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  What it means

  “Under King Olbracht, the nobility perished.” Refers to the disastrous Moldavian campaign of 1497 in which King Jan Olbracht led the Polish nobility to a catastrophic defeat. Used ironically when someone’s plan backfires badly and causes great losses.

  Vocabulary

  • król — king
  • wyginąć — to perish, to die out
  • szlachta — nobility, gentry

  Grammar note

  'Za króla Olbrachta' uses the genitive after 'za' in a temporal sense (during the reign of). 'Wyginęła' is the past tense feminine/collective form of 'wyginąć'.

  Cultural context

  Jan I Olbracht (1459–1501) led a failed campaign against Moldavia in 1497 that resulted in heavy losses for the Polish nobility. The proverb became a byword for catastrophic mismanagement.

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