According to the article, "In the Middle Ages, when many people were unable to read or write, documents were often signed using an X. ["Make your mark!"] Kissing the X represented an oath to fulfill obligations specified in the document. The X and the kiss eventually became synonymous."
Kixxes!
2 comments:
does this effect the "xmas"?
i find that spelling obnoxious, but i'm curious.
I don't think so, but as always i could be wrong. As far as I know the X is like a cross, as used in the shorthand "xword puzzles" but have heard people say that writing "xmas" as such takes the "Christ" out of "Christmas". I think people just got lazy, but who knows?
addendum-->Wikipedia knows! Apparently is has to do with the Greek for Christ, Χριστος, and there are some pretty strong evidence for the etymology of xmas and some links to some interesting articles on the topic.
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