What does the word "стахоўскі" mean?

August 19, 2008 12:33 PM

What does the word "стахоўскі" mean? I think it's Russian or Belarusian and it appears in the "Remarks" section of my fiancée's visa for her trip to Belarus. Is it a name?

I have attempted to transcribe it using cyrillic letters copy & pasted from Wikipedia, but I may have chosen the wrong form of "i"...

Thanks.

posted by hoverboards don't work on water to writing & language (10 comments total)

It's not Russian; Russian doesn't have the hook over the "y" and doesn't use the Latin letter "i".

Not much help, but I suppose it's a start.
posted by orrnyereg at 12:38 PM on August 19, 2008

Actually, a cursory Google search indicates it's Belarussian version of the surname "Stachowski". Is that name significant to your fiancee's trip?
posted by orrnyereg at 12:43 PM on August 19, 2008

Tried the dictionary here, to no avail:

but if it is a name, it probably wouldn't show up.
posted by allelopath at 12:52 PM on August 19, 2008

No, we don't know anybody by that name, but if it really is a name then it could plausibly be the person who processed the visa application. It appears in the same place as "мірончъiк" on this other visa which generates similar Google results.
posted by hoverboards don't work on water at 1:05 PM on August 19, 2008

Not a Belarusian speaker, but a reader of Cyrillic and the Belarusian alphabet Wikipedia page: it might be pronounced "sta-KOW-ski", if that helps. The second word in your comment right above this one might be pronounced "mir-ON-chik".
posted by mdonley at 1:12 PM on August 19, 2008

OK, this page of family name affixes from Wikipedia says that the -chik suffix is Ukrainian, Russian or Belarusian. Could it be the name of the ambassador/consul or functionary at the embassy/consulate who processed the visa?
posted by mdonley at 1:20 PM on August 19, 2008

It's a family name, the Belarusan spelling of Polish Stachowski; the native Belarusan equivalents are Stakhovich and Stakhevich.
posted by languagehat at 1:23 PM on August 19, 2008

Mironchik is also a Belarusan family name (based on the given name Miron); -chik is not a suffix used for Russian family names (the Russian equivalent is Mironov).
posted by languagehat at 1:27 PM on August 19, 2008

It's Belarusian for Stakhovski.
posted by atomly at 1:41 PM on August 19, 2008

Thanks everybody! We initially saw "C TAX" and wondered if we were going to be charged extra, but now we know better :)
posted by hoverboards don't work on water at 11:07 AM on August 20, 2008