Xmas World

Here’s a holiday surprise that only the dictionary can provide. Do you find the word “Xmas, ” as an abbreviation for Christmas, offensive? Many people do.

You won’t find Xmas in church songbooks or even on many greeting cards. Xmas is popularly associated with a trend towards materialism, and sometimes the target of people who decry the emergence of general “holiday” observance instead of particular cultural and religious ritual.

But the history of the word “Xmas” is actually more respectable — and fascinating — than you might suspect. First of all, the abbreviation predates by centuries its use in gaudy advertisements. It was first used in the mid 1500s. X is the Greek letter “chi, ” the initial letter in the word Χριστός. And here’s the kicker: Χριστός means “Christ.” X has been an acceptable representation of the word “Christ” for hundreds of years. This device is known as a Christogram. The in Xmas is the Old English word for “mass.” (The thought-provoking etymology of “mass” can be found here.) In the same vein, the dignified terms Xpian and Xtian have been used in place of the word “Christian.”

As lovers of the alphabet, we are transfixed by the flexibility of “X.” The same letter can represent the sacred, the profane (“rated X”), and the unknown (“X-ray“). What does the “X” in Xbox stand for? Find out more about the 24th letter of the alphabet, here.

What other holiday-related words would you like to know more about? Let us know, below.

FSU gives students a peek at the past.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service November 9, 2001 | Mitchell, Tia The Florida State University Union Gallery has been converted into a time machine. Current students who visited the gallery this week have been able to see how students lived and what they lived through in the university’s 150-year history. floridastatecollegenow.com florida state college

The weeklong exhibit _ titled “Alumni: Celebrating 150 Years of Student Life” _ includes replicas of four dorm rooms, pictures and other memorabilia. It was unveiled earlier this week as part of the homecoming celebration at the university.

Diane Greer, who oversees the exhibit, said it allows current students to get a “peek at the past.” “We just wanted them to see the kinds of things students might have had in their rooms at the time, ” said Greer, who is also director of cultural resources. “I think dorm life is part of the history of the university that tends to be ignored.” The four dorm rooms are decorated to reflect the eras they represent _ the 1880s, 1901, the 1940s and the 1960s. In 1851, the Florida General Assembly established the Seminary West of the Suwannee River. The institution became known as the Florida State College in 1901, and in 1905 the Legislature turned it into a females-only institution. In 1947, the Florida State College for Women became coeducational and was renamed Florida State University.