[Facts] Re: Michal
in reply to a message by Elinor
I'm being terribly vague this morning - please forgive me! And all my reference sources are elsewhere ...
But, some time in the 1950s I think, could have been earlier, when Tolkien and CS Lewis and such people were living and writing in Oxford, one of the group whose name was Michael married a woman whose name was not in fact Michal but it was her nickname. So they were Michael and Michal, and this apparently caused great confusion for their friends. Which says to me that, at that time at any rate, the sounds were the same. In Oxford. Then.
Hope that helps!
But, some time in the 1950s I think, could have been earlier, when Tolkien and CS Lewis and such people were living and writing in Oxford, one of the group whose name was Michael married a woman whose name was not in fact Michal but it was her nickname. So they were Michael and Michal, and this apparently caused great confusion for their friends. Which says to me that, at that time at any rate, the sounds were the same. In Oxford. Then.
Hope that helps!