POLISH ALPHABET.
Since the Polish alphabet has many peculiar phonetic combinations which are difficult to one who does not know the language, it was decided to transliterate the names of persons and places in which such combinations occur in this book. The following are the letters and combinations which are met with most frequently;—
| Polish Letters. | English Sounds. |
| c | ts |
| ch | h |
| cz | ch |
| rz | r followed by the French j |
| sz | sh |
| szcz | shch |
| w | v |
| ż | j |
In this transliteration ch retains its ordinary English sound. J is the French j; the vowels e, i, u, are, respectively, ai in “bait,” ee in “beet,” oo in “pool,” when long; when short, “bet,” “bit,” “put” would represent their values. I, when unaccented and followed by a vowel, is sounded as y.
The following names will illustrate the method of this transliteration:—
| Polish Form of Name. | Form in Transliteration. |
| Potocki | Pototski |
| Chudzynski | Hudzynski |
| Czarnkowski | Charnkovski |
| Rzendzian | Jendzian |
| Bleszynski | Bleshyuski |
| Szandarowski | Shandarovski |
| Wlostowski | Vlostovski |
| Żyromski | Jyromski |
In Jendzian and Jechytsa,—the only names, as I believe, beginning in Polish with rz in this work,—the initial r has been omitted in the transliteration on account of the extreme difficulty, for any one not a Pole, of pronouncing r followed by the French j.