“Golem” is a word I’ve seen in print a lot more often than I’ve heard anyone say, but I was under the impression it was pronounced with a long o (as in the word “go”).
I have never, until this thread, heard of anyone pronouncing it with a long o. The first syllable rhymes with gall, tall, and Paul. Both golem and solemn rhyme with column.
Apparently dictionary websites say it should be more of a ‘goo’ sound, but slightly more open.
Which dictionaries? I just checked a bunch, and all of them gave the same sound for the first syllable - ‘go’. There’s difference in how they noted it - oʊ, əʊ, or ō - but all represent the same sound. (Whether the second syllable is a schwa or not seems to have a lot of variance, but the first syllable is always go.)
I pronounce them as if they rhyme. Sah-lum and gah-lum.
Here is one major dictionary entry that has an audio file (click the speaker icon next to the word). I am having a hard time understanding how that could resemble “solemn” in just about any dialect of English.
The Hebrew word גולם is pronounced “GOH-lem”. Interestingly, it does not refer solely to the monster - the word’s other meanings are inchoate object, amorphous mass, dummy, form, and pupa (as in for a butterfly). It’s also a common, mild Hebrew insult, meaning klutz or dolt. It’s adjectival form, “golmi”, also means “crude”, as in crude oil.
The original myth, in other words, is about a man who made a *golem *- meaning a roughly-formed,incomplete dummy - and gave it life.
Maybe this will help you: that guy who gave the ring to Bilbo? His name sounds exactly the same as how I say golem. That’s the way I first heard it pronounced, so that’s what I say now.
I don’t know why so many dictionaries don’t have that pronunciation. Wiktionary recognizes it. I understand that the original Hebrew pronunciation would not work that way, but I use the word so rarely that any concerted effort at change seems pointless, especially since most people I know say it the way I do.
I first encountered the word as a kid playing D&D. I pronounced it with a short o sound, very much like the character from LOTR, even though I had not yet read those books.
When I got older, I started researching the various monsters from D&D, and I read about the Jewish myth, and found out that the word was pronounced with a long o. I have pronounced it that way ever since.
I think that everyone in this thread who uses the short o has not ever heard of the actual etymology of the word. It is not a word that you will ever encounter in everyday speech, and most Americans will use a short o if they just see the written word on the page. I believe that the authors of D&D intended it to be pronounced with a long o, but there never was a pronunciation guide.
This. GAH-lem and SAH-lem.
Not in my dialect (southern British). The first syllable of golem has a long O like gold or cold. Solemn has a hard, short O like column or foreign
They don’t rhyme for me.
Well, I certainly knew the history of the word, having encountered the stories as a child. My parents, who spoke Yiddish as their first language and learned English as adults, pronounced it as a short o. They certainly could’ve been pronouncing it wrong, but that’s what I learned.
My first thought was, “I’ve never heard golem pronounced the same as Gollum”.
But actually, I’ve never heard the word said out loud.
Certainly in my head, I pronounce golem as /ˈgoʊləm/
Krusty in the Simpsons pronounced it close to gull-em. That’s good enough for me.
The first time I ever heard golem was on Led Zeppelin’s “Ramble On.” Robert Plant clearly pronounces it to rhyme with solemn.
Just sayin’.
nm
Except, that’s “Gollum.”
“Golem” is a completely different word; and I suspect those who are claiming they’re pronounced the same way are confusing the two.
It’s an unusual spelling pattern in English–I’m having trouble thinking of words besides “golem” and “solemn” in which there’s an -ole- in the middle of the word, and a syllable break somewhere in there, and no suffix. It seems likely to me that a lot of people are basing their pronunciation of “golem” on the only other word they know with that pattern, i.e., “solemn.”
Hmm. “Molest” follows the same pattern, with the accent on the second instead of the first syllable. “Rolex” has the accent on the first syllable. Maybe I’m making things up.
Quite possibly. I guess I need to google the meanings.