On Saturday 14 June 2008 06:52:27 Tim Deaton wrote: > Larry Gusaas wrote: > > Richard Travers, 2008/06/13 2:46 AM: > >> In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > >> > >> Lisi Reisz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >>> P.S. What does "xan" mean? I have searched hard on- and off-line > >>> without success. Or are you like the Duchess's baby? > >> > >> This has been asked several times now, although curiously there has > >> been no > >> response. > >> > >> xan means Christian. > > > > I have never seen that. Please give source. Xan is usually a either a > > nickname for Alexander/Alexandra or a name by itself. Also an > > alternate spelling for Khan and slang for the drug Zanex. See > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xan > > This is just an educated guess, but I expect that where "xan" is used to > mean "Christian", it comes from shorthand using the original Koine Greek > of the New Testament. "Christ" in Greek is Xristos ("X" has a "k" > sound). So the shorthand replaces "Christ" with the Greek "X". > Therefore, "Christian" becomes "Xan" and "Christmas" becomes "Xmas".
That logic would give Xian, not xan. The word replaced by the chi (X) is Christ. It is always uppercase. And you need to account for the missing i. As you say, Christmas becomes Xmas, not Xas. Anyhow, Jonathan (the person who uses xan as his sign-off) has said that this guess is incorrect. He has not, however, replied yet to the original question. Not to mention the fact that in context, it would be a very odd place to have a noun. Hence my original question. Lisi --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
