"Xmas is not of modern coinage. The Oxford English Dictionary documents the use of this abbreviation back to 1551. Undoubtedly it was employed before that. Now 1551 is fifty years before the first English colonists came to America and sixty years earlier than the completion of the King James Version of the Bible! Moreover, at the same time, Xian and Xianity were in frequent use as abbreviations of Christian and Christianity.
You see, the X in Xmas did not originate as our English alphabet's X but as the symbol X in the Greek alphabet, called Chi, with a hard ch. The Greek Chi or X is the first letter in the Greek word Christos. ...
Gration claims that as early as the first century the X was used as Christ's initial. Certainly through church history we can trace this usage. In many manuscripts of the New Testament, X abbreviates Christos (Xristos). In ancient Christian art X and XR (Chi Ro--the first two letters in Greek of Christos abbreviate his name. We find that this practice entered the Old English language as early as AD 100. Moreover, Wycliff and other devout believers used X as an abbreviation for Christ. Were they trying to take Christ away and substitute an unknown quantity? The idea is preposterous.
Some may use Xmas today as an unchristian shortcut for Christmas, but the ancient abbreviation by no means originated as such. The scribes who copied New Testament manuscripts had no intention of taking Christ out of the New Testament. They used the abbreviation simply to save time and space. ... I do not use it because of the possible misunderstanding it often causes as a result of its misrepresentation or abuse" [i.e., in its use for commercial purposes in modern times].
Speaking of Christmas, all of our decorations are up! Whoohoo! And we have our tree! I love decorating the house and making it all festive! I also love putting our ornaments on the tree and trying to remember where each one came from... It's just getting prettier and prettier every year as we add more ornaments/memories to our tree... The one thing that's left to put up is a wreath and I have yet to purchase a new one... I really want a real one, but dayam, they're kinda expensive!! $30 for a one time usage?! Frikin A!! So we'll see. Maybe they'll have a fake real looking one at Ross, hahahha...
This Saturday, Jason and I and my parents are going to Filoli to check out all the Christmas decor. It's our first time doing this together so I hope it's fun. It's also Jason's first time so I'm excited to take him there! I'm just not so sure my Dad will be fond of Filoli.. It's not like he's going to browse through all the decor and shop, you know? Hopefully there will be some entertainment (choirs singing Christmas music).
2 comments:
That's so funny, my husband and I were talking about the X in Xmas the other day, I just didn't get a chance to google it. Thanks Joy!
Oh, and if you're into crafts and stuff, you should make a wreath. It's hella cheap! I spent less than $20.00 last year..it was fun and it turned out really nice. Happy Holidays!
Oooh.. Good Idea Lanie! I might just try that!
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