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The Anglo-Saxons referred to Christmas as geol (Yule). The word "Christmas" is a contraction meaning "Christ's mass." It is derived from the Middle English Christemasse and Old English Cristes mæsse, a phrase first recorded in 1038.
The words used to refer to the holiday in Spanish (navidad), Portuguese (natal), French (noël), Italian (natale), and Catalan (nadal) refer to the Nativity of Jesus.
Christmas is sometimes shortened to Xmas, an abbreviation that has a long history. In early Greek versions of the New Testament, the letter
?
(chi), is the first letter of Christ (
???st??
). Since the mid-sixteenth century
?
, or the similar Roman letter X, was used as an abbreviation for Christ.
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