The claims were picked up later by Gerald L. The December 1957 News and Views published by the Church League of America, a conservative organization co-founded in 1937 by George Washington Robnett, attacked the use of Xmas in an article titled "X=The Unknown Quantity". The abbreviation of Christmas as Xmas is a source of disagreement among Christians who observe the holiday. The Chi-Rho is a Christian symbol representing Christ. Use of X for 'Christ' įor the article about the χρ symbol, see Chi Rho. In the United States, 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 United Kingdom, the former Church of England Bishop of Blackburn, Alan Chesters, recommended to his clergy that they avoid the spelling. The association with commerce "has done nothing for its reputation", according to the dictionary. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage stated that modern use of the term is largely limited to advertisements, headlines and banners, where its conciseness is valued. Quotations with the word can be found in texts first written in Canada, and the word has been used in Australia, and in the Caribbean. Since at least the late 19th century, Xmas has been in use in various other English-language nations. 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. Lord Byron used the term in 1811, as did Samuel Coleridge (1801) and Lewis Carroll (1864). Xmas is found in a letter from George Woodward in 1753. Around 1100 the term was written as Xp̄es mæsse in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. An earlier version, X'temmas, dates to 1551. Edmund's college, Old Hall (originally published c. History Use in English "Xmas" used on a Christmas postcard, 1910Įarly use of Xmas includes Bernard Ward's History of St. The Christian Writer's Manual of Style, while acknowledging the ancient and respectful use of Xmas in the past, states that the spelling should never be used in formal writing. The Cambridge Guide to Australian English Usage states that the spelling should be considered informal and restricted to contexts where concision is valued, such as headlines and greeting cards. Millicent Fenwick, in the 1948 Vogue's Book of Etiquette, states that "'Xmas' should never be used" in greeting cards. The term Xmas is deprecated by some modern style guides, including those at The New York Times, The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage, The Times, The Guardian, and the BBC. In English, "X" was first used as a scribal abbreviation for "Christ" in 1100 "X'temmas" is attested in 1551, and "Xmas" in 1721. There is a common misconception that the word Xmas stems from a secularizing tendency to de-emphasize the religious tradition from Christmas, by "taking the Christ out of Christmas" nevertheless, the term's usage dates back to the 16th century, and corresponds to Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Church of England, and Episcopalian liturgical use of various forms of chi-rho monogram. ![]() The suffix -mas is from the Latin-derived Old English word for Mass. ![]() Khristós, lit. "anointed, covered in oil"), which became Christ in English. The 'X' comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Christós ( Greek: Χριστός, translit. It is sometimes pronounced / ˈ ɛ k s m ə s/, but Xmas, and variants such as Xtemass, originated as handwriting abbreviations for the typical pronunciation / ˈ k r ɪ s m ə s/. Xmas (also X-mas) is a common abbreviation of the word Christmas. A 1922 advertisement in Ladies' Home Journal: "Give her a L'Aiglon for Xmas" For other uses, see Xmas (disambiguation).
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