Origin Of The Name Christmas

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 name christmas. A few hundred years ago the english language had no fast system of spelling rules. Christmas is a fairly uncommon surname which is sometimes said to have been a byname given to a person born at christmas. 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. The history of the name christmas begins in the days of the anglo saxon tribes in britain.

And mæsse is from latin missa the celebration of the eucharist. The meaning origin and history of the given name christmas. However others dispute this interpretation. 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.

During the middle ages many nicknames referred to various religious festivals medieval name days or the particular day of the week when feudal services were fulfilled. Modern christmas trees have been related to the tree of paradise of medieval mystery plays that were given on 24 december the commemoration and name day of adam and eve in various countries in such plays a tree decorated with apples to represent the forbidden fruit and wafers to represent the eucharist and redemption was used as a setting for the play. The form christenmas was also. Nicholas it is believed that nicholas was born sometime around.

When literacy was still uncommon spelling variations are often found. Washington irving in 1809 is responsible for remaking the original old stern bishop of this same name into the new jolly st. The legend of santa claus can be traced back hundreds of years to a monk named st. Most of the rest of america s christmas traditions are even more recent than this old nick has long been recognized as a term for the devil.

Crīst genitive crīstes is from greek khrīstos χριστός a translation of hebrew māšîaḥ מ ש יח messiah meaning anointed. The first known use of christmas according to merriam webster was before the 12th century and originates from middle english s christemass meaning christ s mass. Nick in his knickerbocker history of new york. The real santa claus.

Etymology christmas is a shortened form of christ s mass the word is recorded as crīstesmæsse in 1038 and cristes messe in 1131. Camden thinks as a baptismal name in consequence of the individual having been born.