Skąd pochodzi pacynka?

The article offers an insight into the etymology of the Polish word pacynka with various meanings. There are several proposals for determining the origin of pacynka with the meaning ‘hand puppet’. These proposals are presented here after tedious historicallanguistic, dialectal and non-linguistic research. Many possibilities were considered, many premises were examined. Unfortunately, the presented analyses show, however, that none of the solutions is satisfactory. Every one of them has serious flaws. It is also very doubtful that the rightful, well-documented, and credible etymology of pacynka will be found soon.