how to say “Hanukkah gelt” in Hebrew
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/דמי-חנוכה-#.m4a” /]דְּמֵי חְנוּכָּה
The Yiddish word געלט[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/דמי-חנוכה-#.m4a” /] (in German it’s Geld) means money. It’s not hard to see that this word is related to the English gold.
This custom of giving children money on Hannukah (or chocolate money in golden wrapping), known to English speakers as Hannukah gelt, is to the Israeli child דמי חנוכה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/דמי-חנוכה-#.m4a” /].
For example:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/דמי-חנוכה-#.m4a” /]אצלנו נותנים דמי חנוכה, לא מתנות.
At our (house) we give Hannukah gelt, not gifts.
דמי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/דמי-חנוכה-#.m4a” /] is the form of the word דמים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/דמי-חנוכה-#.m4a” /] when it appears in a phrase such as gelt/money of Hanukkah. Though it looks and sounds exactly like the plural form of the word דם[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/דמי-חנוכה-#.m4a” /] – blood, the word דמי in דמי חנוכה most likely comes from Greek, making it unrelated to the Hebrew and Semitic word for blood.