comment to clarify why there well could be a
>variation in creating  different language examples of the name.
>'Kamin' is more in reference to the firebrick lining of a furnace or
>fireplace... or hearth stone = 'herd stein' in German.  Kamin-ski
>could well have morphed (and probably did) from the older Pomeranian
>'Kaminske', which migration up the Weichsel/Wisla indicates. Here
>again it is a matter regarding how one chooses to parse or
>deconstruct the surname Kaminske.  Do I view it as singular, 'Kamin-
>ske' or plural 'Kamins-ke'.  The 'ke' a diminutive suffix indicting
>'little', 'offspring'.
>
>On Feb 18, 2007, at 11:48 AM, Mike McHenry wrote:
>
> > My German dictionary says the stem Kamin means fireplace. I don't see
> > anything like it in the polish one.
> >
> >                                         Mike
>Gary Warner's comment:
> >  Koberstein.   This may not be the
> > absolutely correct German version of the name, however, since some
> > people also think that Steinke is an alternate to
> > Kaminski.   Evidently the root of the word Kaminski has some
> > equivalence to the German word Stein or Steinke.
>
> > To answer your question about name changes, the answer
> > is yes, they did change, but not necessarily for everyone.   It seems
> > that they changed when there was an equivalent name in the language
> > used where they lived (like Schwarz becoming Czarnecki, since one
> > name means black in German ,and the other means black in
> > Polish).   Names also changed when the name was difficult to say in
> > the language where our ancestors lived, much like they did when our
> > ancestors came to North America.
>
>. . .   Otto
>
>              " The Zen moment..." wk. of January 28, 2007
>                  ________________________________
>                            "Speak... without saying."
>
>
>
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