Hanukkah is an important and well-known holiday celebrated by Jewish people all over the world. Along with the eighth day of Hanukkah often comes the question of how many spellings there are of the holiday’s name. It’s not as straightforward as it should be, but the answer is just as fascinating as the holiday itself.
The Various Spellings of Hanukkah
When the name of the holiday is written in the English language, it can be spelled in a handful of ways. Depending where you find it, you could see either Hanukkah, Chanukah, Chanukkah, Channukah, or even as Hanukah. However, all of the spellings have a very similar meaning.
When the word Hanukkah is used in English, it centers around the original spelling of the Hebrew language, הנחוך. In Hebrew, every character has a specific sound and meaning, which takes spelling in English to a whole other level.
Multiple Hebrew Character Soundings
When it comes to the Hebrew spelling of Hanukkah, the first letter changes depending on what word it appears before. In Hebrew, the letter chet can be sounded either with a hard ”ch” sound as in chesed or “demut” with a softer sound that can be written as both chanukah and hanukah.
The next letter, nun, is another letter that changes its sound. It can appear as a regular n, as in nachon, or an m in some interpretations, as in kinem which is the root word for “soon”.
The last two letters, kuf and hey, appear the same in every word and are always pronounced the same way.
An Unfathomable Number of Spellings
Given the amount of interpretations of the original word, it’s not surprising that the English versions vary across different cultures. Even among Orthodox Jews, many spellings are used, including Hhanuka, Hhanukah, Hanuka, Hanukah, Hanuka, Chanuka, Chanukah, and Chanukkah.
That brings us to a total of eight forms of the same word that could make up the one holiday that we celebrate each year. The devil is in the details, it seems!
So, how many spellings of Hanukkah are there? The answer isn’t as straightforward as it might seem at first, but what is certain is that all of them have the same meaning and ultimately are all referring to the same ancient holiday celebrated by Jews all over the world. Regardless of the spelling you use, everyone understands the same thing and that is what really matters in the end.
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Last update 2023-11-27. Price and product availability may change.