The abbreviation “Xmas” for Christmas comes from the Greek letter Chi, the first letter in Christ. It is not meant to be disrespectful or commercial, but some people may take offense. The symbol XP also refers to Christ and is associated with Christianity. It is important to consider how others may interpret the use of “Xmas.”
Wishing someone a Merry Christmas can yield numerous responses. If these words are spoken to a linguist, that person is likely to understand that no disrespect is meant. On the other hand, saying Christmas to other people can result in indifference, a sense of inclusion, or outright insult. It is important to understand how this word came about and why, from a linguistic point of view, the insulted person has no basis for her feelings.
X is a symbol for the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter in the Greek form of the word Christ. Abbreviations, dating back many hundreds of years, may have spelled Christmas as Xtemas or Xmas. They refer specifically to Christ and are by no means a way to commercialize Christmas or to downplay the importance of Christ. As an abbreviation, when people wrote the term, they usually still pronounced the word like Christmas if they read it aloud. It was simply a convention that could speed up writing that was used as early as the 11th century. Christmas is not the only abbreviated use of the word Christ. There are other derivatives such as Xtianity and Xtian (Christianity and Christian) which have been used by various writers for centuries
The term Christmas can also refer to a common symbol in Christianity called the labarum. This symbol looks like an X written above a capital letter P. Since the word Christ has often been written as XP, this is again a direct reference to the name of Jesus. People of various Christian denominations may be used to seeing this symbol associated with Christ without knowing its origins.
Common misconceptions about the word Christmas are numerous. Some believe that the X literally strikes out Christ’s name and is meant to remove any Christian implications from Christmas. Others believe that the X is a commercially motivated symbol showing inherent disrespect for Christ and that the word was promulgated by retailers to save money on advertising. Some think that the term Christmas is a good substitute for Christmas because then it is possible to avoid saying “Merry Christmas” to people who may not be practicing Christians. A more charitable view of the term is that X symbolizes the cross on which Christ was crucified, although this is inaccurate because the shape of the cross is incorrect.
As demonstrated by much written evidence, the term emerged as an abbreviation, referring to the Greek and does not mean disrespect. However, language is constantly evolving and what a word means today may not be what it means at all fifty years from now. Since people may take offense to the term, they have breathed into it a meaning that was never intended. Even if that interpretation is historically inaccurate, it still becomes a part of how the word is perceived. It therefore makes sense to consider how others will interpret a greeting like Merry Xmas, and whether this heartfelt wish will offend rather than please those who hear it.
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