| and "X-mas" are common abbreviations of the | | | | maintaining the religious meaning of the holiday, |
| word "Christmas". They are sometimes | | | | however there are no facts to support this |
| pronounced "eksmas", but they, and variants such | | | | theory. It is not clear when the abbreviation was |
| as "Xtemass", originated as handwriting | | | | first used, but it is commonly believed to have |
| abbreviations for the pronunciation "Christmas". | | | | been by a person making a sign who figured that |
| The "-mas" part came from the Anglo-Saxon for | | | | making the writing small enough to fit the available |
| "festival", "religious event": | | | | space would make it unreadable from a distance. |
| Crīstesmæsse or | | | | Instead they used Xmas to take up less space. |
| Crīstemæsse. This abbreviation is | | | | Over the course of several years the |
| widely used but not universally accepted; some | | | | abbreviation became more common and Xmas |
| view it as demeaning to Christ, whilst others find | | | | began to be seen in more places. |
| it a helpful abbreviation. The word "Christ" and its | | | | However, the reality is the ‘X’ is a |
| compounds, including "Christmas", have been | | | | modern rendition of the labarum, or Chi-Rho |
| abbreviated for at least the past 1,000 years, | | | | symbol, written as an ‘X’ with a |
| long before the modern "Xmas" was commonly | | | | ‘P’ in the center, which means |
| used. "Christ" was often written as "XP" or "Xt"; | | | | Christ. The symbol was used over 1,000 years |
| there are references in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle | | | | ago in place of the word and when used with the |
| as far back as 1021 AD. This X and P arose as | | | | Anglo-Saxon word ‘mas’ that |
| the uppercase forms of the Greek letters), used | | | | means festival or religious event, was often used |
| in ancient abbreviations and are still widely seen in | | | | as the name of Christ’s birthday. In fact |
| many Eastern Orthodox icons depicting Jesus | | | | the Ladies Home Journal published an ad using the |
| Christ. | | | | term Xmas in 1922. Some religious individuals |
| The occasionally held belief that the "X" | | | | blame retailers for using Xmas as they are often |
| represents the cross Christ was crucified on has | | | | prone to abbreviate nearly everything, especially |
| no basis in fact. St Andrew's Cross is X-shaped, | | | | in printing and print ads as bigger words cost |
| but Christ's cross was probably shaped like a T. | | | | more money. However, since the term Xmas has |
| Indeed, X-as-chi was associated with Christ long | | | | been around a lot longer than virtually all retail |
| before X-as-cross could be, since the cross as a | | | | stores, that theory has no support. |
| Christian symbol developed later. While some see | | | | Perhaps the abbreviation of Xmas has grown to |
| the spelling of Christmas as Xmas a threat, | | | | such proportions that the letter |
| others see it as a way to honor the martyrs. The | | | | ‘X’ is often used as an |
| use of X as an abbreviation for "cross" in modern | | | | abbreviation in words that have nothing to do |
| abbreviated writing (e.g. "Kings X" for "Kings | | | | with Christ.. Words such as extreme are often |
| Cross") may have reinforced this assumption. | | | | abbreviated as xtreme and occasionally a celebrity |
| There has been an outcry recently over the use | | | | will use an ‘X’ to replace the word |
| of Xmas in place of Christmas and what may | | | | Christ in their name, such as Christina Aguilera, |
| have started as a shortened version of the | | | | sometimes writing her name as X-tina. While most |
| holiday name to fit on smaller signs, has turned | | | | religious scholars and historian have no objection |
| into a sometimes heated debate. Since Christmas | | | | to the term Xmas, there are others who believe |
| is a deeply rooted religious holiday some contend | | | | that the abbreviation is way by which retailers |
| the ‘X’ is determined to take | | | | and a few others can take the meaning of Christ |
| Christ out of Christmas while others see the | | | | out of Christmas, with no regard to the historical |
| ‘X’ as form of a cross, | | | | beginnings of the word. |