ówczesne

Ówczesne is a Polish adjective meaning “of that time” or “contemporary to a specified period.” It is used to describe things belonging to a past era or characteristic of the period in question, often contrasting with the present. The form is typically employed with plural nouns, as in ówczesne czasy (those times) or ówczesne władze (the authorities of that time).

Etymology and form: the adjective originates from the demonstrative particle ów (“that”) combined with a root related to czas (“time”) and the standard adjective suffixes. The word is closely linked to the noun ówczas, meaning “that time.” The base adjective has gender and number inflections, for example: masculine singular ówczesny, feminine singular ówczesna, neuter singular ówczesne, with plural ówczesne used with many plural nouns.

Usage: ówczesne is common in historical, journalistic, and literary contexts to anchor statements to a specific period. It often accompanies nouns such as realia, przepisy, obyczaje, normy, and władze. The term is frequently contrasted with współczesne or dzisiejsze, which refer to the present or contemporary times. For example, “W 1940 roku ówczesne przepisy były ograniczające” or “Ówczesne realia gospodarcze stanowiły wyzwanie dla przedsiębiorstw.”

Related terms: ówczesność, a noun form denoting contemporaneity or the state of existing at that time, and współczesność, which denotes modern-day contemporaneity. The phrase tamte czasy is a common non-technical synonym in everyday language.

Overall, ówczesne serves as a concise marker of temporality, signaling that the described phenomena belong to a specific, past period.