Meaning Of The Word Christmas

It literally means christian mass.

Meaning of the word christmas. The christmas season especially in the west is a mix of pre christian christian and secular traditions. The form christenmas was also. Christmas christian festival celebrating the birth of jesus the english term christmas mass on christ s day is of fairly recent origin. 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.

The word christmas comes from middle english cristemasse which in turn comes from old english cristes messe literally meaning christ s mass. Christ s mass michael s mass candle mass it was a common conjunction which as is typical in english became contracted as a word. The second part of christmas maesse is a version of the latin word missa the celebration of the eucharist tradition of eating bread and drinking wine in memory of jesus. Of course we are not talking about the physical mass of christ s body.

The origin of mass in the christian sense of the word is not entirely clear. Celebrated on december 25 and now generally observed as a legal holiday and for many an occasion for exchanging gifts. Christmas definition the annual festival of the christian church commemorating the birth of jesus. It is the purpose of this tract to take the words merry christmas and examine the true meaning and essence of those words.

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. The word christmas has its origin from the old english term cristes maesse meaning christ s mass 1 though the word christ is commonly used as jesus name it is actually a title. Etymology christmas is a shortened form of christ s mass the word is recorded as crīstesmæsse in 1038 and cristes messe in 1131. What s interesting is the etymology of the word christmas.

Christmas is a time of spiritual reflection on the important foundations of the christian faith. From the early church to the 16th century cat. It s a shortened form of christ s mass. A true christian would want to examine everything they say because jesus said in matthew 12 36 37 but i say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof in the day of judgement.

This is also called. Feasts were called masses from the latin for eucharistic service. How to use christmas in a sentence.