The First six letters of CHRISTmas
How 'bout this:
"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].
"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].
Last edited by foghorn on September 20th, 2011, 12:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
"Talk low, talk slow, and don't talk too much."
-- John Wayne
-- John Wayne
Re: The First six letters of CHRISTmas
By golly foggy you can teach me something.
I'll take your word for it on the history lesson, but do you think that even 1% of the people today who use the "Xmas" abbreviation knew what you just told me?
I'll take your word for it on the history lesson, but do you think that even 1% of the people today who use the "Xmas" abbreviation knew what you just told me?
Last edited by LionPride on September 20th, 2011, 12:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
Foghorn that was very intgeresting i had no idea i thought that X-mas was just something that people used to take the Christ out of Chirstmas, well actually i still think they do, they probably dont know about what you just said like either me or my history teacher whom i just showed about it.
Last edited by house14 on September 20th, 2011, 12:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
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southpaw
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Re: The First six letters of CHRISTmas
Foghorn brain is a fountianhead of useless information. If he ever got to be a contestant on Jeopardy he would break the all time win streak.
Last edited by southpaw on September 20th, 2011, 12:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I'm your huckleberry"
Re: The First six letters of CHRISTmas
Does XBOX mean anything?
Last edited by El-Moldo on September 20th, 2011, 12:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: The First six letters of CHRISTmas
I thought this article was very interesting and close to the topic of this thread. It's sad that elected officials want to "protect" us from our religion.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... vity_anger
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... vity_anger