Ink Pen by Phil Dunlap for July 17, 2010

“X” as an abbreviation for “Christ” goes back almost to the earliest days of the church. Early Xian art and manuscripts used the symbol liberally (also “XP” and “Xt”), and those who’ve used the term “Xmas” in writings include Lord Byron, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., and the Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (“Lewis Carroll”). Noted fools all, I suppose.

According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage, most of the evidence for these words (“Xianity”, “Xmas”) comes from “educated Englishmen who knew their Greek”.

What’s usually forgotten, though, is that “Xmas” is nonetheless properly pronounced “kris-mas”, and is only appropriate in informal writings (like internet forums), or other places (newspaper headlines and such) where concision is the norm.

I suspect there’s also a vestige of the time-honored tradition (still observed in some communities) against writing out holy names (like “G_D”) on mundane documents that might be thrown away or otherwise destroyed.