Curiosities about the language on Christmas time!

Is it Christmas /krɪsməs/ or Xmas /ɛks-məs/? 

Is it Xmas disrespectful to the sacred meaning of Christmas and Jesus' birth? 

Well, it depends on the audience. Be careful to send cards or wish Happy Christmas to people you do not know very well.

'Xmas' for Christmas and 'X' for Christ are not modern or disrespectful abbreviations. Actually these usages are nearly as old as Christianity itself. The fact is that the first letter in the Greek word for "Christ" is "chi" and this letter is represented by a symbol similar to the letter 'X' in the modern Roman alphabet.

The word for Christ in Greek is Xristos. During the 16th century, Europeans began using the first initial of Christ's name, "X" in place of the word Christ in Christmas as a shorthand form of the word. Although the early Christians understood that X stood for Christ's name, later Christians who did not understand the Greek language mistook "Xmas" as a sign of disrespect. 

Do latim 'natális', derivado do verbo 'nascor, nascéris, natus sum, nasci' (nascer), também significando 'natureza', o somatório das forças ativas em todo o universo, Natal, uma das palavras mais pronunciadas em cada final de ano, merece destaque aqui neste blog in December. 

Ah! Só para lembrar: os meses do ano em inglês são sempre escritos com CAPITAL LETTER (letra maiúscula), ok? 

Have you already noticed the preposition used before the month of the year in this post?

Voltando a falar de Christmas ou Xmas, ainda do latim, em italiano, surgiu 'natale'; em francês 'noël'; no catalão 'nadal'; em espanhol 'natal'( navidad de J.C), que tem sido progressivamente substituída por ‘navidad’.

In English, 'Christmas' veio do latim 'Cristes maesse' que evoluiu para 'Christ's Mass", missa de Cristo.

Muitos historiadores localizam a primeira celebração do Natal, em Roma, no ano 336 D.C.

Well, That's all for now! Have a nice weekend, folks!