Grocery Store Aisle

Question

When speaking the phrase grocery store aisle, I leave the s in aisle silent. Are there any regional variations of English in which the s is not silent?

Answer 1

OED lists a large number of forms — probably unsurprisingly since it's a Middle English word:

Pronunciation: Brit. /ʌɪl/ , U.S. /aɪl/
Forms:
α. ME eile, ME eill, ME ele, ME elle, ME hele, ME ill, ME ille, ME–15 eyle, ME–15 yele, ME–15 yle, ME–18 ile, 15 heyell, 15 yell, 15 ylle, 18– hile (Eng. regional (south-west. and Isle of Wight)); Sc. pre-17 eyll, pre-17 iile, pre-17 iill, pre-17 ile, pre-17 iyle, pre-17 iyll, pre-17 yell, pre-17 yill, pre-17 yle, pre-17 yll; N. E. D. (1884) also records a form lME eille, lME ylle.
β. lME ilde, lME jlde, 15 ȝelde, 15 yeld, 15 yld.
γ. 15 oyle, 15 (Sc.) 16– aisle, 15–17 ayle, 16 oylle, 17–18 aile.
δ. 15– isle (now nonstandard).

The only form which has an s originated in the 17th century, and that's the form which has survived (apart from the "nonstandard" isle).

Regarding the -s-, OED has

The γ. forms show alteration after Middle French, French aile wing, etc. The modern standard spelling aisle, which was hesitatingly admitted by Johnson (1755), probably shows an alteration of ayle after the δ. forms, rather than being in any way directly influenced by the rare Middle French, French †aisle.

Thus there is only one form of the word in its history which includes an -s- and that may have been influenced by the French aile. OED comments "In Middle French and early modern French spellings with medial -s- this is a purely graphic device serving to indicate the open quality of the vowel."

The word itself derives from Anglo-Norman ele, eele, eile "wing of a church" (late 12th cent. or earlier), according to OED, which is directly related to the French aile.

Accordingly, it seems reasonable to say that the -s- in aisle has never been pronounced.