Toetela

Meaning uncertain. A known bearer of this given name was Toetela Steinbach (1902-1944), the mother of the Dutch-Sinti Holocaust icon Settela Steinbach (1934-1944). It should be noted that in her case, it is possible that the spelling of her name is "dutchized" and that the original Sinti spelling of her name was actually Tutela. You see, the "oo" sound is written as 'oe' in Dutch, but the sound is usually written as 'u' in foreign languages. Since the letter 'u' is pronounced differently in Dutch, the Dutch tend to "dutchize" foreign names that have the "oo" sound written as 'u', in order to avoid confusion over the proper pronunciation of the names. This is most often seen with Russian given names and surnames (Yulia becomes Joelia in Dutch, and Putin becomes Poetin), but names from other languages and cultures are certainly not exempt from this. For example, the Arabic name Abdul is regularly found written as Abdoel in Dutch, and the Indian name Buddha is always written as Boeddha in Dutch. As for Sinti given names: since the Sinti people speak Sinte Romani, an Indo-Aryan language where the "oo" sound is written as 'u', it is certainly not inconceivable that Sinti names were subjected to this treatment as well.