Why So Many Ways to Spell Chanukah

It's that Jewish holiday in December. You know, the one with the menorah, the dreidels, gelt, presents ... and no concrete way to spell the holiday. Is it Hanukkah? Chanukah? Chanukkah? Hanuka? Do you have to clear your throat when you say it, or does it sound like it starts with H? Do you need to say "ch" as in "chin" or "KH" like you're about to cough?? Relax. Here is an explanation.

The word is Hebrew. The name of the holiday is a Hebrew word, transliterated (that means spelled out in English letters although the original word is spelled in the Hebrew alphabet) into English letters. The Hebrew letters are: CHet, nun, Kaf, hey. There are several reasons why this presents a problem for English letters:

• The letter CHet isn't pronounced "ch" as in "chin." There is no English equivalent for the way it is pronounced. You have to make a sound in the back of your throat that sounds as if you are trying to clear it. The most common way this has been approximated in English letters is with "ch," even though the usual "ch" sound is nothing like that. Others have tried to use KH, or an H with a dot or underline under it to indicate that it needs to be pronounced differently from a regular "H". None are particularly accurate. Just know that the word begins with this sound.
• Hebrew has no actual vowels. There are vowel signs, which are not letters, but rather pronunciation guides, and they are symbols placed underneath the letters. Modern Hebrew doesn't use them at all. Once a person gets used to speaking Hebrew, he knows from the letters which vowel sounds to use. English, however, does use letters for vowels, so they are added to the English transliteration.
• The letter hey at the end is silent. The last syllable of Chanukah is pronounced "ah", as in "Ah! I understand!" This is the reason that the letter "h" appears more often than not at the end of the English transliteration.

The best spelling in English is…Chanukah. This is the best spelling option because: the CH is the closest approximation to the Hebrew letter pronounced in the back of the throat, the vowels approximate the vowel sounds in the word, and the "h" at the end represents the silent-yet-present letter hey.

How do you say it already? Remember: The first sound is at the back of the throat. Here is a phonetic breakdown: Cha / new / ka (both "a" sounds are "a" as in "ah-ha"). Now go eat some latkes!