Originally posted on December 18, 2009A lot of people talk about "X-Mas" removing Christ from "Christmas." I cannot prove what I'm about to say, but I think that is wrong.
Let me introduce my readers who don't know to a practice of the early Christians called
nomina sacra. Basically, they used special abbreviations for sacred persons. Generally, these were two or three letters of the name written with a line drawn over them. This practice is found in all manuscript copies of the Greek New Testament.
The manuscripts were originally written in all uppercase, no accents, and no spaces. Incidentally, this makes my task easier, since I won't have to use a Greek font :p. The word in Greek for Christ is XPICTOC (the sigma was often written like our "C"). It was abbreviated as XP with a line over it. Eventually the XP was combined into a single letter. This
image contains this particular ligature (second from the bottom).
What I think happened is that printers early on couldn't print this symbol and didn't know to put separate the "X" and "P". So, they just went for "X" for the abbreviation.
I don't know this is the case, but it makes more sense and is quite convenient. It certainly makes more sense than to assume retailers decided to eliminate "Christ"
en masse years ago. Thus the abbreviation "X-Mas" is most likely a Christian abbreviation. As I said, I can't prove it, but it makes sense to me and certainly seems to explain what we see.
Is this explanation for X-mas one that you know or agree with? Do you think it is being used this way today, or has it drifted away from its Christian heritage?
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Comments (7)
I think the author has heard it and reported it -- this X Mas business -- correctly enough. The real problem in the world is that Jesus Christ is being abbreviated instead of being lifted up and talked about and praised and worshiped and...........!
X means Christ. And while most people aren't educated about this uncommon meaning I do think that it shouldn't be a big deal. I think people should feel free to write X-mas instead of Christmas. It isn't in how we decide to greet one another during the holiday season that will spread Christ but rather how we act and what we say concerning this wonderful day in which the Holy God came to this unworthy planet to begin a life that would ultimately bring Salvation to all people. So, yes, its what we say in addition to X-mas or Christmas that is truly important here. No debate needed.
CHRISTmas. Not "X-mas." Santa isn't real, Jesus is. Santa came later, Jesus was first.
Christmas, Xmas, God, Jesus, whomever you like. The Christians are storming every Bastille that no longer calls trees Christmas trees. When did trees become part of the equation? Christmas has become so rampant, even amongst those who try not to commercialize it, that I often wonder what God thinks of this earthly mess. I just praise him eternally for grace.
I heard that Christians replaced Christ w/ "X" during the time of persecution so they wouldn't get killed for being Christian. No clue if it's true or not.
Of course we've drifted away from the heritage. Because the majority of Christians are so eager to spew Christianese and become busy worrying about labels when they forget that the most important thing is the meaning behind the holiday. I'm not saying I'm perfect, I'm just calling it out. I'm so sick of everyone debating about stupid labels, stupid names. WORDS are nothing. The thing that separates us is our belief our faith in what the day/event means to us. The thing that carried the Word of God was our belief not the text, not the books, not the history. The strength behind the Bible is not the words, it is the belief. And I'm sick and tired of seeing Christians have such misconceptions. The Bible is just another book. But what does the Bible have that a normal book doesn't have? Why has this one specific "book" survived thousands of years? What does the Bible have that makes it The Bible? Exactly.
And Santa was real. Not the fat man flying on magical reindeer delivering presents to everyone in the world with a chimney in one night. The iconic character was inspired by St. Nicholas after the Reformation where his following as a Saint disappeared, Holland continued it with him known as Sinterklass. Martin Luther called him Christ Child which in German was Christkindl then later repronounced as Kriss Kringle and now known as Santa Claus. So before you condemn a figure in history don't be so blind by your Christanese mindset. The story evolved from country to country over time. The chimney diving originated in Italy but in this case it was a woman on a broomstick, the elves originated from Scandinavia with Jultomten delivering gifts from a sleigh driven by goats. The reindeer eventually evolved from Norse mythology depicting Odin riding an 8 legged horse named Sleipnir. These myths and legends were inevitably mixed with Christian influence and European paganism and folklore. Nordic and Germanic folklore had a strong impact on the modern day Santa Claus. In light of all that there was one real man who inspired the spirit of Santa Claus. To say that he was never real is ignorant. Santa Claus was inspired by a story from a man who was inspired by Jesus Christ himself. To deny his existance is no different from denying Jesus as a real person. Whether Santa Claus and the capitilization of the holiday is bad or not depends on your perspective. A plane can be a symbol of innovation or travel or as we've seen on 9/11 it became a symbol of terror and death for some.