What is the preferred spelling of Hanukkah among Jewish people?

Question

I'm sorry to sound stupid but I'm an Orthodox Christian, so I wouldn't know =)
Do you prefer to spell it with the C or without it?

Answer 1

Honestly, it's a matter of personal preference or the way you got used to it growing up. I spell it Chanukah.... but they are all correct as they are simply an English transliteration of the Hebrew word.

Answer 2

As most things "among the Jewish people," it's a matter of debate. Personally, I spell it with a "ch". The truth is, the original word contains neither the hard gutteral "ch"/"kh", nor the soft, english "h". It's a letter "chet," which actually falls somewhere in the middle, but it's a sound that simply doesn't exist in English. In fact, I spell it "chet," which is technically inaccurate. But there's really no letter for it. Some scholars use an h with a dot underneath to represent this sound.

Long story short, even among most Hebrew-speakers, this distinction is being lost, and the chet is pronounced the same as a chaf, which DOES have that harsher sound. So it does get pronounced like "Chanukah". Nonetheless, some retain the spelling with the "h," which is how most non-Jews, and a lot of Jews are going to pronounce it anyway. I hope this helps.

Answer 3

Spelling Of Hanukkah

Answer 4

Ok, get ready for this:

There isn't one.

It is possibly the most vexing pronunciation problem ever to be born from hebrew-english transliteration.

There is no correct spelling in English. You can spell it however you want as long as everyone knows what you're talking about. The only time it has a correct vs. incorrect spelling is in Hebrew, because then it is an actual word and not a transliteration.

But I do reccomend using an H rather than a Ch at the beginning. Why? Because it's less confusing for most people. The Ch is not pronounced like an english Ch, it is a different sound that is not even found in English. It only confuses most people.

But again, as long as everyone knows what you mean it's okay. The spelling you have in the question is acceptable, for instance. I don't even have a personal favorite... I just put down whatever is easiest to type at that moment in time.

Answer 5

Chanukkah or Hanukkah. anyway works

Its simply how you want to translate it from Hebrew. Since English has no combination of letters that makes the same sound as the first letter of Chanukah (another spelling) in Hebrew (called a Cheit), either with or without a C works.

Answer 6

First, you don't sound stupid. The only "stupid question" is the one that didn't get asked. :)

As for your question, there are many ways to spell "Hannukah", as its a Hebrew word so the best English can do is a transliteration of the pronounciation of the word. Most words can only (accurately) be spelled one way, but Hanukkah, Hannukah, Channukah, Chanukkah, all are correct.

The reason "Ch" sometimes appears at the start of the word is to account of the pronounciation which uses a gutteral sound not found in English.

Answer 7

I personaly despise the "ch" transliteration for the first letter of this holiday.
Hanukkah is pronounced with the first "H" said very strongly - up to a throat clearing sound. It is NOT pronounced like the first letter in "chair".
The first letter of Hanukkah is a hard "H" sound in Hebrew. In English there is no hard "H". In German, the hard "H" is a "ch" so early German immigrant Jews probably spelled it that way. Except that in English the "ch" is not a hard "H" at all - it is the first sound in chair which is thoroughly different.
So - spelling it with "ch" misleading.
And - Biblicaly speaking, the English precedent is the book of Nahum - which has the same hard "h" sound in Hebrew (my name is Nahum and I hate it when someone transliterates it to sound like Nachos!) Likewise, the Biblical Hannah - the first letter of her name also the same hard "H".

Answer 8

I spell it Chanukkah. Some spell it with an H. In my community there are quite a few Iranian Jews some of them spell it Khanukah. It is just a matter of preference in transliteration.
Ch is the most common English representation of the Hebrew letter chet. I hope it's been a happy one for everyone, however you favor spelling it... ;-)

Answer 9

I prefer it spelled Chanukah, because I think it is the clearest way of indicating that it is pronounced like it has a Hebrew Chet at the beginning rather than an English H.

Answer 10

Hanukkah is spelled several ways over the years but this is the one I prefer. It's the festival of 'lights'/candles etc... but NOT the thousands you see on the streets and some houses, which are way way overdone in my opinion.