Throughout the New Testament and Christian tradition there are several Hebrew words that have not been translated, but rather transliterated, keeping (more or less) the original sound of the words and imbuing them with theological or liturgical significance. Some of these words are quite common words in the original language (mostly Hebrew), but have acquired new significance. Take the word “Immanuel”, which in is transliterated into Greek in Matthew 1:23 as “Emmanouel”. In Isaiah 7:14 and Isaiah 8:8, the word “Immanuel” is already used as a title, but it is a very simple construction. The Hebrew preposition “im” means “with”. For example, in Genesis 29:6, Rachel is said to come “im-hazon”—with the flock. The word can also be used together with pronominal suffixes, which are attached to the word. For example, in Ruth 2:4 Boaz greets the harvesters with the words “The LORD be with you!” In Hebrew the “with you” is one word: “immakem”, the “kem” indicating second person masculine plural “you guys”. Some of the endings are:
with me — immi

with her—immah

with him—immo

with you girls—immaken

with us—immanu

The first part of “Immanuel” therefore is a standard grammatical construction. “El” is the short form of the word “God”. The term Immanuel therefore is a simple phrase joined in one word. But it soon acquired significance. In Greek, Latin, French and English the initial “I” changed to an “E”, so that’s why there are varying spellings.  

Another word that is not translated is “Hosanna”. This phrase is found in Psalm 118:25, for example. It comes from the word “to save” or “help”, which when directed as a plea to a single masculine person is rendered as “hoshiah”. The “na” at the end of it is just an intensification of the plea. It is strange that a plea for help has become a word of rejoicing. This probably is due to the Messianic expectation and the festive tone of Psalm 118, so that the phrase became more jubilant. In Greek that term was rendered as “‘Osanna”, which then became “Hosanna” in Latin (note the little dot before the O in Greek, which indicated rough breathing for the h).

Then there is “Hallelujah”. This comes from the Hebrew word “hillel”—to praise. The form “hallelu” is the imperative asking many to praise. The final “jah” is a short form of “Yahweh”—the LORD. It therefore means “Praise the LORD!” In the Greek of the New Testament this was transliterated as “Allelouia”. While the initial h was an important part of the word in Hebrew, as it changed to other languages it was left off. While the meaning of the word is generally well-known, its use has shifted somewhat. Instead of asking others to join in praise of God, these days it is often used in direct praise of God.

There are more words that have been transliterated rather than translated, such as “Amen” and “Messiah”, and additionally some Aramaic words such as “Abba” and “Maranatha”. These indicate how our faith has been shaped in these languages and cultures. I hope that I have been able to explain that relatively simply, but as each language has its own alphabet, writing system and sounds, each time a word is transliterated it changes somewhat.