Here’s a holiday surprise that only the dictionary can provide. Do you find the word “Xmas,” as an abbreviation for Christmas, offensive? Many people do.
You won’t find Xmas in church songbooks or even on many greeting cards. Xmas is popularly associated with a trend towards materialism, and sometimes the target of people who decry the emergence of general “holiday” observance instead of particular cultural and religious ritual.
But the history of the word “Xmas” is actually more respectable — and fascinating — than you might suspect.
First of all, the abbreviation predates by centuries its use in gaudy advertisements. It was first used in the mid 1500s.
X is the Greek letter “chi,” the initial letter in the word Χριστός. And here’s the kicker: Χριστόςmeans “Christ.” X has been an acceptable representation of the word “Christ” for hundreds of years. This device is known as a Christogram.
The “mas” in Xmas is the Old English word for “mass.” The thought-provoking etymology of “mass” can be found here.
In the same vein, the dignified terms “Xpian” and “Xtian” have been used in place of the word “Christian.”
3 comments:
Seriously - this is a relief. I'm one of those (at least a little bit) offended people, and this makes me feel much happier and friendlier and a wee bit smuglier about the whole thing! ("You thought you were abbreviating and being snarky and crude and capitalistic - well, HA! Little do YOU know!") Merry Christmas indeed.
It's fantastic historically, but I think today it's getting jumbled in with every Xtreme sports drink, skate shoe, nail polish, callus remover, and snowboard helmet out there. I much prefer the long hand, Xpecially when it comes to Christmas.
Thank you Greg. Don always gets mad at me when I use Xmas. Now I can do it in peace.
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