chanukiah
Pronunciations
Definitions
Example Sentences
"On the first night of Chanukah, you put one candle on the right side of your Chanukiah."
"Apparently, Hannukiah is mostly an Israeli term. But I grew up Conservative in NY and we all used it as a term." (source)
Languages of Origin
- Modern Hebrew
- Ladino
Etymology
L hanukía > MH חנוכייה chanukiá
- Religious: Jews who are engaged in religious observance and have some Jewish education
- Israel: Diaspora Jews who feel connected to Israel and have spent time there
- North America
- Australia / New Zealand
- South Africa
- The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words, by Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, (Philadelphia, 2001).
- The Joys of Hebrew, by Lewis Glinert (New York, 1992).
- Dictionary of Jewish Usage: A Popular Guide to the Use of Jewish Terms, by Sol Steinmetz (Lanham, MD, 2005).
Who Uses This
Regions
Dictionaries
Alternative Spellings
chanukia, chanukiyah, hanukiah, hanukia, hanukkiah, hanukkia, hanukkiya, hanukkiyah
Notes
Among contemporary Jews, a debate has circulated about this term. Some hold that it's incorrect to refer to the 9-branched Chanukah candelabrum as a menorah because that refers only to the 7-branched candelabrum which is a symbol of Judaism (see an example here). Others hold that both terms are acceptable to refer to the 9-branched candelabrum (see an example here). The Jewish English Lexicon favors the latter stance: menorah is the traditional term, and chanukiah is the more modern term, influenced by Modern Hebrew, which borrowed it from Ladino. Chanukiah is a subset of menorah, like square is a subset of rectangle.
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