Polish, as I understand it

In a previous week, we skirted Greece, visiting the Aegean sea and archipelagos. Now we sojourn in Greek mythology.  In Homer's Odyssey, Penelope waits for the return of Odysseus, but on what does she wait for him? Clue: Na niej czekała Penelopa na Odysa. - On it Penelope waits for Odysseus.  All I could remember was that Penelope waited pretty damn patiently for his return - twenty years - remaining faithful to her husband and somehow using a ruse involving the protracted weaving of a shroud to put off would-be suitors. Exactly how weaving her father-in-law's shroud prevents courtship I am unsure of, but let's not dwell on that.  Odysseus is King of Ithaca, the island upon which Penelope waits for his return.  Answer: Itaka. More Greek mythology. This time names of the Gods. The God of War.  Mars to the Romans; Ares to the Greeks.  Clue: Grecki bóg wojny. - Greek god of war.  Answer: Ares.  Clue: Hymn na cześć Apolla . - A hymn to Apollo.  ...

Following on from yesterday's stony theme. Today's broadens from stone to geographical features.  Clue: Przylądek w pd. Chile .  Firstly, pd. is an abbreviation of południe (south).  Przylądek is a cape as in a large / high headland that juts out into a body of water.  An example of this, found in south Chile, is Cape Horn. Answer: Horn. In working this one out, I learned that another word for a headland in Polish is cypel , which is a very narrow headland, like Hel on the Baltic coast of Poland. And for a peninsula, the polish word would be  półwysep . As far as I can see in both English and Polish, peninsula / półwysep is a broad term for a landform projecting into a body of water that covers cypel and przylądek Elsewhere in the crossword book, there was a clue involving archipelago.  The Polish word, archipelag , being very similar.  I was aware that it described a collection of numerous small islands, but not much more than that. The word seems t...

So far, my crossword knowledge notes have been random collections of words and facts, jotted down as I come across them when completing crosswords.  As a break from the norm, today's words are stony. Clue: Oparcie, ostoja. Well, still having my L plates on with the Polish language, this one had me stumped until I had more letters on the crossword.  Both words in the clue had multiple meanings.  Oparcie, has been translated as support, backbone, backrest, reliance, base, foundation, footings, crutch, anchor (list continues).  Ostoja, has been translated as mainstay, support, prop, footing, backbone, refuge, anchorage (list continues). Answer: Opoka. Opoka, seems to mean hard sedimentary rock, but also is used colloquially for rock or stone and figuratively to describe sanctuary or solid, stable support.  So if you were to describe someone as your rock, the literal translation would seem to work on Polish, using opoka.  Like: "Kinga, moja opoka, bardzo mi po...

Clue: Sznur do detanacji ładunki. - Cord to detonate a charge. Answer: Lont. Not a word I'm likely to use every day.  It's not often I handle explosives, but how about the English idiom: to have a short fuse, to describe a quick temper?  Is there a Polish equivalent?  As far as I can see, yes, the phrase seems to be used word for word.  I read a report of an argument between journalist and TV personality, Szymon Hołownia and Marta Lempart, co-founder of Strajk Kobiet. The report quoted Hołownia as saying "Sam miewam krótki lont..." which translates as "I have a short fuse myself...".  Lont, being fuse  and krótki being the adjective short . Strajk Kobiet - women's strike- was started in protest to the erosion of women's rights (notably the move to ban abortions) in Poland since PIS gained power in 2015.  The law around abortion in Poland was already very strict. The number of illegal abortions estimated at being ten times higher than legal abortions...

 More words and facts I have learned from crosswords (krzyżówki) Clue: Leśna droga . - Forrest track / road. Answer: Dukt . Dukt, masculine noun.  A forest track created by cutting out a strip of trees.  Easy enough to remember by its resemblance to the English word duct .  Both English and Polish words habe the same origin, the Latin ductus , meaning leading / conducting. Clue: Alkaloid w Liptonie.  - Alkaloid in Lipton.  Caffeine (kofeina in Polish) is an alkaloid found in tea, including Lipton teas. Before it was known to be identical to caffeine, when found in tea, it was given the name theina , a word the vast majority of English have forgotten. It was certainly new to me when a Polish friend spoke of it. In Polish it is teina.  Answer: Teina.  Clue: Na niej pasą się owce. - Sheep graze on it.  Answer: Hala. Hala is a mountain pasture. Grazing pasture above the tree line. In other contexts, hala also means hall. 

More words and facts I have learned from crosswords (krzyżówki) A nice easy one to start off with.  A word very similar to our own. Clue: Wyspa wokół laguny - Island around a lagoon. A coral island consisting of a ring-shaped reef enclosing a lagoon is an atoll, in English. Answer: Atol . Very close to the English, which must mean they share the same origin.  Atoll is from the Divehi / Maldivian atolu , applied to the Maldive Islands, which are typical examples of this structure.  It seems atol  is given the same etymology and is closer to the origin word.  While we're on the subject: coral reef in Polish is rafa koralowa and The Great Barrier Reef is Wielka Rafa Koralowa .  Wielka being great (or huge), as in Wielka Brytania for Great Britain. Clue: ... Dmowski.   This clue suggests that purely by stating the surname, we should know the first name, or imię , of this person, so they must be very well known.  Also, I'm pretty sure we are talkin...