Bay or Bah?

Watching a foodie show and they are all pronouncing basil as bay-sil rather than the bah-sil, which is the way we generally pronounce it up in my corner of the Great White. 'Basal' metabolism, sure, but not Baysil Fawlty. Is this a word that changes with locale when referring to one of my favourite herbs? And if so, where do they say bay-sil?

Watching a foodie show and they are all pronouncing basil as bay-sil
Is this a word that changes with locale

I assume the foodie shows were US ones? I've only heard heard that pronunciation by US people.

So I think it's a word that does change with locale.

one of my favourite herbs

Herb or erb?

Coriander or cilantro?

[Jenise]

It's Bay to me! The only Bah's I've known were mens names. In particular a Brit friend, so your mentioning Mr. Fawlty points out that even in the U.K. there's more than one way to skin that goat.

Bay is the way I have always known and heard. I went to How to Pronounce Correctly and in the USA it is Bay-sil

[Jenise]

And then there's Baw as in Bob and Bah as in bath. Both ways of the anglicized version I've heard.

"Bah-sil" is a Fawlty pronunciation, no?

Basil, both the boy's name and the herb, comes from Greek Basileios, meaning "kingly" or "royal". Basilica comes from the same root. The aromatic plant with magical properties (in the correct hands) "kingsfoil" in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is a half-Latin translation of "king's leaf".

In both Greek and Latin I think the "bah" pronunciation is the correct one. But like most in the USA I tend to say bay-sil myself.

-Paul W.