Bastions
Prussian Lesson
Evolution of "poleje"
trádzæn ist se dziva uv ien poleje!
Tragic is the life of a Pole!
The word "
poleje" in Modern Prussian has come under fire in the age of political correctness. However, for a word of such controversy it remains a common staple in the classroom as well as in theater and on television. The question is, is it proper to call some one a Pole (ie a person from Poland) when they really mean to call someone an idiot or a side kick? The best place to start is to look at the origin of the word.
Poleje comes from
polejá meaning "Poland" and follows the main convension of
já >
je when referring to a citizen of a country. Documentation from the age of King Eadbert and King Gunvald I both show pronounced usage of the word to refer to the people of neighboring Poland. However, by King Kiten the usage of the word had all but stopped in official documentation. By the reign of King Gunvald II the word seems to have disappeared from normal conversational usage.
This of course can be linked to the decline in the Polish language and identity in the XIII and XIV Centuries. With the death of the language in the XIV Century, there was no reason to refer to the Polish, only to the region still called "Poland". Under King Gunvald II, Poland was a "Protectorate" under the watchful eye of Prince Doyvát. It was this status that would give birth to the modern usage of the word
poleje. The reemergence of the word can be linked to a play written in the first few years of the XV Century. One scene, in the Prussian throne room, calls for a "Pole", in this case it was referring to Steward of Poland, the eldest son of the King. At the time the heir of the King could function in the throne room as the Steward of Poland, second only to the King. But it was this position, being second, that seemed to stick. By the 1450s there are a few plays that call for a "Pole", this time referring to a character's status as a side kick, or second in command.
So from a Slavic people of Central Europe, to an heir, to a second in command; the word was losing its position. This was exacerbated by the humorous plays of the XVI Century. In one of the most famous,
Of Love Between two Young People, the leading character refers to his friend as an ally, to which his friend replies (sarcastically), "Yes sir, that is I, the best Pole God ever put on this Earth!". In this sense it still means second in command, but the sarcasm was lost on lay audiences. The sarcasm was not supposed to be in the word Pole, but rather that this character had more or less been doing all the work for the main character. So it is after this that
poleje begins to take on its more modern form.
Enter the modern age. 1920 there was no Poland, there were no people from Poland and there were no people who spoke Polish. In the films of Communist Prussia the word
poleje flourished as slang for dunce. But in recent years, since the end of the Communist Empire, the word has remained and has come under fire. But to what end? To what good? Who are they protecting and why? Many suggest that they are protecting the memory of Poland and the Polish people. Other just say that it is a matter of common decency. The word has fallen out of usage amongst TV programs and it is noted as a word that generally falls out of usage as a person ages (only to be replaced by "stronger" curse words). It is still common in school yards and for some that is too much, but no amount of government spending is going to stop school kids from calling each other
polejes.