Definitions For Chrismon

Noun

CHRISMON (plural s or chrisma) A christogram. (paleography) A stylised siglum or character interpreted as an invocation of Christ in merovingian and carolingian documents. A christmas decoration with explicitly Christian religious symbolism.

Etymology

From {{der, en, ML., crismon}} (New Latin chrismus, chrismum, chrismos), of {{unk, en, title=uncertain}} origin.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)." In the 18th century adopted in German as Chrismon or Chrismum, plural Chrismen.Gregor Max Gruber, Lehrsystem einer allgemeinen Diplomatik vorzüglich für Oesterreich und Deutschland vol. 1 (1783), 148ff. 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 of christus + monogram.so in The 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.

Usage notes

In English scholarly usage, the meaning of chrismon (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, as Chrismon, and uses the plural Chrismons.