{"id":23990,"date":"2026-01-04T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/?p=23990"},"modified":"2026-02-09T19:57:46","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T03:57:46","slug":"the-polish-river-orzyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/23990","title":{"rendered":"The Polish River Orzyc"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The S\u0142ownik Geograficzny Kr\u00f3lestwa Polskiego i Innych Kraj\u00f3w S\u0142owia\u0144skich (Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and other Slavonic Countries)<\/em> includes an entry for the Orzyc River.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Source: Chlebowski, Bronis\u0142aw and W\u0142adys\u0142aw Walewski, eds., S\u0142ownik Geograficzny Kr\u00f3lestwa Polskiego i Innych Kraj\u00f3w S\u0142owia\u0144skich (Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and other Slavonic Countries) – Warsaw 1886, Volume VII, Pages 614-615.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click on the link for a PDF copy of the the S\u0142ownik Geograficzny entries for the Orzyc River<\/a>. Translated from the Polish, the entry reads:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Orzyc River<\/strong>, documented in 1335 as Nartze, Naritze, and Aretis, is a right tributary of the Narew River. It originates in M\u0142awa powiat, from a high plateau (up to 1100 feet) that stretches across the northern part of the powiat, forming a wedge between the Prussian border and Przasnysz powiat. This plateau, part of the large Baltic plateau dotted with lakes, also had a large lake in the past, which drained, leaving behind marshy depressions called Niemyje. The waters of this lake and the surrounding plateau gave rise to the Orzyc River, which carries them to the Narew. The waters flow through two channels: one from the village of Pep\u0142owo near the Prussian border, flowing between the villages of Kulany and Kuklin, Wieczfnia, Pogorzel, and B\u0105ki, W\u0105sosze and Wasi\u0142y, for a length of 13 versts [1 verst = 1.07 kilometers]; the other, on the right side, consists of swamps stretching for 7 versts between S\u0142awog\u00f3ra and D\u0119bsk and Grzybowo, Windyki and Baku\u0142y, and Wola and Kurki, where the river flows underground. The two branches merge near the villages of Wasi\u0142y and D\u0142ugok\u0105ty. From there, it flows north for 15 versts between the villages of D\u0142ugok\u0105ty and Ta\u0144sk, Chmielewo and \u0141\u0105czyn, Grzebsk, Kownatki and Majki, Zaborowo and Kruszewo, Kukie\u0142ki and Szemplin, Szczepkowo, Gerwaty and Zembrzu\u017c, to the Janowski mill. In this area, the muddy valley of the Orzyca River is \u00bd to 1 verst wide, with numerous weirs for fishing. Finally, a causeway and dam near Jan\u00f3w prevent the water from spreading and create, in addition to the riverside swamps, extensive marshes near Jan\u00f3w, covering a total area of up to 200 w\u0142\u00f3ki [1 w\u0142\u00f3ka = 30 m\u00f3rgs; according to Gerald Ortell\u2019s book on Polish Parish Records, in the Russian partition 1 m\u00f3rg = 1.388 acres]. From Jan\u00f3w to Chorzele, over a distance of 2 miles, the Orzyca forms the border with Prussian Masuria; then it changes its direction from east to south and southeast, and through Krasnosielc, Podo\u015b, and M\u0142odzianowo, it reaches Mak\u00f3w; from Zakliczewo it turns southeast and flows through Szelk\u00f3w and Magnuszewo towards the Narew River, into which it empties its waters near Przeradowo. The tributaries of the Orzyca from the right bank are the Ulat\u00f3wka (also known as \u015awiniarka) near Ma\u0142owidz and the W\u0119gierka near M\u0142odzianowo. For information on the marshes of the Orzyca River, see “Korespondent P\u0142ocki” of 1880, No. 56. In 1412, there was a locality called Orzyca on this river and on the border of Masovia; Wojciech of Orzyca suffered damage in that year from Poles, losing a horse, as attested by the local starost, and Jan and Sta\u015bko, also from that area. Broni\u0142aw Chlebowski<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 by Stephen J. Danko<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The S\u0142ownik Geograficzny Kr\u00f3lestwa Polskiego i Innych Kraj\u00f3w S\u0142owia\u0144skich (Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and other Slavonic Countries) includes an entry for the Orzyc River. Source: Chlebowski, Bronis\u0142aw and W\u0142adys\u0142aw Walewski, eds., S\u0142ownik Geograficzny Kr\u00f3lestwa Polskiego i Innych Kraj\u00f3w S\u0142owia\u0144skich … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-journal"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pyBfX-6eW","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23990"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24329,"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23990\/revisions\/24329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}