After an argument the

Dec 11 2001
After an argument the other day about whether Xmas is a debasement of Christmas, I took it upon myself to find the origin of the abbreviation. As I suspected, the X does not stem from some pagan disrespect for the Christian holiday. Instead, the abbreviation is of Greek origin. During the 16th century, Europeans began using the first initial of Greek word Xristos, meaning Christ, as a shorthand form of the word. The substitution was, at the time, widely understood, but today its origins are lost and it is often wrongly taken as a sign of disrespect. If an abbreviation still offends the religious sentiments of some, surely no one objects to crosses that bear the engraving IC XC sinc that abbreviation for Iesous Khristos commits the same sin as the word Xmas. So for those who celebrate Xmas, you may now continue to do so without shame. In fact, fix another cup of Xmas cider; your eternal soul is safe (for now).