Thule: How to pronounce?
 

Thule--since I have 2 of these racks I should learn the correct pronunciation of the company name. I pronounce it Too-lah, like Porche is Por-sha, but I hear others say Too-lee. Does anyone know which is correct? I know this is trivial, but this has been bugging me... Thanks

It's Thoo-el (soft e)... the son of Thor.

Until Wednesday of this week, I'd never heard it pronounced at all. So I went into my local sporting goods store and asked for the THOOL truck bed bike stand. Boy, was my face red.

I've been hearing and saying Too-lee for over 10 years. Thool just sounds silly. ;)

peace,
sam

Hey, jutht becauth thome of uth have a little lithp doethn't mean you need ot make fun of how thilly Thool thounds :D

tool-e

Thule - latin name for an island 6 days sailing north of Britain. Its over 45 years since I did latin at school, but I think the pronunciation should be tool-ay.

been saying tool-ee for over tweenty

Ta Hool. Like, I'm a Ta Hool!

Ex-pen-sive.

From a Thule and Yakima rack retailer web site (Rackhaus.com):

Q: How do you pronounce "Thule?"

Even without a Swedish tutor, most of us say "TOO-lee." It's definitely not "Thool" (rhymes with "drool").

TOO-luh

Sounds like Too-lee to me... toodle-e-doo...lol

Linguistically, it seems to have a Germanic/Saxon origin, so it would probably be pronounced TOO-luh (as CdCf says). The "e" is a schwa, so it's pronounced very softly (like the "a" in sofa). TOO-lee is a regionalization and probably how most people pronounce it, but that "Th" is definitely pronounced just plain old "T".
/dork mode. Sorry about that...

I just call them jim-bob.

thewle

lol...

Thu·le1 (too-lee)

The most northerly region of the habitable world to ancient Greek geographers. Posited as an island north of Britain, it has been variously identified with Iceland, Norway, and the Shetland Islands.

I'm thinking that you were just chit-chatting about racks rather than actually buying a $500.00 roof rack system. I've found that LBS guys are far less persnickety about pronouncation when you're holding your credit card in your hand. I know back in my LBS days I would not only have been glad to sell you a "ThEEool" rack but I would have even installed it on your "SOB".

Yeah, I know. But if you'd never heard it pronounced...? I hadn't. Oh well.

Ultima est Thule.

About 50 for me.
Thule Greenland
NORAD

I avoid this issue by using Yakima.

Iguess it depends on who you ask,the representatives at the sales office in NY.pronounce it thoolee . It can be said as tooly as well,in more than one language it meens land way up north.

According to my Swedish neighbors, it's TOO-leh. Most Teutonic languages are the same when there is an 'e' on the end, as in Porsche: POR-sheh. There is no hint of an 'ay' sound at all, although, to American ears, it may resemble an 'uh' sound, sort of. That, according to my Austrian cousins.