The word "Christmas" is from the Middle English "
Christemasse", and in Old English "
Cristes mæsse". The compound meaning of these is "Christ's Mass" and was first used circa 1030 AD. "
Cristes" is from Greek christos and "
mæsse" is from Latin
missa. In the early Greek testaments, 'X' is the first letter of Christ, which I guess some could use to validate their use of the spelling 'Xmas'. I'm sure that people using this form learned it from studying ancient Greek.
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