WarsAnna Marta Zdanowska, Julia Odnous: ''Legendy warszawskie. Antologia.'' Warsaw: Museum of Warsaw, 2016, p. 368. (also known as ''War''''Encyklopedia Warszawy''. p. 412. and ''Warsz'')Franciszek Galiński: ''Gawędy o Warszawie''. p. 24. and Sawa are legendary characters from the

origin myth An origin myth is a myth that describes the origin of some feature of the natural or social world. One type of origin myth is the creation or cosmogonic myth, a story that describes the creation of the world. However, many cultures have stor ...

of the founding and etymology of the city of

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, capital of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

.''Encyklopedia Warszawy''. p. 330. There are several versions of the legend with their appearance.

In legend

According to one version of the legend, the duke or king called Kazimierz (Casimir), sometimes also identified as duke

Siemowit I of Masovia Siemowit I of Masovia ( pl, Siemowit (Ziemowit) I mazowiecki) (d. 23 June 1262), was a Polish prince member of the House of Piast, Duke of Czersk during 1247-1248, Duke of Masovia (except Dobrzyń) during 1248-1262, ruler over Sieradz during 1259 ...

, got lost in the forest, in where now is

Warsaw Old Town Warsaw Old Town ( pl, Stare Miasto, italic=yes and colloquially as ''Starówka'') is the oldest part of Warsaw, the capital city of Poland. It is bounded by the ''Wybrzeże Gdańskie'' (Gdańsk Boulevards), along with the bank of the Vistula river, ...

located, while hunting. He got to the small

adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...

hut, inhabited by a woman who recently gave birth to twins. The woman hosted him very generously. He named two kids Wars and Sawa, and gave a woman money to build a bigger house. Later, other people moved near the house, forming a settlement, which got named after the twins, ''Warsawa'', which later evolved to ''Warszawa'', the name of the city of

Polish language Polish (Polish: ''język polski'', , ''polszczyzna'' or simply ''polski'', ) is a West Slavic language of the Lechitic group written in the Latin script. It is spoken primarily in Poland and serves as the native language of the Poles. In a ...

. According to a different version of the legend, Wars and Sawa were married couples instead, who lived in that house, and who hosted the duke. According to a different version of the legend, Sawa was a

mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes asso ...

living in the

Vistula The Vistula (; pl, Wisła, ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest river in Europe, at in length. The drainage basin, reaching into three other nations, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in ...

river with whom a fisherman named Wars fell in love. In yet another version of the legend, Wars and Sawa were brothers, who were fishermen living near modern

Citations

References

{{reflist

Bibliography

* Anna Marta Zdanowska, Julia Odnous: ''Legendy warszawskie. Antologia.'' Warsaw: Museum of Warsaw, 2016, ISBN 978-83-62189-80-9. * ''Encyklopedia Warszawy''. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 1994, ISBN 83-01-08836-2. * Franciszek Galiński: ''Gawędy o Warszawie''. Warsaw: Instytut Wydawniczy Biblioteka Polska, 1939. * ''Encyklopedia Warszawy''. Warsaw, Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1975. * Anna Wilczyńska: ''Wielka księga legend Warszawy''. Warsaw: Skarpa Warszawska, 2017. ISBN 978-83-63842-42-0. Legendary Polish people History of Warsaw Origin myths Mermaids Fictional fishers Brother duos Fictional twins Fictional duos Fictional couples