2006-12-21 03:53:48 · 6 answers · asked by GUK 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Holidays ➔ Christmas
All those people who get offended at the abberviation "Xmas" don't know what they are talking about. It isn't some "new" abbreviation, and it isn't an attempt to "take Christ" out of Christmas.
From Wikipedia...
"Christmas is sometimes shortened to Xmas, an abbreviation that has a long history.[4] In early Greek versions of the New Testament, the letter Χ (chi), is the first letter of Christ (Χριστός). Since the mid-sixteenth century Χ, or the similar Roman letter X, was used as an abbreviation for Christ"
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/christmas...
2006-12-21 03:57:29 · answer #1 · answered by Myastar 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
In the New Testament (which is written in Greek) the word Christ begins with the latter chi, which looks like the English letter "X". When all Bibles were handwritten, scholars took to using short forms of many of the common word in the Bible. Made it faster to copy them. The "X" was used for the name Christ.
It has become a tradition in the Christian faith to use "X" to represent the word Christ in symbols and rituals of the church. It is from there that X-mas came to stand for the Christ-mas.
2006-12-21 03:56:42 · answer #2 · answered by dewcoons 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The letter X is a symbol for the Greek letter "chi" which is the first letter of Christ in Greek. Constantine, the Roman emperor, upon converting to Christianity, for example, ordered his soldiers to paint "Chi Rho" upon their shields as an indication that they were fighing for Christ.
2006-12-21 04:10:36 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well, I don't put X-mas on things because it takes Christ out of Christmas. So I'm guessing its because people who dont believe in Jesus do this. Now this is just a guess.
2006-12-21 04:01:28 · answer #4 · answered by Precious01 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
People want to have short cuts for everything.
2006-12-21 03:56:33 · answer #5 · answered by Andrea 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
because non-christians that celebrate don't want the word Christ in there
2006-12-21 03:56:27 · answer #6 · answered by EllisFan 5 · 0⤊ 3⤋