"December 11, 2013 in: Current Events 396 Comments
"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: Χριστός means '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.'
"As lovers of the alphabet, we are transfixed by the flexibility of 'X.' The same letter can represent the sacred, the profane ('rated X'), and the unknown ('X-ray'). What does the “X” in Xbox stand for? Find out more about the 24th letter of the alphabet, here.
"What other holiday-related words would you like to know more about? Let us know, below"
Read more: http://blog.dictionary.com/xmas-christogram/
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3 comments:
Thank you for the information. I always knew that it was a legitimate usage of the X, and that it represented Christ, however, I did not know the details.
Who would have guessed that Christ would have marketed his own mechanical box to play Call of Duty and Grand Theft auto?
Orb's, First I must say Thank You for the valuable information. (not kidding) I actually don't use XMAS, but will certainly sound SMART educating of the word XMAS.
KK, Sadly the answer to your question Is NOBODY could have possibly dreamed.
I thought Xmas was a commercialization of Christmas. I was an English major and I still learn new stuff about words every day.
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