Talk:Krzysztof "Piorun" Radziwiłł

Latest comment: 2 years ago by No such user in topic Requested move 2 January 2022

Lightning or Thunderbolt?

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I believe that this article should have appropriate name Krzysztof Radziwiłł the Thunderbolt or Krzysztof "the Thunderbolt " Radziwiłł not Piorun M.K. 21:59, 1 July 2006 (UTC)Reply

Agreed. Nicknames should be translated.--Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus Talk 22:27, 1 July 2006 (UTC)Reply
Should be "the Thunder" in English. Juraune 15:49, 6 July 2006 (UTC)Reply
Actually it should be the lightning. Thunder(bolt) would be grom, not piorun. Just as with ORP Grom and ORP Piorun.--Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus Talk 18:41, 6 July 2006 (UTC)Reply

Moved to "the Lightning" together with 3 other relatives. Don't be shy on redirects. Renata 00:20, 8 July 2006 (UTC)Reply

I supppose, it should be "Thunder".Iulius (talk) 08:31, 28 November 2007 (UTC)Reply
Why? As I explained above, piorun is lightning, grzmot is thunder.-- Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus | talk 17:56, 29 November 2007 (UTC)Reply
I think Thunderbolt is more accurate. lightning is more "female" means sudden lightening of sky. Thunderbolt is translation of Polish Piorun and Lithuanian Perkunas and means lightening of sky with acusstic thunder. Lithuanian God Perkunas (Piorun) like Zeus had thunderboldts in his celestial arsenal :). Ultimate argument for name of Radvila should be citation in English historical bibliography as well ... Mathiasrex (talk) 20:37, 29 November 2007 (UTC)Reply

More on the nickname

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This page does not appear to be in conformance with Wikipedia:Naming conventions (people). Should it be Krzysztof Mikołaj Radziwiłł (Reichsfürst) or something of that sort? --Flex (talk|contribs) 17:45, 1 May 2007 (UTC)Reply

Starost of...?

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kokenhauski, solecki, żyżmorski, urzędowski, aiński, borysowski and nowomyski. could anybody translate this to a more understandable way? Iulius 06:29, 7 October 2006 (UTC)Reply

The good way to do it IMHO is 'starost of [city name]'. Unfortunatly those Polish adjectives do not always translate nicely into city names; at some point I'd like to a list to help us with that, like the one I did for Voivodes of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but I still have not found enough refs for that.-- Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus | talk  16:46, 7 October 2006 (UTC)Reply

WikiProject class rating

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This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as stub, and the rating on other projects was brought up to Stub class. BetacommandBot 13:25, 9 November 2007 (UTC)Reply

Former Seventh-day Adventists

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What is know his religious stance?--Vojvodae 15:48, 16 September 2008 (UTC)Reply

He now describes himself as an agnostic. Colin MacLaurin (talk) 11:32, 17 September 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.35.158.93 (talk) Reply

He used and signed his name as Christophorus Radziwil

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Christophorus or Christopher Radziwil should be the name used by Wikipedia, see his signature in a book [1]. Why is Wikipedia featuring him under a Polish name of Krzysztof Mikolaj Radzill ?

Name should be moved to Christopher Radziwil(l) Observing (71.137.195.132 (talk) 17:45, 22 June 2009 (UTC))Reply

People used to sign their name in Latin. So what? That didn't make them Latins.radek (talk) 18:34, 22 June 2009 (UTC)Reply

So what??? People sign with the name they are known under.

If he signed himself with the tong twister "Krzysztof Mikołaj "the Thunderbolt" Radziwiłł" as you and a few of likeminded people insist on, then please be so kind and enlighten us and post a photo right here

............. Thank you. Observing (71.137.195.132 (talk) 05:32, 24 June 2009 (UTC))Reply


A lot of nobles used latin, which doesn't mean that was their primary language. As Radek noted, they were not Latin. Anyway, that's not his signature, but of Krzysztof Radziwiłł. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk 16:01, 24 June 2009 (UTC)Reply

I was wandering about the year (1603) and the Christophorus Radziwil signature. The father Christopher Radziwill is said to have died in 1603.

Both, the father and the son were named Christoph Radziwil(l), the father is referred to as Christopher I Radziwill and the son as Christoph II Radziwil(l). Neither persons name is Krzysztof Mikołaj in English, which this is supposed to be an English language Wikipedia, but in many cases it is not.

And what about signatures of the person(s), signed as Krzysztof Mikołaj Radziwiłł ??? Observing (71.137.195.132 (talk) 18:58, 25 June 2009 (UTC))Reply

Requested move 2 January 2022

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The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: Moved to Krzysztof "Piorun" Radziwiłł. It's long overdue that someone closes this, and there's the consensus to move somewhere; and this one has seen most acceptance. No such user (talk) 15:21, 23 February 2022 (UTC)Reply


Krzysztof Mikołaj "Perkūnas" RadziwiłłKrzysztof Mikołaj Radziwiłł – "Perkunas" isn't used anywhere in the literature, form "Krzysztof "Piorun" Radzwiłł is used by Robert I. Frost "The Northern Wars:War, State and Society in Northeastern Europe, 1558 - 1721". Best is to move to neutral "Krzysztof Mikołaj Radzwiłł" and use the nickname within article Marcelus (talk) 00:27, 2 January 2022 (UTC) — Relisting. -- Aervanath (talk) 15:16, 12 January 2022 (UTC)— Relisting. Coffee // have a ☕️ // beans // 06:51, 25 January 2022 (UTC)Reply

@Ortizesp: Per prior comments, that title is occupied. —⁠ ⁠BarrelProof (talk) 21:31, 25 January 2022 (UTC)Reply


  • Two Polish print encyclopedias that I've consulted list our Radziwiłł as "Krzysztof Mikołaj Radziwiłł, epithet Piorun".
"Piorun" translates into English as "lightning" or "thunderbolt".
On Wikipedia, the principal term for that natural phenomenon is "lightning". "Thunderbolt" is discussed mainly in relation to religion, mythology, and the like.
Our Radziwiłł received his epithet Piorun for his "lightning-fast" military operations. One does not speak of "thunderbolt-fast" operations.
The Polish Wikipedia "Krzysztof Radziwiłł" disambiguation page lists the three individuals discussed on this English Wikipedia talk page. The titles of the articles on the first two, 16th- and 17th-century, individuals include their life dates. This is very uncommunicative and confusing to a naive reader.
On balance, I would title the present article "Krzysztof Mikołaj 'Lightning' Radziwiłł", without life dates.
Our Radziwiłł's son, "Krzysztof Radziwiłł" – who appears in our English Wikipedia under that over-laconic title – "sometimes referred to as Krzysztof Radziwiłł II, to distinguish him from his father, Krzysztof Mikołaj 'Piorun' Radziwłł", does not appear to have an epithet. For disambiguation considerations, the son's article could be retitled "Krzysztof II Radziwiłł", as he appears in the lead to his Polish Wikipedia article.
Alternatively, for the principal Radziwiłł in question, I could support "Krzysztof Mikołaj Radziwiłł", as proposed by Marcelus.
Best, Nihil novi (talk) 22:13, 27 January 2022 (UTC)Reply
  • @Nihil novi: We already established that he didn't actually have a second name, he was Krzysztof Radziwiłł, or Krzysztof Mikołajewicz Radziwiłł, after his father. I don't know any English literature that uses epithet "Lightning", although I agree it's probably the best translation, epithets that are used are: "Thunder", "Thunderbolt" or "Piorun". In my opinion the last one is the best, because as we cann see no English translation is perfect Marcelus (talk) 09:48, 28 January 2022 (UTC)Reply
Why does Piorun's name appear as "Krzysztof Mikołaj Radziwiłł" in the Polish Wikipedia; in Encyklopedia Powszechna PWN, 1975, vol. 3, p. 774; in Encyklopedia Polski, Kraków, Wydawnictwo Ryszard Kluszczyński, 1996, p. 564; and on Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=%22Krzysztof+Mikolaj+Radziwill%22+&btnG=) ?
IMHO "Lightning" is perfect, and has the advantage of being immediately understood by an English-speaker.
Nihil novi (talk) 11:09, 28 January 2022 (UTC)Reply
Wikipedia isn't perfect. Polish Biographical Dictionary, which has the most authority on these matters, calls him Krzysztof Radziwiłł and explains why he is mistakenly called "Krzysztof Mikołaj". "Lighting" is probably the best translation, although not perfect, but it's not the version used in literature Marcelus (talk) 15:29, 28 January 2022 (UTC)Reply
Is Polski słownik biograficzny the only source for "Krzysztof Mikołaj Radziwiłł" allegedly not having had the second given name, "Mikołaj"? PSB bases this statement on his assertedly not having included "Mikołaj" in his signatures. In fact it is not unknown for people not to use, or to abbreviate or otherwise modify, one or another given name. James Earl Carter Jr. skipped his second given name, calling himself "Jimmy Carter". Thomas Woodrow Wilson eschewed "Thomas", styling himself "Woodrow Wilson". John Edgar Hoover signed himself "J. Edgar Hoover". There is a difference between not having a name and not using it.
On Wikipedia we regularly translate Polish texts into English, sometimes correcting obvious mistranslations. Given how our Radziwiłł earned his epithet Piorun by his "lightning" military operations, it seems perfectly reasonable to render Piorun as "Lightning". In World War II, the Germans did not practice "Thunderbolt War" but "Lightning War" (Blitzkrieg).
Nihil novi (talk) 21:55, 28 January 2022 (UTC)Reply
@Nihil novi: PSB isn't the only one source that doesn't use a second name, every newer source follows it. That's beyond the question that the person we are talking about was using only one name "Krzysztof", so we can drop it. And no, we don't simply translate from Polish to English, if the person, as it is in this case, is well covered in the English literature, we use forms used there. And none English source use the force "Lightining" so we cannot use that one either. Marcelus (talk) 17:34, 30 January 2022 (UTC)Reply
I regret to disagree about the correcting of English misrenderings of Polish terms. Example: the previously published, incorrect wording, "Historical policy of the Law and Justice party" has been corrected on Wikipedia to "History policy of the Law and Justice party". Nihil novi (talk) 23:00, 1 February 2022 (UTC)Reply
That's not the same, we are talking about different things here, it's not the same as correcting grammatical errors. Marcelus (talk) 08:59, 7 February 2022 (UTC)Reply
Decisions concerning proper grammar involve interpretation – as does the question of whether the epithet Piorun is, in the case of this Radziwiłł, better rendered as "Thunderbolt" or "Lightning".
Facts, including epithets, can be misinterpreted, as can grammatical usage. When this happens, there is no necessity to keep the misinterpretation.
"Thunderbolt" and "lightning" carry different connotations. A "thunderbolt" may figuratively be "an event [rather than a person] that is terrible, horrific or unexpected". "Lightning", by contrast, may figuratively be "anything that moves very fast"; used as an adjective, it describes something that is "extremely fast or sudden; moving (as if) at the speed of lightning". The context of our Radziwiłł's life speaks for the latter sense of "Piorun" ("Lightning").
Nihil novi (talk) 19:52, 7 February 2022 (UTC)Reply
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.