Term ?Xmas? has church origins

?Tis the season to be jolly, and it?s also the season for my annual Christmas-themed word column. Now, I?m fully aware I may be repeating myself here since some of the words and terms I?m going to write about may have appeared in previous Christmas columns, but at least I?ll be writing about the same things differently.

Wow, that was almost as much an oxymoron as the phrase, ?same difference.? Anyhow, on to the Christmas terms.

The first thing I?m going to delve into is a rather controversial term for many people. It?s ?Xmas,? which, over the years, has been pretty commonly used as an abbreviation for Christmas. This term has long been reviled by conservative Christians, who consider it sacrilegious, if not out outright blasphemous.

Now, let me say right up front I?m not taking sides here, or defending the term, which I don?t approve of myself, but the fact is, regardless of what some think, it may not be quite as irreligious as it seems. Turns out it actually came from the early church.

According to one Web site, the first letter of the word Christ in Greek is chi, which is identical to our X. Xmas was originally an ecclesiastical abbreviation that was used in tables and charts. In the early days of printing, when font sizes were limited and type was set by hand, abbreviations and ditto marks were used liberally. Xmas came into general use, at least partly, because of the church.

The American Heritage Dictionary confirms that origin, noting the word should be pronounced ?Christmas? and lists this usage note for the term:

?Xmas has been used for hundreds of years in religious writing, where the X represents a Greek chi, the first letter of ?Christ.? In this use it is parallel to other forms like Xtian, or ?Christian.? But people unaware of the Greek origin of this X often mistakenly interpret Xmas as an informal shortening pronounced (eks-mas). Many therefore frown upon the term Xmas because it seems to them a commercial convenience that omits Christ from Christmas.?

Once again, I don?t personally defend this practice, but I did find it interesting when I did some research and found out it wasn?t what I thought it was for most of my life, which was that ?crass commercial convenience? thing.

Another term that crops up around Christmas is ?yuletide.? This time of year one hears lots of references to the ?yuletide season.?

It turns out the word yule has pagan origins, dating back to traditions in pre-Christian Europe. According to most sources it originally had nothing to do with Christmas. The word actually comes from the Old English ?geol,? which itself came from the Norse ?jol,? a pre-Christian midwinter festival. The ?tide? in ?yuletide? comes from the Old English word ?tid,? meaning ?division of time.? So in the case of ?yuletide? it simply means ?time or season.? So when we say ?yuletide season,? it seems we?re being just a bit redundant.

And speaking of pagan origins, there?s another Christmas season word, and custom, that always confused me. Mistletoe. The plant was an important element in European mid-winter celebrations for literally thousands of years, and, like many pagan traditions, eventually became integrated into Christmas tradition, though it has no religious significance. Today a small sprig of mistletoe is often hung in a doorway, and anyone caught standing under it must submit to a kiss.

Of course, I only bring this up so I can tell one of my favorite stupid jokes based on a pun, and you know how I love puns. OK, here it is: If athletes get athlete?s foot, what do astronauts get?

Yep, that?s right ? mistletoe.

Charlie Johnson is news editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191.