Guest Author - Melissa Lamkin
There's been a lot of debate for the last few decades surrounding the winter holidays and their common use names. Unfortunately these terms and phrases, such as “happy holidays” or “merry Xmas” (instead of the seemingly more traditional “merry Christmas”) have come under attack and people who use them have been accused of being everything from lazy to anti-Christmas. Before people are labeled lazy and oafish, we really need to know the origin of these phrases. Setting aside personal feelings can be difficult, but its essential for historical research on such a sensitive topic. This article is not about religion or faith, it is instead a historical look at the use of the term “xmas” and the use of the letter “x” as a substitute for “Christ”.
The origins of the term xmas are unclear but there is strong historical precedent for its use. It was not created by people who were anti-Christmas, rather its origins likely lie within the church itself. The church has a long history of abbreviating words and using symbols to represent larger concepts. That seems to be the origin of the “X” standing in for Christ as well. Likely Christ was first shortened to “X” because of the Greek spelling (Χριστος). Take the first letter X, or Chi, and it becomes a convenient shorthand for a longer word. The Greek Chi (X) and Rho (ρ) were combined to create the labarum symbol, which represents Christ.
While the exact origin of “X” is to some degree speculation, the Oxford English Dictionary solidly dates one of the earliest known uses to the 15th Century. Why the 15th Century? It does make a certain amount of sense if you think about the history of printing. Johannes Gutenberg created the printing press in the mid-1400s and the first books printed were Bibles. The church at the time was one of the greatest users of the printing press. Printed missives were a convenient way to reach masses of people, even if the actual printing was not easy. Each page had to be set individually, and backwards. It was an expensive and time consuming procedure. The use of “X” for Christ would have been a valuable time and money saver at the time. The trend that was begun continued on for centuries. The first recorded use of “xtianity” for Christianity was in 1634, for example.
It was a still in popular use in the early 20th Century. Christmas cards were frequently printed as “Merry Xmas” and it was an accepted abbreviation for Christmas. It was not until the latter decades of the 20th Century that people began to object to its use and believe it to be an anti-Christmas term. So next time you see “Merry Xmas” just remember the origins of the term and try to have your own merry Christmas.
