What are the different spellings of Hanukkah?

What are the different spellings of Hanukkah?

For many English speakers, the festival is also known for confusion over the spelling of its name: Is it Hanukkah or Chanukah? The answer is that both are considered correct, though Hanukkah is the most widely used spelling, while Chanukah is more traditional.

How many different spellings are there for Hanukkah?

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, there are 24 spellings for Hanukkah, during which Jews light candles on a menorah to celebrate the miracle of a one-day oil supply lasting eight after the Maccabean Revolt in the second century B.C.

What are the three 3 spellings of Hanukkah?

Hanukkah : 8,470,000 hits. Chanukah : 3,390,000 hits. Hanukah : 862,000 hits. Hannukah : 677,000 hits.

What are some other names for Hanukkah?

Hanukkah, (Hebrew: “Dedication”) also spelled Ḥanukka, Chanukah, or Chanukkah, also called Feast of Dedication, Festival of Lights, or Feast of the Maccabees, Jewish festival that begins on Kislev 25 (usually in December, according to the Gregorian calendar) and is celebrated for eight days.

Are there 16 ways to spell Hanukkah?

The Oxford English Dictionary, for example, lists over twenty options. According to most sources, the most common spellings are Hanukkah and Chanukah. Such different spellings for the same pronunciation may seem surprising: the initial consonants ch and h usually produce very different sounds in English.

Why is Hanukkah spelled 2 ways?

into corresponding characters of another alphabet or language.” In Hebrew, the language from which the Jewish festival’s name originates, the word for Hanukkah is not easily transliterated into English. This accounts for why there are so many spelling variants (there are more than 20).

How do Sephardic Jews spell Hanukkah?

We, of course, know our box of 44 candles will last throughout the holiday. However, when it comes to the candelabrum, an Ashkenazi will light the Menorah on Chanukah, Hanukkah or Hannukkah. But until just recently, Sephardim never even called it Menorah or Hanoukiyah. It was simply referred to as Hanoukah.

What is Hanukkah in the Bible?

The eight-day Jewish celebration known as Hanukkah or Chanukah commemorates the rededication during the second century B.C. of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, where according to legend Jews had risen up against their Greek-Syrian oppressors in the Maccabean Revolt.

Why are there so many different spellings of Hanukkah?

How do you spell Chanukah in Hebrew?

Written in Hebrew, the holiday is spelled, חנוכה. Pronounced with the eighth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, chet, a guttural, throaty sound similar to the “ch” in Johann Brach, according to Chabad. This led to the spelling of the holiday with a “ch” as Chanukah.

How do you spell Hanukkah in Hebrew?

Alternative spellings In Hebrew, the word Hanukkah is written חֲנֻכָּה‎ or חֲנוּכָּה‎ (Ḥănukā). It is most commonly transliterated to English as Hanukkah or Chanukah.

Why is Hanukkah spelled two ways?

It should come as no surprise that the word Hanukkah comes from the Hebrew language, and that Hebrew and English are written in different alphabets. As a result, Hebrew words must be transliterated (converted from one alphabet into another) if they are to be readable in English.

Why is it called Chanukah?

The Hebrew word Chanukah means “dedication,” and this holiday commemorates the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

What does the Hebrew word Chanukah mean?

“dedication
What is Hanukkah? The Hebrew word Chanukah means “dedication,” and this holiday commemorates the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

How do you spell Hanukkah in Spanish?

Spanish, unlike English and French, has a sound equivalent to the H at the begining of Hanukkah, which means there is a single correct Spanish spelling: janucá. So “Happy Hanukkah!” is ¡Feliz janucá! Hanukkah is also known by two other names: The Festival of Lights – la Fiesta de las Luminarias.

How do you spell Happy Hanukkah?

To wish someone a Happy Hanukkah, say “Hanukkah Sameach!” (Happy Hanukkah) or simply “Chag Sameach!” (Happy Holiday). Or if you want to show off your Hebrew skills, say “Chag Urim Sameach!” (urim means “lights”).

Why are there multiple spellings of Hanukkah?

Why is Hanukkah spelled 2 different ways?

Why are there so many spellings of the word Hanukkah?

Why are there so many different spellings of Hanukkah in Hebrew?

That’s actually the answer to why there are so many spellings. All the English variants are just approximations of a word which is actually in Hebrew. Foreign words often don’t have “correct” English spellings. Some of the spellings of חנוכה are more common than others, of course. Hanukkah is the most common, followed by Chanukah.

Does Hanukkah start with the letter “chet”?

In Hebrew, the word “Hanukkah” begins with the letter “Chet.” Since the “Ch” sound doesn’t really exist in the English language (kind of like a “j”sound in Spanish dialects) Chet has become a particularly controversial letter to transliterate.

Does Google prefer Hanukkah or Chanukah?

What does Google prefer? If you type in the aforementioned three spellings, it shows you results for “Hanukkah,” a spelling that has been the most popular on the search engine for at least the past 15 years, with second-place spelling “Chanukah” significantly waning in popularity in the past five years.

Why are there two Ns in Hanukkah?

In Hebrew, the N sound in Hanukkah comes from a single letter, Nun. It follows that the transliterated word should also have one N to represent that sound. “I actually can’t see any linguistic reason why there should be two Ns” Krinsky says. Still, she sees the word written as “Channukah” every year.