Re: Siedlarczyk Siedlar Sydlak Szydlak Shedlak Shedlock
in reply to a message by Siedlarczyk
I wish you'd asked about Janczak instead!
So we can leave out Shedlock, Shedlak and Sydlak as misspellings of clerks unfamiliar with Polish. That leaves Siedlarczyk, Siedlak and Szydlak, all known Polish surnames, none really common.
I would treat Siedlar as a variant of the more common Siedlarz, and Siedlarczyk is almost certainly a diminutive form of Siedlarz. The endings -arz and -arczyk are usually found on occupational names, e.g., Bednarz ("cooper"), Bednarczyk, Tokarz ("turner") Tokarczyk. However, I can find no explanation of the names Siedlarz/-arczyk, as occupations or as any other surname source. The nearest word I can find is siedlisko, "home". Associating Siedlak (rightly or wrongly) with the Czech Sedlák, "farmer", I entertain the notion that it might mean something like "homesteader", and Siedlarz/-arczyk alternative versions of the same.
Unless, of course, these Sied- names turn out to be alternative spellings of Szyd- names. Pronunciation of the two spellings is not very different.
Now Szydlak: this too I have not found in dictionaries. The nearest word is szyd£o (with a barred L) meaning "awl, bradawl, bodkin". There are some surnames based on the word szyd£o, e.g., Szydlowski, that are said to be metonymics indicating descent from a shoemaker. Perhaps, then, Szydlak has the same meaning.
I don't know if any of the above is of the slightest help, better than nothing I suppose.
So we can leave out Shedlock, Shedlak and Sydlak as misspellings of clerks unfamiliar with Polish. That leaves Siedlarczyk, Siedlak and Szydlak, all known Polish surnames, none really common.
I would treat Siedlar as a variant of the more common Siedlarz, and Siedlarczyk is almost certainly a diminutive form of Siedlarz. The endings -arz and -arczyk are usually found on occupational names, e.g., Bednarz ("cooper"), Bednarczyk, Tokarz ("turner") Tokarczyk. However, I can find no explanation of the names Siedlarz/-arczyk, as occupations or as any other surname source. The nearest word I can find is siedlisko, "home". Associating Siedlak (rightly or wrongly) with the Czech Sedlák, "farmer", I entertain the notion that it might mean something like "homesteader", and Siedlarz/-arczyk alternative versions of the same.
Unless, of course, these Sied- names turn out to be alternative spellings of Szyd- names. Pronunciation of the two spellings is not very different.
Now Szydlak: this too I have not found in dictionaries. The nearest word is szyd£o (with a barred L) meaning "awl, bradawl, bodkin". There are some surnames based on the word szyd£o, e.g., Szydlowski, that are said to be metonymics indicating descent from a shoemaker. Perhaps, then, Szydlak has the same meaning.
I don't know if any of the above is of the slightest help, better than nothing I suppose.
Replies
According to Hoffman's dictionary, Siedlarz is from siedlarz/siodlarz 'saddler' so your conjecture that Siedlarz/Siedlarczyk is an occupational name is correct.