Nicolaus Copernicus Albert, Alexander Jagiellon, and Sigismund I the Old. He was a friend and key advisor to each ruler, and his influence greatly strengthened the ties between Warmia and Poland proper. Watzenrode came to be considered the most powerful man in Warmia, and his wealth, connections and influence allowed him to secure Copernicus' education and career as a canon at Frombork Cathedral. Copernicus is postulated to have spoken Latin, German, and Polish with equal fluency; he also spoke Greek and Italian, and had some knowledge of Hebrew. The vast majority of Copernicus's extant writings are in Latin, the language of European
Nicolaus Copernicus a natural choice for German-speaking students, regardless of their ethnicity or self-identification. The surname "Kopernik", "Copernik", "Koppernigk" is recorded in Kraków from c. 1350, in various spellings, apparently given to people from the village of Koperniki (prior to 1845 rendered Kopernik, "Copernik, Copirnik" and "Koppirnik") in the Duchy of Nysa. Nicolas Copernicus' great-grandfather is recorded as having received citizenship in Kraków in 1386. The toponym "Kopernik" (modern "Koperniki") has been variously tied to the Polish word for "dill" ("koper") and German for copper ("Kupfer"). The suffix -nik (or plural -niki) denotes a Slavic and Polish agent noun, though. As was