Message: "the X in X-mas" - Behind the Name

the X in X-mas

by Morgain

12/3/2003, 11:00 AM

Can anyone tell me about the X? I seem to remember that some one told me that the X stands for Christ in Greek? Not sure if I am remember right or not, it was like 8 years ago. I was just wondering if anyone could give me any more info as to this is true or not. TIA!

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- Jordan (guest) +2

12/3/2003, 11:36 AM

I got this off of Wikipedia:

The word "Christmas" is often abbreviated to "Xmas", the "X" being an uppercase Greek letter chi, which is the first letter of "Christos" in Greek. The abbreviation is widely but not universally accepted; some view it as demeaning to the name of Christ.

- Karyn (guest) +1

12/3/2003, 6:43 PM

actually, what a lot of opponents of the use of "X-mas" don't realize that the phrase was used in europe in the 1500s as an abbreviation of Christmas because X was a common abbreviation for Christ...

- Domhnall (guest)

1/1/2004, 2:16 AM

Yes, many might find this usage a gloss of the word 'Christ' or even slightly irreligious, but the root is the 'chi rho' in Greek characters. Many Catholics have seen the 'P' (rho) with the 'X' crossing it's stem, and don't know it's origin. This 'chi rho' is a simple icon for the name of Christ. The simplest form is just the 'X.' This indicates the 'CH' of the name/word 'Christ' and can frankly be considered a good abbrieviation.

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