Xmas, Xmas

The occasionally held belief that the "X" represents the cross on which Christ was crucified also has no basis in fact. St Andrew's Cross is X-shaped, but Christ's cross was probably shaped like a T or a . Indeed, X-as-chi was associated with Christ long before X-as-cross could be, since the cross as a Christian symbol developed later. (The Greek letter Chi stood for "Christ" in the ancient Greek acrostic ichthys.) While some see the spelling of Christmas as Xmas a threat, others see it as a way to honor the martyrs.The use of X as an abbreviation for "cross" in modern abbreviated writing (e.g. "King's X" for "King's Cross") may have reinforced this assumption.

Mullan, John and Christopher Reid, Eighteenth-century Popular Culture: A Selection , Oxford University Press, 2000, ISBN 9780198711346, p 216, retrieved via Google Books, December 27, 2008 Lord Byron used the term in 1811 ("If you won't come here before Xmas, [1] ", letter, September 9, 1811).

Source: Wikipedia > Xmas