wiadczy

Wiadczy is a term encountered in discussions of Polish historical orthography. In modern standard Polish, the verb meaning to bear witness or testify is spelled świadczyć. "Wiadczy" is not part of contemporary usage and is generally regarded as an archaic or dialectal variant that appears in older manuscripts where diacritics were not consistently used or standardized.

The form reflects a broader historical tendency to drop diacritics and adopt simplified spellings. The emergence of "wiadczy" can be understood as a reflection of orthographic variation rather than a separate lexical item. In texts from the Middle Ages and early modern period, scribes often replaced "ś" with "s" and "ć" with "c," producing spellings such as "wiadczy" for the same verb.

Usage in modern reference works is limited; linguistic studies cite it as an example of orthographic variation rather than as a distinct, presently used form. When encountered in historical sources, "wiadczy" carries the same meaning as "świadczy": to bear witness, to attest, or to provide evidence.

Related terms include świadectwo (testimony) and świadczyć as the base verb. Orthographic and diachronic studies of Polish discuss "wiadczy" alongside other variants that lack diacritics, illustrating how script reforms shaped modern spelling. See also: Polish language, orthography, diachronic linguistics, świadectwo.