וווידיסלאַוו
'Wodzisław (town in Poland)'

ETYMOLOGY

Beider argues that the vowel was diphthongized due to "anticipatory softening" before a palatalized consonant. He rejects M. Weinreich's explanation, that the diphthong /oj/ resulted from a long /oː/ in Old Polish. The name Wodzisław would have been borrowed very early so that the /o/ in an open syllable was lengthened — either within Old Yiddish itself or in the German from which Yiddish borrowed the name. (Beider denies the first possibility.)
Polish Wodzisław.

VO'YDISLEV [Yiddishland, Paul Glasser}