Prokop

Prokop reached Polish through Greek. The source is Prokopios, built on the word prokopē, which meant progress and forward motion. In Polish the name is glossed as postęp, rozwój.

The Greek word came first, the famous bearers later. Prokopios of Caesarea, the sixth-century historian, chronicled Justinian's wars and then wrote the scathing Secret History in private. A different Prokop, the Czech abbot of Sázava, became a saint of the Slavs. His name-day in Poland falls on the fourth of July.

Then there is Prokop the Great, who commanded the Hussite armies in the fifteenth century and fell at the Battle of Lipany. The meaning of advancement took on a harder edge in his hands.

On a Polish class register today, Prokop sits among older names brought back into use. It reads as sturdy and slightly grave. The teacher calls it, and it lands with a full run of consonants. Whatever else the name holds, the word underneath still means postęp.