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M'gilas Ester is very clear about the name of the holiday (9:26):

עַל כֵּן קָרְאוּ לַיָּמִים הָאֵלֶּה פוּרִים
So they called these days F urim

Where does the current name of Purim come from?

  • Is it, perhaps, simply a common mispronunciation? If so, is there any record of protests from great rabbis, encouraging people to call the holiday Furim?
  • Or was the name officially changed at some point? When? By whom? Why?
  • Or what?


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closed as too localized by msh210 Feb 28 '13 at 18:35


Up for grabs to anyone who wants to flesh it out (I'm too lazy.): Rabbis eventually became tired of both furry costumes and, "Ahoy!" pirate costumes, so they abolished this apparent allusion to both from popular usage. – Isaac Moses Feb 25 '13 at 16:12
Although I realize that this is just silly Phurim Torah, I will give the sensible answer in this comment: פ is one of the letters that that take a דגש קל. This occurs after a closed syllable. As in the פסוק, the פ of פורים is after an open syllable (אלה), it does not have a דגש קל, meaning that in this case the pronunciation is indeed Phurim. However, if the word is said after a closed syllable, it would be pronounced Purim. – Joshua Pearl Jul 8 '15 at 18:10

Rabbi Moshe Dikdoops vehemently disagrees with your approach: He criticizes those who pronounce it "Furim," because, he says, when the פ"א is רפה, it signifies language of הפרה (anullment), and yet "these days of Purim will not be annulled" (see Ester 9:27-28).

He supports the usage of the name "Purim," and he says he has a supporting text for this pronunciation: In the song, "Chag Purim, chag Purim, chag gadol layeladim," it is pronounced "Purim" and not "Furim." He says that this is the source for the pronunciation to which we are accustomed.

Note: Rabbi Moshe Dikdoops's first name is not spelled משה as one might expect, but משא, for he claims that the latter spelling is more accurate in conformance with the original Egyptian name.

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On Furim, Rabbi Yoel Bin-Nun has been known to wish people:

שיהיו לך פורים שמחים.‏
SheYihyu Lecha Furim Semeichim.

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Seriously.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ – Double AA Feb 25 '13 at 5:38
