From: hrubin@pop.stat.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin)
Subject: Re: The Spelling of the "Festival of Lights"
Organization: Purdue University Statistics Department
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 15:23:20 GMT

In article <1993Jan5.133846.6815@linus.mitre.org> jls@mbunix.mitre.org (Segal) writes:
>To determine a correct spelling for the "Festival of Lights" requires
>a set of transliteration rules.  The big problem is that there is no
>single system.

>Phonetically, the het, is more of a breathy 'h' as opposed to the
>chof which is more of a gutteral.  Best way to represent it is by an 'h'
>with a dot under it, but since most typewriters don't have that capability,
>one must make the decision between 'h' and 'ch'.  The argument for 'h'
>is that it is more accurate.  The argument for 'ch' is that since there
>is no 'ch' (as in 'ch'ildren) in Hebrew, the 'ch' becomes unambiguous.
>(Except as affectation, I have never seen 'kh' used in this context.)

I always use kh myself, and I do not consider it an affectation.  The
use of "ch" comes from the Yiddish-German side; the only language I
know written in Roman letters in which the aspirated 'k' is ch is
German.  I normally find the transliterations very difficult to read;
my only speaking language is English, but since I have a moderate
acquaintance with other languages, I prefer "European" transliteration
to "English" transliteration.

This does not answer the problem of the het; it looks like we do not 
have a good one.

>The chataf-patach under the het is universally transliterated as 'a'.

>The nun with no dagesh would imply that a single 'n' would be correct.
>However, doubling the 'n' assures that the reader of the word would
>properly pronounce the preceding 'a' as short 'a'.  Hence, we see both.

>The kubutz under the nun is unambiguously transliterated as 'u' (very
>rarely, I've seen 'oo'.)  However, the pronunciation is not.  Most of
>the Ashkenazi readers pronounce the kubutz as long 'u', whereas most
>of the Sephardic readers pronounce it as short 'u'.

>The kof has a dagesh in it.  As a result, it should be a double c or
>a double k.  Most prefer 'k' to 'c' because it is unambiguous.  Those
>who prefer simplicity will use a single 'k' or 'c'.  My opinion is
>that doubling the 'n' without doubling the 'c' or 'k' is a wrong
>spelling, because it ignores both the rules of transliteration and
>standard English pronunciation.

Why not make everything clear by using 'qq'?

>The vowel under the kof is a kametz.  The kamatz is transliterated
>as 'a' or 'ah' by most sephardic speakers, but as 'o' or 'oh' by
>the mainstream Ashkenazi pronouncers.

>Using Sephardic pronunciation and the most common transliteration
>rules, I would suggest the best spelling is Hanukka(h).  Using 
>the best English rules, I would suggest the best spelling is Chanuka(h).

The transliteration should, if possible, convey both the pronunciation
and the original spelling.  So I would suggest Hanuqqah.  The final 'h'
is important to the spelling.
-- 
Herman Rubin, Dept. of Statistics, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette IN47907-1399
Phone: (317)494-6054
hrubin@snap.stat.purdue.edu (Internet, bitnet)  
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