FromMedieval Latincrismon (New Latinchrismus,chrismum,chrismos), of uncertain origin.[1]In the 18th century adopted in German asChrismon orChrismum, pluralChrismen.[2] English in the 19th century.The word was revived for a type of Christmas decoration in the mid 20th century, now with a popular etymology of its being a portmanteau ofChristus +monogram.[3]
chrismon (pluralchrismonsorchrisma)
- AChristogram.
1869,Chambers's Journal[1], page818:The sacred monogram orchrismon was extensively used by Constantine[…] a crown of gold, enclosing thechrismon or mysterious monogram
- (palaeography) A stylisedsiglum or character interpreted as an invocation of Christ inMerovingian andCarolingian documents.
1970,Encyclopedia Britannica, volume 7, page478:The document usually begins with a verbal invocation (such as In Dei nomine, amen) or achrismon (often Christ's monogram formed from the letters XP)
- AChristmasdecoration with explicitly Christian religious symbolism.
1964,The Lutheran Witness, volume83, page548:Chrismons were first made as tree decorations by members of the Lutheran Church of the Ascension, Daville, Va., in 1957.
In English scholarly usage, the meaning ofchrismon (uncountable) is mostly limited to the Chi Rho monogram. In 18th-century German usage, by contrast, the term was expanded to include the derived cross-like sigla not only in Merovingian and Carolingian times but throughout the medieval period.English scholarly usage rarely adopts this extended usage specifically in the context of Merovingian and Carolingian paleography.
The modern term used in American Christianity is often capitalised, asChrismon, and uses the pluralChrismons.
- ^George Henry Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers,The riddle of the 'Labarum' and the origin of Christian symbols, Allen & Unwin, 1966, p. 28;"I can find no roots, etymology or grounds for the adoption of the word adopted by some Christans, 'Chrismon', which is supposed to mean the 'Monogram of Christ', and which appears in some dictionaries (i.e. Funk and Wagnalis, 1922)."
- ^Gregor Max Gruber,Lehrsystem einer allgemeinen Diplomatik vorzüglich für Oesterreich und Deutschland vol. 1 (1783), 148ff.
- ^so inThe Lutheran Witness, Volume 83 (1964), p. 548 "the Chrismon (from CHRISt-MONogram) tree", and in James Edgar, Ellen Edgar,A Chrismon Service (1981), p. 2.
