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[JE3146]

Simple question from me... I've just always assumed it was a language thing, but...

Hanukkah versus Chanukah

Why the spelling differences?

Originally Posted by JE3146

Simple question from me... I've just always assumed it was a language thing, but...

Hanukkah versus Chanukah

Why the spelling differences?

I'm going to toss out a guess here, if I may? Transliteration or transcription?
Ive seen even more spelling variations of that word.

[TomHagen]

Originally Posted by nozero

I'm going to toss out a guess here, if I may? Transliteration or transcription?
Ive seen even more spelling variations of that word.

Transcription as a mapping from sound to script must be distinguished from transliteration, which creates a mapping from one script to another that is designed to match the original script as directly as possible.


Transcription is often confused with transliteration, due to a common journalistic practice of mixing elements of both in rendering foreign names. The resulting practical transcription is a hybrid that is called both "transcription" and "transliteration" by the general public.

[TomHagen]

Originally Posted by JE3146

Simple question from me... I've just always assumed it was a language thing, but...

Hanukkah versus Chanukah

Why the spelling differences?

Very frequent question.
Just a common variance in transliteration, there is no meaning/advantage to one or the other. There is no right or wrong way to transliterate, per se.

The word in hebrew is always spelled and pronounced the same.