This post is in no way meant to ruffle feathers. It is just meant to educate. I implore you to read the entire post through
before you think I am being disrespectful.
This was something I have been curious about and now that I have the
facts, find quite interesting. Perhaps
you will too. The history of the word "Xmas" is actually more respectable, and fascinating, than you might suspect.
Most of us have heard this all of our lives – Spelling
Christmas as “Xmas” is taking Christ out of Christmas. I’ll bet a lot of us have even heard it said
this month, perhaps this week, maybe even today.
So, is it true? Is it
disrespectful? Is it sacrilegious? Let’s find out…
Misconceptions
The notion that ‘Xmas’ is a new and vulgar representation of
the word ‘Christmas’ seems to stem from the erroneous belief that the letter ‘X’
is used to stand for the word ‘Christ’ because of its resemblance to a cross,
or that the abbreviation was deliberately concocted as a secular attempt to
remove the religious tradition from Christmas by taking the “Christ” out of “Christmas”.
The X
The Basics
The first letter in the Greek word for ‘Christ’, Χριστός , is
‘chi’. The Greek letter ‘chi’ is
represented by a symbol similar to the letter ‘X’ in the modern Roman
alphabet. The Greek word Χριστός comes
into English as ‘Christ’.
The Details
The word "Christ" and its compounds, including
"Christmas", have been abbreviated in English for at least the past
1,000 years, long before the modern "Xmas" was commonly used. "Christ" was often written as
"Xρ" or "Xt"; there are references in the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle as far back as 1021. This X
and P arose as the uppercase forms of the Greek letters χ (Ch) and ρ (R) used
in ancient abbreviations for Χριστος (Greek for "Christ"), and are
still widely seen in many Eastern Orthodox icons depicting Jesus Christ. The labarum, an amalgamation of the two Greek
letters rendered as ☧, is a symbol often used to represent Christ in Catholic,
Protestant, and Orthodox Christian Churches.
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and the OED Supplement
have cited usages of "X-" or "Xp-" for "Christ-"
as early as 1485. The terms
"Xtian" and less commonly "Xpian" have also been used for
"Christian". The OED further
cites usage of "Xtianity" for "Christianity" from 1634. According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of
English Usage, most of the evidence for these words comes from "educated
Englishmen who knew their Greek".
In ancient Christian art, χ and χρ are abbreviations for
Christ's name. In many manuscripts of
the New Testament and icons, Χ is an abbreviation for Χριστος, as is XC (the
first and last letters in Greek, using the lunate sigma); compare IC for Jesus
in Greek.
The Labarum
The labarum, often called the Chi-Rho, is a symbol
representing Christ. There is general agreement that it is likely the oldest known monogram for Christ.
The “mas”
The “mas” part in Xmas and Christmas is from the
Latin-derived Old English word for “Mass”.
Etymology of the Word “Christmas” and “Xmas”
"Christmas" is a compound word originating in the
term "Christ's Mass".
It is derived from the Middle English Cristemasse, which is
from Old English Crīstesmæsse, a phrase first recorded in 1038 followed by the
word Cristes-messe in 1131.
Crīst (genitive Crīstes) is from Greek Khrīstos (Χριστός), a
translation of Hebrew Māšîaḥ (מָשִׁיחַ),
"Messiah", meaning "annointed"; and mæsse is from Latin
missa, the celebration of the Eucharist.
The form "Christenmas" was also historically used,
but is now considered archaic and dialectal; it derives from Middle English
Cristenmasse, literally "Christian mass".
"Xmas" is an abbreviation of Christmas found
particularly in print, based on the initial letter chi (Χ) in Greek Khrīstos
(Χριστός), "Christ", though numerous style guides discourage its use;
it has precedent in Middle English Χρ̄es masse (where "Χρ̄" is an
abbreviation for Χριστός).
Legitimate?
‘Xmas’ is indeed a perfectly legitimate abbreviation for the
word ‘Christmas’. In fact, ‘Xian’ is
also sometimes used as an abbreviation of the word ‘Christian’.
Other proper names containing the name "Christ"
besides those mentioned previously are sometimes abbreviated similarly, either
as "X" or "Xt", both of which have been used historically,
e.g., "Xtopher" or "Xopher" for "Christopher", or
"Xtina" or "Xina" for the name "Christina".
Should I Be Offended?
None of this means that Christians aren't justified in
feeling slighted or offended when people write ‘Xmas’ rather than ‘Christmas’, but the
point is that the abbreviation was not created specifically for the purpose of
demeaning Christ, Christians, Christianity, or Christmas. It’s a very old artifact of a very different
language.
Whether the use of ‘Xmas’ offends you or not is a personal
decision. I’m not here to tell you
whether you should or should not be offended.
Personally, whether or not the word ‘Xmas’ offends me
depends entirely on the writer’s intentions. The meaning isn't measured in the word itself, but the sentiment and intent behind the word.
If the writer’s intentions are to intentionally remove ‘Christ’
from ‘Christmas’, then yes, I would be offended.
(Of course, I would now, being educated of its meaning, chuckle at this writer as they clearly do not know the true meaning of the abbreviated word. Their effort to remove Christ was in vain, as the "X" means "Christ" and they are unknowingly leaving Him right where He belongs.)
If the writer is educated and his intentions are to use the
word for what it truly means, then I would not be offended at all.
Etiquette
So, should I use ‘Xmas’?
Again, that’s a personal decision you have to make. I’m not here to sway you one way or the
other.
Personally, due to the fact that most folks are not educated
on the true origination of the abbreviation ‘Xmas’ and its true meaning, I
wouldn't use it in normal circumstances.
Since the misconception is that the abbreviation ‘Xmas’ is a removal of ‘Christ’
from ‘Christmas’, and most folks have this misconception and find it offensive,
intentionally using it around those who would be offended is not something I would do.
The Christian Writer’s
Manual of Style, while acknowledging the ancient and respectful use of “Xmas”
in the past, states that the spelling should never be used in formal writing.
“The abbreviation Xmas (sometimes spelled Exmas) for Christmas should be avoided
in formal writing. It is appropriate
only for advertising copy and is usually considered substandard even
there. Oddly enough, the abbreviation
has a long and established history in English, dating back to its Old English
form used in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
of the twelfth century. The X is
actually the Greek letter chi and has
been used as a symbol for the name of Christ (Christos) since the first century.
Christ is ALWAYS There!
So, whether it's "Merry Christmas", "Merry CHRISTmas" or "Merry Xmas", remember, Christ is ALWAYS there! Try as someone might, you just can't take the Christ out of Christmas!
The Geek in Me
And now a funny, because, yeah, I'm nerdy like that. All you fellow Algebra and math geeks out there will get a kick out of this one. Enjoy!
1) X + Mas = Christ + Mas
2) X + Mas = Christ + Mas
- Mas - Mas
3) X = Christ
References
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