Happy Hanukkah to all of our Jewish friends!

Today is the beginning of Hanukkah, the celebration of the Festival of Lights.

The first candle of the menorah is lit at nightfall tonight.



The Hebrew word Hanukkah means "dedication." When the sacred temple Menorah (candelabra) was relit, there was only enough sacred oil to burn for one day. Yet, according to tradition, the oil miraculously lasted eight days until more purified oil could be found.

I did not know...

quote:

Hanukka? Chanukah? Hanaka?
The Different Spellings of Chanukah

There seems to be some confusion surrounding the actual spelling of Chanukah. Part of the reason for this confusion is due to the fact there is no exact English translation of the Hebrew word for Chanukah.



* Chanuka
* Chanukah
* Chanukkah
* Channukah
* Hanukah
* Hannukah
* Hanukkah
* Hanuka
* Hanukka
* Hanaka
* Haneka
* Hanika
* Khanukkah

quote:

* Chanuka
* Chanukah
* Chanukkah
* Channukah

..........etc. the way I understand it; the hebrew alphabet contained no vowels. Therefore pronounciation depended on word of mouth

quote:

Originally posted by Dick Dubbs:
..........etc. the way I understand it; the hebrew alphabet contained no vowels. Therefore pronounciation depended on word of mouth

I'm gonna guess that Hebrew, being a very old language, was pretty much breaking new ground when it became a written alphabet. Later languages had the benefit of all that went before, and could do the vowel thing. A number of languages had their written components developed by very educated people, sometimes even outsiders, such as missionaries. For example, the Cyrillic alphabet and the Slavic tribes.

Even what we know as High German became standardized because the first thing so many Germans read was Martin Luther's translation of the Bible. Prior to that, the Bible was in Latin, and Germans had very little to read in their own tongue.