Kasownik

[Dennis R. Preston]

>  Barry,

Make sure you go not only to the famous beachfront and Grand Hotel
(with its lifesize chess pieces) but also to the Baroque church in
Sopot which has one of the most elaborate mechanized organs in the
world. Drummers drum, knights joust, angels fly and trumpet, etc...

"Organ," by the way, is pluralia tantum in Polish, and led to one of
my favorite translated notices (in Gdynia): "In this church may be
viewed the maginificent organs of St. John." It's almost as good as
the Poznan culinary notice "Chickens roasted on spit."

dInIs








>   Greetings from Gdansk.  I'm sorry--I did not mean to say that
>there were only two cities in the tri-city area.  I'll be visiting
>the smallest--Sopot--in about an hour.
>    Zapiekanka (or "Zapiekanki" for plural) was "baked sandwich" in
>the English on one sign.
>    From TORUN FROM A TO Z (Gdansk, 2000), "Definitions of selected
>terms appearing in the guide," pg. 68:
>
>"kaszownik"--a type of machicolation in the gate wall, used to smite
>the enemy from above once the portcullis has been forced open.
>(OED?--ed.)
>
>(Torun is famous for Copernicus, but also has great gingerbread.  I
>don't have a unique OED entry/suggestion for gingerbread,
>though--ed.)

--
Dennis R. Preston
Department of Linguistics and Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
preston at pilot.msu.edu
Office: (517)353-0740
Fax: (517)432-2736