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An interesting history...
Few things ignite the “culture wars” like the seemingly innocent and innocuous abbreviation “Merry Xmas.”
Many, including faithful Christians, believe that the “XMas” is an attempt to de-Christianize one of Christianity’s most holy of holidays: By rendering the word “Xmas” instead of “Christmas,” the thinking goes, mainstream culture has erased the “Christ” out of the sacred day that celebrates his birth.
In fact, it’s almost precisely the opposite: “XMas” is a thoroughly Christian innovation, one meant to preserve Christ as the centerpiece of the Christmas holiday in an abbreviated form.
Where Does the ‘X’ Come In?
Okay, so how do we get from “Christ” to “X?” The answer is found in translation. The Greek word for Jesus, Χριστός is romanized as “Khristós,” from which modern English derives the word Christ.
The first letter of Χριστός, “Chi,” is written in Greek as X; as an abbreviation, then, the X came to stand in for Jesus Christ in several written forms, including in the “labarum” or the Chi Rho, a military standard used by Constantine the Great that incorporated the first two letters of Christ’s name in Greek: Chi (X) and Rho (p).
Continued below.
www.ncregister.com
Few things ignite the “culture wars” like the seemingly innocent and innocuous abbreviation “Merry Xmas.”
Many, including faithful Christians, believe that the “XMas” is an attempt to de-Christianize one of Christianity’s most holy of holidays: By rendering the word “Xmas” instead of “Christmas,” the thinking goes, mainstream culture has erased the “Christ” out of the sacred day that celebrates his birth.
In fact, it’s almost precisely the opposite: “XMas” is a thoroughly Christian innovation, one meant to preserve Christ as the centerpiece of the Christmas holiday in an abbreviated form.
Where Does the ‘X’ Come In?
Okay, so how do we get from “Christ” to “X?” The answer is found in translation. The Greek word for Jesus, Χριστός is romanized as “Khristós,” from which modern English derives the word Christ.
The first letter of Χριστός, “Chi,” is written in Greek as X; as an abbreviation, then, the X came to stand in for Jesus Christ in several written forms, including in the “labarum” or the Chi Rho, a military standard used by Constantine the Great that incorporated the first two letters of Christ’s name in Greek: Chi (X) and Rho (p).
Continued below.
Is it Okay to Write ‘Merry Xmas’?: Inside the Thousand-Year-Old Christian Tradition
An interesting history...
