Posted on 12/23/2016 9:31:18 PM PST by nickcarraway
The Jewish Festival of Lights will commence at sundown on Saturday. But even for those who will be lighting the candles on the menorah there may well be some confusion over just how to spell the name of the holiday. Is it Hanukkah or Chanukah?
The truth is there is no right or wrong answer. They are both translations of a Hebrew word meaning dedication or consecration. The holiday was given that name because of its celebration of the rededication of the Holy, or Second, Temple by the Maccabean Jews after it had been desecrated by the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire under the rule of Antiochus.
The Hebrew word is pronounced with a guttural kh sound that has no direct equivalent in English, making it hard to spell and even harder to pronounce. Chanukah was initially used, but gradually Hanukkah gained in popularity due to its more accessible spelling for native-English speakers.
But then theres also the matter of whether its one K or two Ks. The root of that confusion appears to lie in the fact that there are two ways of making the K sound in Hebrew, with two Ks perhaps being used to represent the second way of making the sound.
The lack of clarity doesnt end there. There are also a number of other spellings floating around, including Hannukah, Channuka and plenty more.
Getting the Hebrew pronunciation right does help, though. The last two Hebrew letters of the holiday, chaf and hei, are equivalent to 25 in the Hebrew alphanumeric system, acting as a mnemonic device to remember that Hanukkah occurs on the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev.
If youre still wondering how to spell it, then the choice is really over whether you want to fall in with the bulk of the crowd or be a traditionalist. Hanukkah has now become the most commonly used spelling, turning up 28.1 million search results on Google, compared with 5.6 million for the more traditional Chanukah.
It’s a transliteration of a Hebrew word. I doubt that there is any one correct way of spelling it.
And may I wish a happy Chanukah to all who observe it!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.