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How do you pronounce Deborah? I mostly pronounce it DEB-ra or DEB-or-ah but i have also heard it pronounced De-BOR-ah. Is that the correct pronounciation for that spelling of the name or is it just a case of where you live?
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Definitely DEB (e) ra in South Africa ... and as far as I know in England nowadays. (Afrikaans-speaking South Africans, who don't use it much, say de-BOOERR-a. The ooer is as close as I can get to it - it sounds like OOH-er, the exclamation, but speeded up. And the R is sounded quite strongly.)
I've got a vague memory of a nineteenth-century novel, possibly Cranford, in which one of the old lady characters was a Deborah and insisted on the de BO ra pronunciation, so its stressed vowel would be like a cry of surprise: Oh! But, because she had to make such a point about it, presumably most British people had already switched to the DEB-ra version by then.
I've got a vague memory of a nineteenth-century novel, possibly Cranford, in which one of the old lady characters was a Deborah and insisted on the de BO ra pronunciation, so its stressed vowel would be like a cry of surprise: Oh! But, because she had to make such a point about it, presumably most British people had already switched to the DEB-ra version by then.
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De-BOR-ah is the standard pronunciation in Germany, for example
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The original Hebrew name (Devorah) is pronounced de-VOR-ah (or d-VOR-ah, the "e" is not pronounced very much), so de-BOR-ah is the closest pronunciation to the original. DEB-ra is a more modern pronunciation, just as Debra is a more modern way to spell the name, but both are "correct".
I say de-BOR-ah, but then I prefer Devorah as a name anyway.
I say de-BOR-ah, but then I prefer Devorah as a name anyway.
This message was edited 8/3/2007, 10:52 AM
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Thanks, i'd never really thought about the De-BOR-ah pronounciation before but now i think i actually prefer it. I heard it on on Australian film so i wondered if it was an Australian pronounciation, its interesting to know about the original hebrew
:)
:)
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Mostly OT
Out of curiosity, what film did you hear it in? Because I think the first time I heard the de-BOR-a pronunciation in English was in the film Heavenly Creatures, which is from New Zealand.
I do wonder if that pronunciation is more common in British Commonwealth countries; in the US I've only ever heard DEB-ra.
Out of curiosity, what film did you hear it in? Because I think the first time I heard the de-BOR-a pronunciation in English was in the film Heavenly Creatures, which is from New Zealand.
I do wonder if that pronunciation is more common in British Commonwealth countries; in the US I've only ever heard DEB-ra.
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