Where does “Christmas” come from?

Christmas derives from Middle English Cristemasse, from Old English Cristes mæsse, literally meaning Christ's mass.

Christmas (English): A festival or holiday commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ and incorporating various Christian, pre-Christian, pagan, and secular customs including gift-giving, which in Western Christianity is celebrated on December 25 (Christmas Day) in most places

Definitions

  1. A festival or holiday commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ and incorporating various Christian, pre-Christian, pagan, and secular customs including gift-giving, which in Western Christianity is celebrated on December 25 (Christmas Day) in most places

Ancestry of “Christmas”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle EnglishCristemasseChristmas the 25th of December
2Old EnglishCristes mæsseChristmas
3Old Englishmæssemass
4Vulgar LatinmessaEucharist, dismissal; Eucharist; dismissal;...
5LatinmissaMass; Christian eucharistic liturgy; nominative...
6Latinmissumaccusative supine of mittō; inflection of...
7Latinmittōto send, dispatch, cause to go, let go, release, discharge
8Proto-Italicmeitōto put forth, put out
9Proto-Indo-Europeanmeyth₂-to hurt; to exchange, remove; to replace, to...

Words derived from “Christmas”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European meyth₂- →Every word from Proto-Italic meitō →Every word from Latin mittō →