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Tue 28 May, 2013 05:48 pm
Hello, I'm wondering what is the Yiddish form of the name "Saul." I know in Hebrew it's "Sha'ul." I would have guessed in Yiddish it's "Shoyl" but that's the Yiddish pronunciation of the word that in Hebrew would be "She'ol"—the underworld. Is it the same and are they homophones? (I know the two words are spelled the same if you leave out the diacritical marks.)
@eightoneeight,
I've heard from both the Lithuanian native yiddish speakers and from the Polish ones -- Shoh-uhl or Shoh-ehl, both stress the 'o'. The 'u' and 'e' are almost completely swallowed, so you almost hear Shohl.
Basically "Shoel." The accent is on the O, and the E is more of a schwa (like the A in "about"). And the underword in Hebrew is "Sh'ol," and in Yiddish would be "Sh'oyl" (with a glottal stop), so they don't sound the same. And in any case, Yiddish usese "Gehinom" for Hell, not the antiquated word "Sh'oyl."
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