Merry Xmas!
'X' is the abbreviation of the name Christ and has been in use since early Christian times. However, many people are mistakenly of the opinion that the use of 'Xmas' is a recent invention or a secular attempt to remove the religious tradition from Christmas by taking the 'Christ' out of the word 'Christmas.' The practice of using contractions for divine or sacred names started sometime in the 1st Century AD, although the exact date remains unknown. Let's take a closer look.
'X' is an ancient abbreviation for the word 'Christ' which comes to us from ancient Greek and is written in the Greek alphabet ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ (cristos) The first two letters are called Chi and Rho and were used to form one of the earliest Christograms, which is a monogram or combination of letters that forms an abbreviation for the name of Jesus Christ. Known as the Chi-Rho, it is even today used as a Christian symbol. The Christian Roman emperor Constantine I (b. AD272) used it as a vexillum (military standard) which in turn was known then by the name Labarum. In contrast, Irish manuscripts tend to use the first three letters in the monogram thus Chi-Rho-Iota.
Christ is not a surname or family name, rather it is a title, meaning 'anointed'. The online etymological dictionary says of the word 'Christ' that it is a title, treated as a proper name in Old English, but not regularly capitalized until 17c. Pronunciation with long -i- is a result of Irish missionary work in England, 7c.-8c. The ch-form, regular since c.1500 in English, was rare before. Capitalization of the word begins in the 14c., but is not fixed until 17c. The 17c. mystical sect of the Familists edged it toward a verb with Christed 'made one with Christ.'
Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage (Merriam-Webster, 1994) states that, through the centuries, words like Christian, Christianity, christened, and Christopher were also written as Xtian, Xtianity, Xstened, and Xpofer.
The manuscript page in the illustration is the Chi-Rho page from the Book of Lindisfarne, an Irish monastic foundation (c. AD 634) on a tidal island off the north east coast of England also known just as Holy Island. Note the distinctive long left leg on the Chi/X which is a style found also in the Book of Kells, Book of Durrow, St. Gallen Gospel Book, MacDurnan Gospels, the St Gall Gospels and many more.
It was once always thought that the 'mas' element in Xmas which should really be 'mass' meant a crowd or a gathering, but this is incorrect. The word appears in Old English as 'mæsse', from Vulgar Latin 'messa' which literally translates as 'dismissal,' meaning 'to let go, send', probably so called from the concluding words of the Eucharistic service, Ite, missa est, "Go, (the prayer) has been sent," or "Go, it is the dismissal." Sometimes glossed in Old English as sendnes ('send-ness.')
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'). The Chi-Rho, an amalgamation of the two Greek letters rendered as '☧' (Unicode character U+2627 ☧ CHI RHO) is a symbol often
used to represent Christ in Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christian Churches. The Chi-Rho symbol was used by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great (ruled 306–337 AD) as part of a military standard (vexillum). Constantine's standard was known as the Labarum. Early symbols similar to the Chi Rho were the Staurogram (⳨) and the IX monogram ( ). This a common symbol seen in use today (see at right).
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'). The Chi-Rho, an amalgamation of the two Greek letters rendered as '☧' (Unicode character U+2627 ☧ CHI RHO) is a symbol often used to represent Christ in Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christian Churches.
So, as believers we should feel free to write Merry Xmas and know we're not making a secular abbreviation or that we're not removing Christ from Christmas, because Christ IS Christmas!
