# Pronunciation: Judah Loew ben Bezalel



## yuechu

Hello!

I am reading the story of Golem, which mentions the former chief rabbi of Prague Judah Loew ben Bezalel. Is this a Hebrew name? Does anyone know what the correct pronunciation of it is?
Thanks!


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## amikama

His name in Hebrew is יהודה ליווא בן בצלאל, but he's mostly known as המהר"ל מפראג.

As for the pronunciation... I'll leave it to the others to answer.


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## Drink

Is it really ליווא? I would have thought it would be לייב (leyb), the Yiddish word for "lion", and that Loew was just a Germanization of it.

So I would pronounce it like this (in Ashkenazi Hebrew) "yehuda-leyb ben betsalel" (stressed syllables underlined). In traditional Hebrew, "yehuda-??? ben betsalel". And מהר"ל is pronounced "maharal". Even in English, he is often known as "the Maharal of Prague".


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## yuechu

Thank you both for your help!


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## amikama

Drink said:


> Is it really ליווא?


So told me Wikipedia. (And also here and here.)


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## Drink

amikama said:


> So told me Wikipedia. (And also here and here.)



I guess it's just a Hebraization of his name (presumably from his own time). My best guesses are that it comes from the Old High German word for lion (lewo), or from the Aramaic word for Levite (since it seems to also be spelled ליוואי). Neither of these really make sense, since the Old High German period had ended 500 years before the birth of the Maharal, and it doesn't seem that he was a Levite. Also, both of these explanations should have had the vowel לֵיוָא, rather than לִיוָא (as seems to be given everywhere I looked).


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## origumi

Löwe means lion in modern German, spelled ליווא in Hebrew letters. This is common for a man called Yehuda in Hebrew to have also the European name Leib, Lova, or alike, all mean lion.


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## Drink

origumi said:


> Löwe means lion in modern German, spelled ליווא in Hebrew letters. This is common for a man called Yehuda in Hebrew to have also the European name Leib, Lova, or alike, all mean lion.



My question was why is it spelled "ליווא", when the Yiddish pronunciation is "leyb" (לייב), and the Germanized Yiddish pronunciation would be "leyve" (לייווע)? I guess it would make sense if at that time (16th century) the word-final schwa was spelled with א and the double-yud digraph had not yet crystallized, both of which could easily have been the case.


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## Haskol

I've mostly heard people pronounce ליווא as "líva", but it's probably wrong. Though, in language, the rule is usually that if you make a mistake enough times it becomes the truth.


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## Drink

Haskol said:


> I've mostly heard people pronounce ליווא as "líva", but it's probably wrong. Though, in language, the rule is usually that if you make a mistake enough times it becomes the truth.



Yes, that's what's most confusing to me.


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## aavichai

Betsal*'el* should be pronounced with the stress in the end.
the meaning is: in the shadow of god (means protection of god)
Be/Tsal/'el

the word Leyb (lion) is used often as a second name for jewish men named Yehuda.
thats because the blessings of Jacob to his sons.
when he blessed Yehuda he calld him:
גור אריה יהודה
"Judah is a lion's whelp" (KJV)


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