Kmita, the hero of THE DELUGE, was probably of the Kmitas of Little Poland, and of those who inherited lands granted Poles in Lithuania and Russia after the union.
Kmitsits, which means “son of Kmita,” as “starostsits” means “son of a starosta,” is the name used by Sienkiewicz; but as that word would baffle most English readers, I have taken Kmita, the original form of the family name. Kmita is mentioned in Solovyóff’s Russian history as co-operating with Sapyeha and Charnyetski against Hovanski and Dolgoruki; in that connection he is called Kmitich.
NOTES.
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 |