The Origin Of Xmas

Have you ever been told that those who say or write Xmas are attempting to take Christ out of Christmas?  I know I have.  However, contrary to popular belief, [historically] saying Xmas instead of Christmas is NOT an attempt to remove Christ from Christmas nor minimize its religious meaning.

This practice can be traced back to the early 16th century. The Greek letter “chi” is the first letter of the word Christos (Christ), and is transliterated as X. “In the early days of printing when typesetting was done by hand and was very tedious and expensive, abbreviations were common. The church began to use the abbreviation “X” for the word “Christ” in religious publications. From there, the abbreviation moved into general use in newspapers and other publications, and “Xmas” became an accepted way of printing “Christmas.” (The Christmas Season, by Dennis Bratcher)

Although many businesses may think that they are removing Christ from Christmas, they are in reality doing the exact opposite. X stands for Christ, and Xmas and Christmas are the same word.