If that's the case, then the Greeks are baing lazy too.
Hey! don't blame the Greeks! But pity the poor medieval copyists, who laboured over all those manuscripts... I don't think it's too surprising that they came up with forms of shorthand.
An edited description of the issue from a doctoral student in medieval studies at the University of Toronto:
[color:"orange"]From as far back as the rise in production of Latin parchment manuscripts in Late Antiquity (in the 4th century AD), copyists have found it convenient to abbreviate commonly used words and terms by "contraction" -- that is, by dropping most of the letters out of a word and drawing a line above those which remain to indicate the abbreviation....
Thus was born the use of the Greek chi (which looks like a Latin X) as shorthand for Christ. Medieval copyists found it rather convenient in other compound words using Christ, such as ... Xmas for Christmas, an abbreviation which appears by 1100. The only thing which has altered over the years is the dropping of the dash over the "X" which signaled "abbreviation" to the medieval reader, and which differentiated this "X" from the Roman X.
Unfortunately, few modern folk know of the extensive use of abbreviations in medieval texts, and so are understandably confused by them when they encounter them today....They also err in pronouncing Xmas as "Ex-mas." A medieval liturgist encountering this abbreviation would have read it aloud as "Christmas."
So, the next time you see Xmas on the sign at the local tree lot, I hope you will smile, and remember that this abbreviation is a living relic of the Middle Ages. [/color]
However, since most people obviously don't know the background (and are not medieval copyists), I do have to agree, HandEFood, that these days it probably
is just used a) out of laziness; and b) to save money (in printing costs, on signs, etc.).
Too bad, though... I rather like "living relics"...
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/xmassmiley.gif" alt="" />
