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The "LL" is not remotely pronounced like "sh", though I am at a loss at how to write it phonetically for English speakers. It's just not a sound that exists in our language.
I CAN say, however, that it sounds nothing like "sh".
2
I CAN say, however, that it sounds nothing like "sh".
2
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One of the four branches of the Mabinogi, the legend of Pwyll had its origins in Ireland. The original version is lost. The extant version, recorded in Middle Welsh, is a greatly redacted form of that original.
The Welsh pronunciation of Pwyll is ‘Pu-eech’. One is here mindful that Professor Ifor Williams has noted that the Welsh letter ‘ll’ in Mabinogi manuscripts was used to denote Irish ‘s’ (= English ‘sh’). Therefore, if written in Irish ‘Pwyll’ would be ‘Púis’, pronounced ‘pu-ish’. What probable meaning then was originally intended by the name ‘Pwyll’?
In answer one knows that the earliest scenario described in the legend of Pwyll finds the prince hunting in a compromised circumstance because his dogs are feeding on the prey of the dogs of Arawn, king of Annwfyn. Arawn knows Pwyll, but not vice versa. Angered by the scene, Arawn declares Pwyll to be "rude" and exceedingly "discourteous", for which behaviour Arawn intended to claim dishonour to the value of a hundred stags.
A rude and bad-mannered person is a boor. ‘Púiste’ is the Irish word for boor - pronounced ‘pu-ish-te’. In speech the first two syllables of ‘púiste’ are strongly emphasised, so that the final syllable is scarcely audible. Hence, it would not be a surprise if a listening Welsh scribe, recording the legend from narration, wrote ‘Púis’ (i.e. ‘Pwyll’ in Middle Welsh) in place of ‘Púiste’.
The implication is that the story title may originally have been “The Boor Prince”, with dramatic tension generated by the humorous incongruity between the bad name given at the outset to the prince and his many subsequent gracious deeds.