Natt Posted December 19, 2006 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 93 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 470 Content Per Day: 0.07 Reputation: 0 Days Won: 0 Joined: 10/29/2006 Status: Offline Share Posted December 19, 2006 I was asked today why Christmas is sometimes written as Xmas. I've heard two theories of this One being that it is people wanting to take the Christ out of Christmas and the other being that X is translated as Christ in Greek. What are opinions on this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetycakes Posted December 19, 2006 Group: Royal Member Followers: 8 Topic Count: 162 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 7,867 Content Per Day: 1.13 Reputation: 2,122 Days Won: 0 Joined: 04/21/2005 Status: Offline Birthday: 03/23/1964 Share Posted December 19, 2006 I was asked today why Christmas is sometimes written as Xmas. I've heard two theories of this One being that it is people wanting to take the Christ out of Christmas and the other being that X is translated as Christ in Greek. What are opinions on this? I brought this topic up on an atheist forum recently, thinking, mistakenly, that it was a modern phenomena of today's decadent and anti-Christian society and customs. I got a right ear-bashing. They referred me to quite a number of sites showing that this practice has been going on since about the middle ages, which surprised me. Still, I don't agree with 'crossing Christ out of Christmas', and I never write it as such. Happy CHRISTMAS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marnie Posted December 19, 2006 Group: Royal Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 811 Topics Per Day: 0.12 Content Count: 7,338 Content Per Day: 1.08 Reputation: 76 Days Won: 2 Joined: 10/06/2005 Status: Offline Share Posted December 19, 2006 Actually the "X" is a shortening of the Greek for "Christ," so technically you aren't leaving Him out of anything. The word "Christ" and its compounds, including "Christmas", have been abbreviated for at least the past 1,000 years, long before the modern "Xmas" was commonly used. "Christ" was often written as "XP" or "Xt"; there are references in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as far back as 1021 AD. This X and P arose as the uppercase forms of the Greek letters χ and ρ), used in ancient abbreviations for Χριστος (Greek for "Christ") (see Labarum), and are still widely seen in many Eastern Orthodox icons depicting Jesus Christ. Source (and they got it right!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikado5001 Posted December 19, 2006 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 2 Topic Count: 145 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 972 Content Per Day: 0.14 Reputation: 3 Days Won: 0 Joined: 07/03/2005 Status: Offline Birthday: 07/23/1973 Share Posted December 19, 2006 MERRY CHRISTMAS!! 'nuff said Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanraj Posted December 19, 2006 Group: Members Followers: 1 Topic Count: 18 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 75 Content Per Day: 0.01 Reputation: 0 Days Won: 0 Joined: 02/15/2006 Status: Offline Birthday: 10/02/1988 Share Posted December 19, 2006 Nothing wrong with either.Just keep Christ in ur Celebrations! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Floatingaxe Posted December 19, 2006 Group: Royal Member Followers: 3 Topic Count: 62 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 9,613 Content Per Day: 1.45 Reputation: 656 Days Won: 9 Joined: 03/11/2006 Status: Offline Birthday: 05/31/1952 Share Posted December 19, 2006 Maybe it is a greek symbol for Christ, but the masses don't know that. Best to keep it CHRISTmas! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stitchy Posted December 19, 2006 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 35 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 171 Content Per Day: 0.03 Reputation: 1 Days Won: 0 Joined: 10/12/2006 Status: Offline Birthday: 05/06/1986 Share Posted December 19, 2006 Oh wow. I don't know why but I always just assumed it was written xmas because the "chris" part of Christmas sounds like the "criss" in "criss-cross"... which is what an X is. Interesting! I like CHRISTmas though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scum_of_the_Earth Posted December 19, 2006 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 0 Topic Count: 5 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 153 Content Per Day: 0.02 Reputation: 0 Days Won: 0 Joined: 08/09/2006 Status: Offline Birthday: 07/02/1983 Share Posted December 19, 2006 Oops, I thought the X was latin. But I did know that it was an abbreviation for Christ. Doesn't bother me to see Xmas, and when I'm in a hurry, that's how I write it. Considering that Christ was born in the summer and not december, and that we stole the holiday for ourselves from the pagans, it doesn't much matter to me how it's written or celebrated or anything. It's a nice time of the year, and I enjoy spending it with my family and giving gifts, but as far as Christ is concerned, December 25 is no more significant to me and my faith than any of the rest of the 364 days of the year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricH Posted December 19, 2006 Group: Royal Member Followers: 3 Topic Count: 366 Topics Per Day: 0.05 Content Count: 10,933 Content Per Day: 1.57 Reputation: 212 Days Won: 1 Joined: 04/21/2005 Status: Offline Share Posted December 19, 2006 Oops, I thought the X was latin. But I did know that it was an abbreviation for Christ. Doesn't bother me to see Xmas, and when I'm in a hurry, that's how I write it. Considering that Christ was born in the summer and not december, and that we stole the holiday for ourselves from the pagans, it doesn't much matter to me how it's written or celebrated or anything. It's a nice time of the year, and I enjoy spending it with my family and giving gifts, but as far as Christ is concerned, December 25 is no more significant to me and my faith than any of the rest of the 364 days of the year. X is for the greek letter "chi" which is the first letter in the greek word for Christ (christos) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts