2006-12-18 17:48:00 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Holidays ➔ Other - Holidays
Xmas is an abbreviation for Christmas. It is derived from the word ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ, transliterated as Christos, which is Greek for Christ. Greek is the language in which the whole New Testament was written.
Originally, Xmas was an abbreviation where the X represents the Greek letter chi, which is the first letter of Christ's name. However, because of the modern interpretations of the letter X, many people are unaware of this and assume that this abbreviation is meant to drop Christ from Christmas.
2006-12-18 17:59:14 · answer #1 · answered by tpbthigb 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'd always heard the 'taking the Christ our of Christmas' stuff growing up, but I thought I'd run a couple of web searches. The Etymology section below contains an answer that kept coming up over and over...
it's not 'X' it's 'Chi' (the full name of the letter X in the Greek alphabet)...and has been in use since the mid 16th century (1500s) as a standard abbreviation for Christ.
I found this an interesting read...search 'Xmas vs Christmas' if you'd like the conspiratorial diatribes.
2006-12-19 02:09:51 · answer #2 · answered by Clif S 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, it is not. Read the other answers, and add this one. People have not always been free to practice their religion. At times in history, certain Christians had to hide to have a service, risking their lives to have church. X was a code word for Christ, or so I read.
2006-12-19 03:34:51 · answer #3 · answered by riversconfluence 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
People try to replace the Christ in Christmas with an X. Kind of sad.
2006-12-19 01:49:27 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 3⤋
X to signify a cross...a cross to signify Christ.
2006-12-19 01:56:29 · answer #5 · answered by Carole 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
true
2006-12-19 01:51:23 · answer #6 · answered by HIME 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
why is it x-tina and not c-tina?
2006-12-19 01:53:32 · answer #7 · answered by Peanut Butter 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
........ X = "criss" as in "criss-cross." Christmas. Duh. Of course, to me, it's Commercialmas.
2006-12-19 01:50:02 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 3⤋