Spelling Bee Winner
Arvind Mahankali, a 13-year-old boy from Bayside Hills, New York, won the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday (30th May 2013) by correctly spelling "knaidel," a kind of dumpling.
"Knaidel", a German word of Yiddish origin which means a small mass of leavened dough.
However, Yiddish mavens say that the preferred spelling of the word 'knaidel', that won Arvind the USD 30,000 prize, has historically been 'kneydl', the New York Times reported.
The correct spelling is kneydl, according to transliterated Yiddish orthography decided upon by linguists at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, the organisation based in Manhattan recognised by many Yiddish speakers as the authority on all things Yiddish.
The prestigious spelling contest, however, relies not on YIVO linguists but on Webster's Third New International Dictionary, and that is what contestants cram with, said a bee spokesman, Chris Kemper.
Officials at Merriam-Webster, the dictionary's publisher, defended their choice of spelling as the most common variant of the word from a language that, problematically, is written in the Hebrew, not Roman, alphabet.
"Bubbes in Boca Raton are using the word knaidel when they mail in their recipes to The St Petersburg Times," said Kory Stamper, an associate editor at Merriam-Webster in Springfield, Massachusetts.
The dictionary itself says the English word is based on the Yiddish word for dumpling: "kneydel, from Middle High German knodel."
The word was spelled on Thursday correctly, according to contest officials by Arvind, an eighth grader from Bayside, Queens, who is New York City's first national champion since 1997.
Arvind is also the first boy to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee since 2008. He is the eldest son of an IT consultant father and a physician mother from Hyderabad.
Mahankali, a student at Nathaniel Hawthorne Middle School, had finished third in the contest twice before, each time stumbling on German words. This year, the packed auditorium erupted in a standing ovation when he nailed "knaidel," which comes from German-derived Yiddish.
"I thought, 'The German curse had turned into a German blessing,'" he said of his victory. "It means I can retire on a good note."
Mahankali, who wants to become a quantum physicist, defeated 10 other finalists. Asked what he planned to do during his summer vacation, he said he planned to study physics.
He said he would use the $30,000 cash prize for college.
The 13-year-old from Bayside Hills, N.Y., correctly spelled "knaidel," a word for a small mass of leavened dough, to win the 86th Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night. The bee tested brain power, composure and, for the first time, knowledge of vocabulary.
Arvind finished in third place in both 2011 and 2012, and both times, he was eliminated on German-derived words. This time, he got one German word in the finals, and the winning word was from German-derived Yiddish, eliciting groans and laughter from the crowd. He spelled both with ease.
A look at some unusual, difficult or otherwise noteworthy words from the 2013 Scripps National Spelling Bee.
- KNAIDEL - a small mass of leavened dough cooked by boiling or steaming. The winning word for 2013 was from German-derived Yiddish, a source of much amusement to champion Arvind Mahankali, 13, of Bayside Hills, N.Y., who finished third in 2012 and 2011 after misspelling German-derived words. This time, he had little trouble.
- CYANOPHYCEAN - a blue-green alga. Runner-up Pranav Sivakumar, 13, of Tower Lakes, Ill., was bounced by this word, missing it by a single letter. He thought the final "a" was an "i."
- LANSCENET - a card game, similar to pharaoh, played in central Europe. Aspiring comedy writer Amber Born, 14, of Marblehead, Mass., seemed confident about this word until she was given an alternate pronunciation and deadpanned, "That is cause for panic." She let out a big sigh and spelled it right.
- KABURI - a land crab common in mangrove swamps from the West Indies to southern Brazil. Chetan Reddy's run in the finals was over as soon as he asked for the language of origin and was told, "unknown." With little helpful information, Chetan, 13, of Plano, Texas, pursed his lips before guessing "c-a-b-u-r-r-i."
- MELOCOTON - a peach grafted on a quince root stalk. Grace Remmer, 14, of St. Augustine, Fla., who spells quickly when she knows a word, asked for the definition twice and the etymology twice. She was off by two letters, and that was the end of her fourth and final National Spelling Bee appearance. "Thank you, everyone," she said, and left the stage to a standing ovation.
- GALERE - a group of people having a marked common quality or relationship. Derived from French and old Catalan, this word nearly bounced champion Arvind Mahankali from the finals. He asked for the etymology twice, shifted his body back and forth and stroked his chin. He started with "g-a," and then asked to start again, getting it right with seconds to spare.
- DORYLINE - a type of migratory tropical ant that is blind except for the functional males. In the finals, Christal Schermeister, 13, of Pembroke Pines, Fla., stood silently for a long time, trying to figure it out. "Can I have the definition again, please?" she asked, her voice cracking a bit. She went with "d-o-r-a-l-i-n-e" and was eliminated.
- SMELLFUNGUS - a critic or faultfinder, taken from a novel by 18th-century absurdist Laurence Sterne. Gokul Venkatachalam, 12, of Chesterfield, Mo., spelled it correctly.
- MALACOPHILOUS - adapted to pollination by snails. "I don't know if that's possible," Amber Born said. After spelling the word correctly, she leapt for joy and dashed back to her seat.
- CYANOPE - a person with fair hair and brown eyes. Caleb Miller, 13, of Calhoun, La., asked if it came from the Greek word "ops," meaning eye. Told yes, he responded, "Thank goodness." He still misspelled the word, going with p-s-i-a-n-o-p-e. Told the correct spelling, he said, "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me."
- BILBOQUET - a device having a cup or spike at the top of a stick to which is attached a ball on a string. This word looked like it might trip up 11-year-old Vanya Shivashankar of Olathe, Kan., the sister of the 2009 champion and one of the favorites. She paused while pretending to write the word on her hand, a common technique among spellers. But she got it right and advanced to the finals.
- CABOTINAGE - behavior befitting a second-rate actor. There was no acting from Eva Kitlen, 14, of Niwot, Colo., who struggled with this word, breathing quickly into the microphone, before getting it wrong. "Can I maybe get a different word?" she asked. "I hope you get a different word," pronouncer Jacques Bailly responded. She did not.
- TENERAMENTE - a musical direction meaning "tenderly." Grace Remmer, who plays violin, chuckled with relief after being asked to spell this word, which helped propel her to the finals. She still asked Bailly to use it in a sentence, which turned out to be a gem: "The piano teacher repeatedly encouraged the Incredible Hulk to try to play the lullaby teneramente."
- OLEACRANON - the clinical term for the funny bone. Emily Keaton, 14, of Pikeville, Ky., missed this word by adding an "h" after the "c." She jumped back with surprise at the sound of the bell that ended her spelling bee career. Emily was a five-time National Spelling Bee contestant.
Important Note
Winner of Spelling Bee 2013 : ARVIND MAHANKALI --- from NewYork
Arvind Mahankali, a 13-year-old boy from Bayside Hills, New York, won the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday (30th May 2013) by correctly spelling "knaidel," a kind of dumpling.
However, Yiddish mavens say that the preferred spelling of the word 'knaidel', that won Arvind the USD 30,000 prize, has historically been 'kneydl', the New York Times reported.
The correct spelling is kneydl, according to transliterated Yiddish orthography decided upon by linguists at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, the organisation based in Manhattan recognised by many Yiddish speakers as the authority on all things Yiddish.
The prestigious spelling contest, however, relies not on YIVO linguists but on Webster's Third New International Dictionary, and that is what contestants cram with, said a bee spokesman, Chris Kemper.
Officials at Merriam-Webster, the dictionary's publisher, defended their choice of spelling as the most common variant of the word from a language that, problematically, is written in the Hebrew, not Roman, alphabet.
"Bubbes in Boca Raton are using the word knaidel when they mail in their recipes to The St Petersburg Times," said Kory Stamper, an associate editor at Merriam-Webster in Springfield, Massachusetts.
The dictionary itself says the English word is based on the Yiddish word for dumpling: "kneydel, from Middle High German knodel."
The word was spelled on Thursday correctly, according to contest officials by Arvind, an eighth grader from Bayside, Queens, who is New York City's first national champion since 1997.
Arvind is also the first boy to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee since 2008. He is the eldest son of an IT consultant father and a physician mother from Hyderabad.
Mahankali, a student at Nathaniel Hawthorne Middle School, had finished third in the contest twice before, each time stumbling on German words. This year, the packed auditorium erupted in a standing ovation when he nailed "knaidel," which comes from German-derived Yiddish.
"I thought, 'The German curse had turned into a German blessing,'" he said of his victory. "It means I can retire on a good note."
Mahankali, who wants to become a quantum physicist, defeated 10 other finalists. Asked what he planned to do during his summer vacation, he said he planned to study physics.
He said he would use the $30,000 cash prize for college.
The second-place finisher was Pranav Sivakumar, 13, of Tower Lakes, New York, who attends Barrington Middle School. Sriram Hatwar, 13, from Painted Post, New York, and a student at the Alternative School for Math & Science, finished third.
Finalists were eliminated on such words as "pathognomonic," a disease's characteristics, "doryline," a kind of ant, "melocoton," a grafted peach, and "kaburi," a land crab.
Finalists were eliminated on such words as "pathognomonic," a disease's characteristics, "doryline," a kind of ant, "melocoton," a grafted peach, and "kaburi," a land crab.
The 13-year-old from Bayside Hills, N.Y., correctly spelled "knaidel," a word for a small mass of leavened dough, to win the 86th Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night. The bee tested brain power, composure and, for the first time, knowledge of vocabulary.
Arvind finished in third place in both 2011 and 2012, and both times, he was eliminated on German-derived words. This time, he got one German word in the finals, and the winning word was from German-derived Yiddish, eliciting groans and laughter from the crowd. He spelled both with ease.
A look at some unusual, difficult or otherwise noteworthy words from the 2013 Scripps National Spelling Bee.
- KNAIDEL - a small mass of leavened dough cooked by boiling or steaming. The winning word for 2013 was from German-derived Yiddish, a source of much amusement to champion Arvind Mahankali, 13, of Bayside Hills, N.Y., who finished third in 2012 and 2011 after misspelling German-derived words. This time, he had little trouble.
- CYANOPHYCEAN - a blue-green alga. Runner-up Pranav Sivakumar, 13, of Tower Lakes, Ill., was bounced by this word, missing it by a single letter. He thought the final "a" was an "i."
- LANSCENET - a card game, similar to pharaoh, played in central Europe. Aspiring comedy writer Amber Born, 14, of Marblehead, Mass., seemed confident about this word until she was given an alternate pronunciation and deadpanned, "That is cause for panic." She let out a big sigh and spelled it right.
- KABURI - a land crab common in mangrove swamps from the West Indies to southern Brazil. Chetan Reddy's run in the finals was over as soon as he asked for the language of origin and was told, "unknown." With little helpful information, Chetan, 13, of Plano, Texas, pursed his lips before guessing "c-a-b-u-r-r-i."
- MELOCOTON - a peach grafted on a quince root stalk. Grace Remmer, 14, of St. Augustine, Fla., who spells quickly when she knows a word, asked for the definition twice and the etymology twice. She was off by two letters, and that was the end of her fourth and final National Spelling Bee appearance. "Thank you, everyone," she said, and left the stage to a standing ovation.
- GALERE - a group of people having a marked common quality or relationship. Derived from French and old Catalan, this word nearly bounced champion Arvind Mahankali from the finals. He asked for the etymology twice, shifted his body back and forth and stroked his chin. He started with "g-a," and then asked to start again, getting it right with seconds to spare.
- DORYLINE - a type of migratory tropical ant that is blind except for the functional males. In the finals, Christal Schermeister, 13, of Pembroke Pines, Fla., stood silently for a long time, trying to figure it out. "Can I have the definition again, please?" she asked, her voice cracking a bit. She went with "d-o-r-a-l-i-n-e" and was eliminated.
- SMELLFUNGUS - a critic or faultfinder, taken from a novel by 18th-century absurdist Laurence Sterne. Gokul Venkatachalam, 12, of Chesterfield, Mo., spelled it correctly.
- MALACOPHILOUS - adapted to pollination by snails. "I don't know if that's possible," Amber Born said. After spelling the word correctly, she leapt for joy and dashed back to her seat.
- CYANOPE - a person with fair hair and brown eyes. Caleb Miller, 13, of Calhoun, La., asked if it came from the Greek word "ops," meaning eye. Told yes, he responded, "Thank goodness." He still misspelled the word, going with p-s-i-a-n-o-p-e. Told the correct spelling, he said, "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me."
- BILBOQUET - a device having a cup or spike at the top of a stick to which is attached a ball on a string. This word looked like it might trip up 11-year-old Vanya Shivashankar of Olathe, Kan., the sister of the 2009 champion and one of the favorites. She paused while pretending to write the word on her hand, a common technique among spellers. But she got it right and advanced to the finals.
- CABOTINAGE - behavior befitting a second-rate actor. There was no acting from Eva Kitlen, 14, of Niwot, Colo., who struggled with this word, breathing quickly into the microphone, before getting it wrong. "Can I maybe get a different word?" she asked. "I hope you get a different word," pronouncer Jacques Bailly responded. She did not.
- TENERAMENTE - a musical direction meaning "tenderly." Grace Remmer, who plays violin, chuckled with relief after being asked to spell this word, which helped propel her to the finals. She still asked Bailly to use it in a sentence, which turned out to be a gem: "The piano teacher repeatedly encouraged the Incredible Hulk to try to play the lullaby teneramente."
- OLEACRANON - the clinical term for the funny bone. Emily Keaton, 14, of Pikeville, Ky., missed this word by adding an "h" after the "c." She jumped back with surprise at the sound of the bell that ended her spelling bee career. Emily was a five-time National Spelling Bee contestant.
Important Note
Winner of Spelling Bee 2013 : ARVIND MAHANKALI --- from NewYork
2nd runner : Pranav Shivkumar --- from Elianose
3rd runner : Shriram Hathwar --- from NewYork
Winner Of 2008 : SAMEER MISHRA
Winner Of 2009 : KAVYA SHIVSHANKAR
Winner Of 2010 : ANAMIKA VIRMANI
Winner Of 2011 : SUKANYA RAI
Winner Of 2012 : SNIGDHA NANDIPATI
Winner Of 2013 : ARVIND MAHANKALI
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