I know it is an arabic word, but I have heard people pronouncing it different ways.
Isn't it (phonetically) Bay-bel?
I have heard Babble, Bay-bell...which is correct?
2006-11-25 10:30:59 · 12 answers · asked by Sixth_Sense 3 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
Bah-bell!!??
Ha ha ha
Sounds like a Bostonian.
"Heya, can you pass me that bah-bell over theya?"
2006-11-25 10:38:37 · update #1
Actually, it's not an Arabic word; it's Hebrew, specifically, the Hebrew way of rendering the name we call "Babylon" . It is found repeatedly in the Old Testament, though oddly ONLY in the story of the "tower of Babel [Babylon]" do translations render it as "Babel".
One way to pronounce it is simply like "Babylon" with the ending dropped, that is, so that it sound just like the English word "babble". That has always seemed quite appropriate, since the Hebrew writer makes fun of the name and its meaning. Babylonians said the name of their city (Bab-ilu) meant "gate of god". This story in Genesis is full of wordplays, and the last of them plays "babel" off against Hebrew "balal" meaning "to confuse" to tell of how their languages were confused there (and probably to make fun of those odd-sounding Babylonians).
The other acceptable pronunciation --though it kills the English pun-- is to make the a long :"BAY-b'l" (rhymes with "Abel" and "able")
(I used to think that English versions used "Babel" here because it sounded like "babble" and that worked. That may be a factor, but interestingly the Latin Vulgate had already rendered it as "Babel" only in this passage... and there IS no word "babble" in Latin!)
2006-11-27 23:38:07 · answer #1 · answered by bruhaha 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Babel Pronunciation
2016-10-01 11:33:12 · answer #2 · answered by kenisha 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This Site Might Help You.
RE:
Babel. How is it pronounced?
I know it is an arabic word, but I have heard people pronouncing it different ways.
Isn't it (phonetically) Bay-bel?
I have heard Babble, Bay-bell...which is correct?
2015-08-10 13:22:11 · answer #3 · answered by ? 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Bayb'l, although this is where we get the word 'babble' from.
The program 'Babelfish' always seems to be pronounced by people as 'Babblefish'. But I remember learning at school about 'the tower of Babel', pronounced Bayb'l.
2006-11-25 11:38:30 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
It's pronounced bay-bull.
2006-11-25 10:39:56 · answer #5 · answered by markclitheroe 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
There are a variety of acceptable pronunciations of this word:
Babble or bay-bell or even bah-bell
2006-11-25 10:35:18 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I would suspect babble is the correct pronunciation, as the word, babble, is derived from the sounds made by the inmates of the Tower of Babel.
2006-11-25 10:40:34 · answer #7 · answered by old lady 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Search for the word in a Strong's Exhaustive Concordance. It will give you the proper meaning and pronunciation in English.
2006-11-25 10:40:11 · answer #8 · answered by S.A.M. Gunner 7212 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/awOgS
hitchikers guide says babe-ul
2016-04-09 02:56:00 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
bahh like a lamb bel like bull like babble
2006-11-25 10:33:05 · answer #10 · answered by me && myself 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋