# How to pronounce "Galois" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 28, 2005, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-galois/310223 "2005-06-28T16:53:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gaius.Cornelius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b487fb/32.png) [@Gaius.Cornelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaius.Cornelius)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-galois/310223/1 "2005-06-28T16:53:58Z")
What is the correct way to pronounce the name of [Evariste Galois](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galois)? It is the surname that is giving me the most trouble. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-galois/310223/2 "2005-06-28T16:56:28Z")
> [@Gaius.Cornelius](#): > > What is the correct way to pronounce the name of [Evariste Galois](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galois)? It is the surname that is giving me the most trouble. “Gal-wah” on first glance. Need to see if anything about the person makes a straight French pronunciation off-base. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-galois/310223/3 "2005-06-28T17:00:28Z")
Forgot to give the first name – I’d go with “ever-east” (roughly). A more precise pronunciation would be “evah-reest”, where the “r” is the French uvular “r”. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-galois/310223/4 "2005-06-28T18:26:29Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > “Gal-wah” on first glance. Need to see if anything about the person makes a straight French pronunciation off-base. Yeah, that should be correct. The stress is on the second syllable. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-galois/310223/5 "2005-06-28T19:29:25Z")
[nitpick]“Gal” could possibly pronounced as in _My Gal Sal._ I would render is as somewhere around Gahl-wah, or Gall-wah.[/nitpick] ---
**Author:** ![Pedro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@Pedro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pedro)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-galois/310223/6 "2005-06-28T20:14:48Z")
I’d say it’s more like Gah-luAH. The “lu” sound has a particular pronunciation in French not found in the english language. It’s pretty difficult to describe. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-galois/310223/7 "2005-06-28T20:25:51Z")
I was trying to get the OP in the ballpark with pronunciations that would be understood by Francophones, even if an American accent was apparent. **Claiobscur** , **zazie** (where’s she been?), or perhaps some of our Quebecois Dopers can better pin down an exacting French pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-galois/310223/8 "2005-06-28T20:28:37Z")
> [@Pedro](#): > > I’d say it’s more like Gah-luAH. The “lu” sound has a particular pronunciation in French not found in the english language. It’s pretty difficult to describe. If you’re talking about the sound in words like “lui”, I don’t think your post is correct. Phonetic references at my disposal render the French “oi” invariably as IPA /wa/ (which is pretty much exactly how an American English speaker would read “wah”). Waiting on a Francophone Doper to confirm. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-galois/310223/9 "2005-06-28T20:31:55Z")
We used to pronounce the cigarettes “gool-wah.” ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-galois/310223/10 "2005-06-28T20:33:23Z")
ACK! But the cigs were spelled differently! My bad… ---
**Author:** ![Pedro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@Pedro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pedro)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-galois/310223/11 "2005-06-28T20:38:29Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > If you’re talking about the sound in words like “lui”, I don’t think your post is correct. Phonetic references at my disposal render the French “oi” invariably as IPA /wa/ (which is pretty much exactly how an American English speaker would read “wah”). > > Waiting on a Francophone Doper to confirm. No, it’s the ‘L’ that rolls off the back of the tongue. But I’m not a francophone. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-galois/310223/12 "2005-06-28T20:47:18Z")
> [@Pedro](#): > > No, it’s the ‘L’ that rolls off the back of the tongue. But I’m not a francophone. Let’s dig into this a bit. English has two allophones (forms that do not distinguish meaning) for IPA /l/. One is known as a “clear l” and is found at the beginning of words like “leaf” and “lane”. The other is the “dark l” of words like “bell” and “hall”, where the root of the tongue is raised a bit toward the velum (soft palate). Does your thought on the “l” in “Galois” have anything to do with these differing ways of producing “l”? My understanding is that in (Parisian) French, clear “l” is the preferred forms in most all words (dialectal variation notwithstanding). ---
**Author:** ![Elenfair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cc9497/32.png) [@Elenfair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elenfair)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-galois/310223/13 "2005-06-28T20:48:43Z")
Francophone (québec/ontario) here. Bordelond, you’re pretty much on the right track. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Pedro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@Pedro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pedro)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-galois/310223/14 "2005-06-28T21:18:13Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Let’s dig into this a bit. > > English has two allophones (forms that do not distinguish meaning) for IPA /l/. One is known as a “clear l” and is found at the beginning of words like “leaf” and “lane”. The other is the “dark l” of words like “bell” and “hall”, where the root of the tongue is raised a bit toward the velum (soft palate). > > Does your thought on the “l” in “Galois” have anything to do with these differing ways of producing “l”? My understanding is that in (Parisian) French, clear “l” is the preferred forms in most all words (dialectal variation notwithstanding). To me, both the english “clear l” and “dark l” you mention are different from the french L. It’s difficult to explain but I use only the tip of the tongue to say “leaf” and use “more tongue” and higher in the palate to say “lui” in french. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-galois/310223/15 "2005-06-28T23:28:01Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > I was trying to get the OP in the ballpark with pronunciations that would be understood by Francophones, even if an American accent was apparent. **Claiobscur** , […] can better pin down an exacting French pronunciation. Not really, because I’ve troubles with _english_ pronounciation. So, I’m not sure how to transcribe it. However, a first glance, Gal-wah seems fine to me. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-galois/310223/16 "2005-06-29T12:02:43Z")
> [@Pedro](#): > > To me, both the english “clear l” and “dark l” you mention are different from the french L. It’s difficult to explain but I use only the tip of the tongue to say “leaf” and use “more tongue” and higher in the palate to say “lui” in french. That’s because the L in “lui” is palatalized a bit by the following vowels. “Gahl-wah” is pretty close, with the caveat that the exact qualities of the French vowels are different from those in English. (And the L should definitely be a clear L; I don’t think the dark L exists as an allophone of /l/ in French.) ---
**Author:** ![Pedro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@Pedro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pedro)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-galois/310223/17 "2005-06-30T11:42:43Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > That’s because the L in “lui” is palatalized a bit by the following vowels. And the L in “-lois” isn’t? Why not? ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-galois/310223/18 "2005-06-30T12:29:47Z")
> [@Pedro](#): > > And the L in “-lois” isn’t? Why not? Because it’s not followed by a U.