Where did "Xmas" come from? (1 Viewer)

[Richard Travale]

I have been wondering about this for years. How did we get 'Xmas' from the word Christmas?

 

[MartinTeller]

X is a common abbreviation for Christ.

(more specifically, X is chi, the first letter of Christ's name in Greek)

 

[Scott L]

X is the sound you make when you say "cksss." Like Trix. I thought it just makes spelling it easier.

 

[Cees Alons]

The proper sound of the Greek 'Chi' is not present in most languages. It's a guttural "h", like 'kh'. It's a very common sound in Dutch ( ), Hebrew, and - I think, but I'm not sure about that - Japanese, Chinese and Arab languages.

Cees

 

[Garrett Lundy]

The "X" character is the closest thing we have to the archaic Greek "chi" character, which is better represented by the blair witch stickman, or an "anhk".

 

[Oliver Kopp]

lazieness

 

[Henry Gale]

I grew up with the belief that it was a disrespectful shortcut. This was knowledge (OK, ignorance) passed along by my Methodist minister father. Only much later did I learn about the Greek origin.
Gawd, I hope this isn't religious because I'm certainly not.

Jim

 

[Richard Travale]

Thanks guys. I had always assumed it was a laziness issue (how ironic that I was too lazy to find out before now ).

 

[Mark Shannon]

I always figured it was cause Christ was on the cross, the X looks like a cross. I don't know, it was possible.

 

[BrianB]

Exact same with my parents - I was taught that it was laziness & disrespectful to use Xmas.

 

[BrianW]

Far from being disrespectful and a by-product of commercialization, "X-mas" was first adopted, along with other non-religious traditions of the season, by believers in order to avoid persecution.

I did some research on this long ago, and that's what I discovered, anyway. Unfortunately, I'm unable to provide links to twenty-year-old research, so you'd be advised to check up on my work before you take what I say at face value.

History can be fun.

 

[Citizen87645]

I have the same experience with Protestants thinking "Xmas" a secularization of the holiday, related to the anthem "Put the Christ back in Christmas." As I learned more about ancient Christians the use of the "X" either as a representation for Christ, related to the Greek "Chi," seemed to be a better explanation than people trying to forget about Christ's birth. Which is funny, because shouldn't this have occurred to all those ministers who went through seminary?

 

[Paul_Sjordal]

Dutch: dunno
Hebrew: yep
Japanese: nope
Chinese: dunno
Arab: yep

 

[larry mac]

There are very few that know the origins of this; I just learned it via the internet last year. Those that use it probably don't know anything about the origins. I would be willing to bet that almost 100% of the current usage is for convenance. It's easier and shorter. There also are probably some (heathens probably- just kidding- really!)that feel it is more appropriate for them as it has a more casual, or rather a less religous sound to it.

I've never used it. Not because it offends me in any way; but because it does others.

 

[Grant B]

I would put our common usage more on Western Union than persecution. When you pay by the letter, it's common to use tricks to keep fees lower. Now telegrams are a quaint form of communication seen on old movies, but it was the most reliable form of communications for over a 100 years. Also being a ham radio operator when I was a kid, I knew and used morse code. When you are pounding out dots and dashes you figure out ways to save time.

 

[BrianW]

Agreed on modern common usage. It's just easier and more convenient in this OMG/WTF/LOL world.