Hanukkah

Etymology

It is borrowed from Biblical Hebrew חֲנֻכָּה (ḥănukkāh, “dedication, consecration”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} the name of the festival in the Babylonian Talmud and in the Bible a word for any inauguration or dedication.^[2] It comes from the verb חָנַךְ (ḥānaḵ, “to dedicate, consecrate”).^[2][6][7] Klein connects the verb with the Hebrew word for "palate", from an original sense "to rub a newborn child's palate with chewed dates", and compares the Arabic words for "palate" and "to teach".^[7] The OED takes the English word partly through New Latin Chanuca, also Chanucha, recorded from 1514, which comes from the Hebrew.^[2] It also compares Chanukkà, used in 1637 in the Italian text that the first English record translates.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The eight-day Jewish festival that begins on the 25th of Kislev: 1650, in Edmund Chilmead's translation of Leone Modena's history of Jewish rites.^[2] The OED notes an earlier use of the Hebrew word, written Chanucah, in an English book of 1633 on the consecration of churches.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The festival commemorates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem by Judas Maccabaeus in 165 BC, after its defilement by the Syrians under Antiochus.^[8][3][9] It is also called the Feast of Dedication and the Festival or Feast of Lights.^[8][9][5] The English spellings have varied: Chanukah, Chanukkah and Hanukah are all in use.^{[8][3][9][10]} Later dictionaries date the word much later than the OED: Merriam-Webster to 1843, Etymonline to 1891 and Dictionary.com to 1890–95.^[3][11][5]

Timeline

• 1633 – the Hebrew word Chanucah in an English text.^[2]
• 1650 – the Jewish festival of dedication.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates the word to 1843 and Etymonline to 1891.^[3][11]

Meanings

Noun

1. An eight-day Jewish festival beginning on the 25th of Kislev, in November or December, that commemorates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem in 165 BC; also called the Festival of Lights.^[3][8][2][9]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com