ROZWODNIK (divorcee) AND STARA PANNA (old maid), OR TERMS FOR DESCRIBING MARITAL STATUS IN POLISH

As we have promised in our entry on patchwork family (you can find it here), we are going to present some nouns related to people’s marital status. We have already mentioned that people who are married are called mąż (husband) and żona (wife). These nouns sound familiar to virtually all participants of Polish courses. The ones you are going to read about are much more rarely used in Polish classes.

WHAT DO YOU CALL UNMARRIED PEOPLE IN POLISH?
Those, whose spouse died are wdowiec (widower) and wdowa (widow); people, who decided to end a failed relationship are called rozwodnik (divorcee, masculine) and rozwódka (divorcee, feminine). The two latter forms, despite being correct and used in the legal language, still have negative connotations in Polish society and are stigmatizing. Therefore, the terms rozwiedziony (divorced, masculine) and rozwiedziona (divorced, feminine) are becoming increasingly popular. Similar rule applies to those who have never changed their marital status and remain kawaler (unmarried man, bachelor) and panna (unmarried woman, spinster).  People who remained unmarried for too long (in some people’s opinion) used to be called stary kawaler (literally: old bachelor, confirmed bachelor) and stara panna (spinster, old maid) with contempt. However, nowadays,  following the social changes and the growing number of people who are not in a relationship (anymore) with anyone or decide to get married much later than older generations, the words singiel (single, masculine) and singielka (single, feminine) are gaining in popularity.

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KONKUBIN OR PARTNER? OTHER WORDS TO DESCRIBE MARITAL STATUS
What about those who are in steady but live-in,  not legalized relationships? And again, the legal and administration language affect everyday life. The official terms are konkubent or konkubin (cohabitant, masculine) and konkubina (cohabitant, feminine). However, these words have been used so often in the criminal news stories (e.g. Konkubent Marian Z. zabił swoją konkubinę Grażynę K. w trakcie libacji alkoholowej - , i.e. Marian M. cohabiting with Grażyna K. killed her while carousing) that they now are used in a pejorative sense by Polish people. The young generations use these terms humorously nowadays, and when they want to be serious, they go for partner/partnerka when talking about their other half.

As you can see, the terminology related to marital status is a very good indicator of changes in the society that clearly affect the language itself.