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Ask the Times
By Times Wires
Published December 25, 2007
Where did the word "Christmas" come from? Christmas is a contraction of "Christ's Mass" and is reportedly a derivation from the Middle English Christemasse and Old English Cristes msse, according to Wikipedia. The abbreviation for Christmas, Xmas, stems from the early Greek versions of the New Testament of the Bible. There, the letter X is the first letter of the Greek spelling of Christ. Since the middle of the 1500s, the Greek letter X, or similar Roman letter X, has been used as an abbreviation for Christ. Compiled from Times and wire reports. To submit a question, e-mail answers@tampabay.com.
[Last modified December 25, 2007, 00:07:07]
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