You spell it "Hanukkah", but I spell it Chanukah...but why?

Question

Am I the only one that spells the celebration of lights as: Chanukah?
Where did this spelling, Hanukkah come from?

Answer 1

different sects can't agree on anything.

Answer 2

There are probably a dozen different ways to spell the name of the holiday in English - and the crazy part is, they're all right! It's because Chanukah is not an English word, it's a Hebrew one. And the pronunciation may vary depending on the speaker's accent (Spanish Jews pronounce things differently from Yemenite Jews who pronounce things differently from German Jews etc).

The word is actually spelled with the letters Chet, Nun, Vav, Kaf, Hei. In fact, a more classical pronunciation of the letter Chet isn't really the same as "H" or the gutteral "CH" - it's somewhere in the middle. Nowadays, the subtlety is lost on most Jews (except some of the oriental Jews, like the Yemenites), and they pronounce "Chet" the same way they pronounce the letter "Chaf". But in Hebrew, they're different letters, so they make different sounds. But that's really splitting hairs... anyway, I find that a lot of people for some reason can't pronounce that sound (either that of a chaf or a proper chet), so they approximate it by making it either an h or a k. An h is reasonably close, but when they harden it into a k, and begin a benediction (Baruch ata Hashem - "Blessed are you L-rd") with "Baruk ata..." well, to me at least it sounds like nails on a blackboard - it's like a gentile alarm just went off. ;)

So aaaaanyway, the double "k" may actually be because the kaf is lengthened in the Hebrew word (in some words, a consonant can be doubled in how its read, without it being written twice). But since it's such a subtle distinction, it may get lost in the transliteration (as opposed to translation - "transliteration" is what it's called when you take a word written in one alphabet and write it in another alphabet, like, from Hebrew letters into Roman letters, which are what we use in English).

Anyway, it's way more complicated than that, but this should give you some idea of the nuances of transliteration, and the difficulties inherent in bringing Hebrew words into other, particularly non-semitic, languages.

I hope you find this information helpful, and happy Hanuka/Hanukkah/Chanukah!

Answer 3

Since the word is not English, but Hebrew, the translation of the word "Hanukkah" from Hebrew letters to English letters results in a multitude of possible spellings. In English, there is no letter or combination of letters that actually makes the sound of a Cheit/Heict, thus H or Ch is used to simulate this sound. The spelling of Hanukkah/Hannukkah/Chanukah/Channukkah....
doesn't really make a difference.

Answer 4

The idea of 8 letters is silly- as many already wrote- in transliteration, almost anything goes. The "chet/het" is actually a hard "h" sound (best heard, as mentioned, in the Yemenite pronunciation), therefore, some (even who can pronounce it) will purposely employ the "h" because it really is more accurate. [The "kh" is more appropriate for the Hebrew letter Khaf/Chaf.] As for the 2 "k"s, usually a double consonant indicates a short vowel. (For instance: rattle, if it were ratle, it would be pronounced ray' tl.) Those who pronounce it the "English" way, generally pronounce the "u" sound as a short vowel- found in "bun". However the Hebrew spelling has a "shoorook" indicating an "oo" sound, so phonetically speaking, really there should only be 1 "k".
As for 2 "n"s, I believe there are too many sounds of "a" to properly indicate by spelling which is appropriate here, hence the "confusion". ("A" as in "apple" , "A" as in "rake", "A" as in "fall"- which, by the way, is the proper use of "A" here....)

Answer 5

Actually, the main reason/difficulty for this is the orginial spelling , i.e. in the hebrew, has no direct translation into english. The leter Khet (alternately spelled Het, or Chet) is a sound most english speakers never use. It's a gutteral sound from the back of the throat, almost like what you'd make if your throat itched. Think of the sound a Scotsman would make if he said "Loch," as in Loch Ness. Because this letter has no english counterpart it's closest aproximation is either a H or a Ch, and thus the (beginning) of the confusion over how the word is written in english

Answer 6

There are others who spell Chanukah the way you spell it. The word itself can be spelled with two k's, without the last h, or without the c. No matter how you spell it, you spelled it right.

Answer 7

The "ch' spelling IS wrong in English --
The sound is a hard "H" which english doesn't have.
In german it is spelled "ch" - like Achtung. So, my guess is that Jewish immigrants from Germany spelled it this way.
But the "ch" in English is a thoroughly different sound - chair, chilly, nachos.
Looking for some further guidance, we can compare to other words which had the same hebrew letter - the Biblical book of Nahum, the heroine Hannah...
Yes, the "H" doesn't get it either - but its much closer than "Ch" - in English, the "ch" is completely out of the ballpark.

Answer 8

I would like to thank the many kind Jewish
people who took the time to explain the meaning and spelling of Hanukkah. I think it's very important for people of other faiths to understand various customs and holidays. This type of dialogue helps eliminate ignorance and create more tolerance among people.

Answer 9

There are many spellings, probably because the original Hebrew language is written not only in a differnt alphabet, but also without vowels.
As with translating Chinese into English, there are some things that do not translate perfectly, that's all.
there is a new system for translation, developed by new schools of thought by people with PhD's in Linguistics, in various academic institutions, but it's all the same!

Answer 10

Heck, I spell it Hannukah. ;-) I think it doesn't really matter how it's spelled in English, because it's transliteration, anyway, so is all a matter of how one interprets the Hebrew word phonetically into English. Thus, Hebrew is the only language in which the spelling really matters.

Answer 11

Well,

In Israel we say Chanuka, and the "ch" sound actually comes from your through as if you were scratching it when you have a sore throat.

Because people who do not speak hebrew do not have that sound that easily comes with the accent, most people just say it with an "h" instead of the "ch".

Does that make any sense? I hope it did.