Xmas is a common abbreviation of the word Christmas. The abbreviation comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Christós, which became Christ in English. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. used the term in a letter dated 1923.
About Xmas in brief
Xmas is a common abbreviation of the word Christmas. The word originated as handwriting abbreviations for the typical pronunciation ˈkrɪsməs. The abbreviation comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Christós, which became Christ in English. The suffix -mas is from the Latin-derived Old English word for Mass. There is a misconception that the word Xmas stems from a secular attempt to remove the religious tradition from Christmas by taking the \”Christ\” out of \”Christmas\”, but its use dates back to the 16th century. In the United States, the fifth American edition of William Perry’s Royal Standard English Dictionary, published in Boston in 1800, included in its list of \”Explanations of Common Abbreviations, or Contraction of Words\” the entry: \”Xmas Christmas.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. used the term in a letter dated 1923. In 1977 New Hampshire Governor Meldrim Thomson sent out a press release saying that he wanted journalists to keep the ‘Christ’ in Christmas, and not call it Xmas—which he called a ‘pagan’ spelling of ‘Christmas’ In the UK, the former Church of England Bishop of Blackburn, Alan Chesters, recommended to his clergy that they avoid the spelling. Among evangelist Franklin Graham and former CNN contributor Roland S. Martin, the use of Xmas relates to a war against the name of Jesus.
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This page is based on the article Xmas published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 30, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
