Nazewnictwo szlachty w Krzyżakach Henryka Sienkiewicza na tle polskiego systemu antroponimicznego dawnych epok

The article presents the procedure of altering Polish last names as it is pictured in examples of anthroponyms taken from the historical novel The Knights of the Cross written by Henryk Sienkiewicz. Characteristics of onomastics, as the one of many fields of the linguistic studies and the literary onomastics, which is a part of it, preludes the analysis performed in this paper. The emphasis has been put on one of the areas of this study – anthroponymy. According to this discipline, it was possible to investigate Polish surnames and depict the history of their advancement and modifications throughout centuries, basing on the mentioned novel. Author used the literary realism in the historical novel – genre recognizable for positivism and genuinely showed the process of transformations and modifications in Polish names, which was held within social groups like nobility, the middle class, peasantry and clergy. This thesis shows how did the author assort each personal name and directs to sources, that could have inspired him to create his characters and name them accordingly to the proper period and particular social group.