History Of The Word Christmas

The word christmas comes from middle english cristemasse which in turn comes from old english cristes messe literally meaning christ s mass.

History of the word christmas. The origin of mass in the christian sense of the word is not entirely clear. In dutch it is kerstmis in latin dies natalis whence comes the french noël and italian il natale. In german weihnachtsfest from the preceeding sacred vigil. The earlier term yule may have derived from the germanic jōl or the anglo saxon geōl which referred to the feast of the winter solstice the corresponding terms in other languages navidad in spanish natale in italian noël in french all.

Origin of the word the word for christmas in late old english is cristes maesse the mass of christ first found in 1038 and cristes messe in 1131. Christmas christian festival celebrating the birth of jesus the english term christmas mass on christ s day is of fairly recent origin. Etymology christmas is a shortened form of christ s mass the word is recorded as crīstesmæsse in 1038 and cristes messe in 1131. The form christenmas was also.

It comes from a greek word that means anointed one the hebrew word is messiah a term that old testament prophets used to describe the. Of course we are not talking about the physical mass of christ s body.