My dad was buried in a Catholic cemetery and we had to put IHS & a cross on his stone. What does IHS mean?

Answer 1

I'm impressed that all three people who answered above me got this one right. It's widely, but mistakenly, believed that it's an abbreviation for "In Hoc Signo" - "In This Sign (you will conquer)".

Answer 2

A monogram of the name of Jesus Christ. From the third century the names of our Saviour are sometimes shortened, particularly in Christian inscriptions (IH and XP, for Jesus and Christus). In the next century the "sigla" (chi-rho) occurs not only as an abbreviation but also as a symbol. From the beginning, however, in Christian inscriptions the nomina sacra, or names of Jesus Christ, were shortened by contraction, thus IC and XC or IHS and XPS for Iesous Christos. These Greek monograms continued to be used in Latin during the Middle Ages. Eventually the right meaning was lost, and erroneous interpretation of IHS led to the faulty orthography "Jhesus". In Latin the learned abbreviation IHC rarely occurs after the Carlovingian era.

Answer 3

It's basically the first three letters of Jesus' personal name.

Just like the Chi-Rho is for the first two letters of "Christ" in Greek, IHS is the first two letters of "Jesus" in Greek, plus a Roman alphabet "S" for either of the two S's in his name.

I = Iota, which was used for words that would come to be spelled with a J in English, like Jesus, Joseph, James, etc.

H = Eta, which is a vowel sound in Greek, but capital eta looks just like H in our Roman alphabet.

Answer 4

IHS is a Greek abbreviation for the name Jesus.

Jesus Christ in Greek is ΙΗΣΟΥΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ and written in the English alphabet is "IHCOYC XPICTOC" or "IHSOYS XPISTOS"

Starting in the third century the nomina sacra, or names of Jesus, were sometimes shortened by contraction in Christian inscriptions, resulting in sequences of Greek letters such as:

+ Jesus +
IH (iota eta)
IC (iota sigma) (first and last letter)
IHC (iota eta sigma)
IHS (iota eta sigma)
JH (iota eta)
JC (iota sigma)
JHC (iota eta sigma)
JHS (iota eta sigma)

+ Christ +
XP (chi ro)
XC (chi sigma) (first and last letter)
XPC (chi rho sigma)
XPS (chi rho sigma)

+ Jesus Christ +
IX
IC XC
IHS XPS
JX
JC XC
JHS XPS

The Greek letter sigma has been translated as both "C" and "S"
The Greek letter iota has been translated as both "I" and "J"

With love in Christ.

Answer 5

It's the Greek translated into Latin ChiRo symbol for Christ and Christianity....other symbols are the Cross and the fish....