What were the names of Mieszko I’s wives? Literary anthroponymy

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Title: What were the names of Mieszko I’s wives? Literary anthroponymy

Abstract:

The article consists of two parts. In the first one, “Names of Pagan Wives of Mieszko I”, the author presented the names which the authors of four novels and one interview gave to the wives of the first historical ruler of Poland. In two of the novels, they mention seven names (according to the information provided by Gallus Anonymus, who wrote that Mieszko I “enjoyed seven wives”). In one of the novels one name is mentioned, and in the other one — two names. All those Old-Polish anthroponyms can either be found in dictionaries, or created in line with the convention of the time. It has to be admitted that the authors of the texts in question were faithful to the realistic trend while introducing proper names into historical novels. The interview with an American historian is different, as he created seven grotesque and ludicrous names.The other part of the article is “The Name of the First Christian Wife of Mieszko I”. Eight historical novels were taken into account. Their authors used three forms of the Czech princess’ name: Dubrawka, Dobrawka and Dobrawa. This diversity resulted from the debates concerning the proper pronunciation of her name in Polish. Linguists prefer the form Dąbrówka (derived from the stem that means ‛dark’), which did not appear in any of the novels. It seems that the authors of the novels follow the idea of historians who prefer the form Dobrawa (connected with the adjective dobry ‛good’). The novels of the following authors were taken into account: J.I. Kraszewski, K. Bunsch, A. Gołubiew, F. Fenikowski, K. Dobkiewiczowa, and E. Cherezińska, as well as the interview with P.E. Steele, an American historian living in Poland.