Does ’’Xmas’’ Offend You?
It is rare to see a holiday advertizement these days without a business promoting a sale using the term “Xmas.” Many Christians say this is the secular world removing Christ from Christmas. Where did this term come from and is it really removing Christ?
On Christdot.com, there was a comment made that referred to those who frequent Christdot.com as “the Xdot community.” This peaked my interest in where this term came from and why so many Christians, including myself, found the term offensive.
I searched on google.com and yahoo.com using various search phrases and came up with many porn site links or sites that contained x-rated christmas songs. After searching through many, many pages of links I found a link to a RandomHouse.com page called Words(at)Random.
Here’s what that page contains:
Several people wrote:
What’s the origin of the abbreviation “Xmas” for “Christmas”? Isn’t it disrespectful and used only by advertisers?
Well, those are two different questions, but people do seem unusually interested in this issue.The written shortening Xmas for “Christmas” is quite old, and is part of a large group of abbreviations based on Greek letters.
If we recall, the letter H in the profane oath Jesus H. Christ is derived from the Greek letter eta (which looks like the Roman letter “H”), as the second letter of the word Jesus when written in Greek.
Similarly, the name Christ has for a thousand years been abbreviated as X, which is not the Roman letter “eks,” but the Greek letter “chi,” standing for the first letter of Christ when written in Greek as “Christos” (as transcribed into Roman letters). Some of the words using this abbreviation are X, Xp (Greek chi-rho, or “Chr”), and Xt for “Christ,” Xren for “christen,” and Xtian for “Christian.”
The use of Xmas for “Christmas” is first found in the sixteenth century, in the slightly expanded spelling X’temmas; the Xmas form was in use by the eighteenth century. The X has always been used in religious contexts, and was often lavishly decorated in manuscripts, for example the glorious Chi-Rho page of the Book of Kells, the ninth-century illuminated gospels. The assumption that the abbreviation is somehow “weak” or “irreligious” since it “removes” the Christ from “Christmas” is a thoroughly modern idea.
It should come as no surprise that throughout its history, Xmas has been found more often in letters or other informal works where space is valued. We should note that Xmas and other X abbreviations were usually found in the writings of educated people who knew their Greek.
We should also note, though, that in modern use Xmas is most commonly found in advertisements and the like. For this and other reasons, the abbreviation is viewed with prejudice, and so it would be wise for its use to be confined to informal contexts, its long history notwithstanding.
Wow! Does that match your preconceived idea about the term Xmas or Xtian? It sure didn’t match mine either.
This prompted me to do a search on Dictionary.com for the word Xmas. Here’s what I found:
Usage Note: Xmas has been used for hundreds of years in religious writing, where the X represents a Greek chi, the first letter of, Xpistos (Christos) “Christ.” In this use it is parallel to other forms like Xtian, “Christian.” But people unaware of the Greek origin of this X often mistakenly interpret Xmas as an informal shortening pronounced (eksmas). Many therefore frown upon the term Xmas because it seems to them a commercial convenience that omits Christ from Christmas.
This seems to makes sense does it not?
Whatever significance the departments stores may give to the word Xmas it is indeed proper to refer to Christmas as Xmas and Christian as Xtian. These spellings have a rich and honorable history that goes back hundreds of years. Is this a case where Christians have been so “dumbed down” that we cannot even recognize something that has existed in our churches for hundreds of years? Possibly.
With the technology that exists today and a little study we can educate ourselves on the “urban myths” of our faith and therefore pass along knowledge to our fellow believer removing stumbling blocks that hinder their Christian development.
