The Kostrubala Name

The original 5 fiercely identified themselves as Polish. Most Polish names have a clear meaning in Polish. One example is Maciewski best translated as one who eats a lot or too much. Kostrubala does not have such clarity.

Zamosc is in south eastern Poland near the Ukraine border.

Mstislav Kostruba, Professor Emeritus of Slavic Languages at the University of California, Santa Barbara, claims Kostruba means, “Bone Crusher”. “Kost” is bone and “rubra” means to crush. A Google search of Kostruba yields individuals in the Ukraine and Russia with that name.

The Polish Pope’s name prior to being made Pope was Woytla. The “l” has a slant across it as does the “l” in Kostrubala. That letter is spoken with a soft W sound. It is quite possible, if not likely, Kostrubala indicates a Polish Kostruba. The suffix, ski and sky is used in Polish to identify Poles (ski) from Jews and Russians (sky).