Medieval Latin; the meaning "chrism" is attested in the 12th century, apparently by corruption ofAncient Greekχρῖσμᾰ(khrîsmă), fromχρίω(khríō,“to anoint”).The meaning "Christogram" is of uncertain origin;[1]Millin (1817) suggests derivation fromχρησμός(khrēsmós,“oracle”) specifically in the instance of the "Chrismon Sancti Ambrosii" (i.e. the "oracle of St. Ambrose), an ancient Chi-Rho symbol on a marble slab in Milan cathedral, from which the termchrismon would have been transferred to the Chi-Rho symbol in general.[2]
crismon n (genitivecrismī);second declension
- Christogram,chrismon(Chi-Rho monogram)
- chrism
- c. 1130: "In sabbato secundo de Quadragesima, duo minores custodes septimanarii […] debent quærere cilicium ab archiepiscopo, et debent portare in medio ecclesiæ, et facereChrismon super illud decurrere." L. A. Murator,Antiquitates Italicae medii aevi vol. 4, col. 912.
Second-declension noun (neuter, Greek-type).
- ^Crismon (par les Bénédictins de St. Maur, 1733–1736), in: du Cange, et al.,Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, ed. augm., Niort : L. Favre, 1883‑1887, t. 2, col. 621b."CRISMON, Nota quæ in libro ex voluntate uniuscujusque ad aliquid notandum ponitur. Papias in MS. Bituric. Crismon vel Chrismon proprie est Monogramma Christi sic expressum ☧"1 chrismon (par les Bénédictins de St. Maur, 1733–1736), in: du Cange, et al.,Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, ed. augm., Niort : L. Favre, 1883‑1887, t. 2, col.318c,citing Heumann. de re Diplom. inde a Carol. M. § 12; Murator. Antiquit. Ital. tom. 3. col. 75.The suggestion here is that the letter χ forχρηστός(khrēstós) "useful" was used as a scribal siglum in manuscript margins to draw attention to important passages; this letter χ would itself have been called χρήσιμα, which in turn became the name of the Christogram, no doubt via influence ofchrisma and of the nameChristus itself.
- ^A. L. Millin,Voyage dans le Milanais (1817),p. 51.
