Strona 378 z 788

Sometimes they would give a man several surnames, as a mark of

the contempt or of the regard of his compatriots; sometimes the

same gentleman was known by one name in Dobrzyn, and by a

different title in the neighbouring hamlets. Imitating the

Dobrzynskis, the rest of the gentry of the vicinity likewise

assumed nicknames, or by-names.116 Now almost every family

employs them, but only a few know that they originated in

Dobrzyn, and were necessary there, while in the rest of the

country they became a custom through mere stupid imitation.

So Matyasz Dobrzynski, who was at the head of the whole family,

had been called Cock-on-the-Steeple. Later, after the year

seventeen hundred and ninety-four, he changed his nickname and

was christened Hand-on-Hip; the Dobrzynskis themselves also

called him Bunny our King,117 but the Lithuanians styled him the

Maciek of Macieks.