Christ

Christ is the English representation of the Greek word ??????? (transliterated as Khristós), which means anointed. In the Christian religion it is a title given to Jesus of Nazareth, in which case "Christ" is capitalized, as a singularly descriptive title (The anointed). In English translations of the New Testament, the Greek ?????? ???????, and related phrases, are almost invariably translated Jesus Christ and Christ Jesus, leading the uninformed to mistake this title for the last name of Jesus of Nazareth. The part of Christian theology which focuses on the identity, life, teachings and works of Jesus, is known as Christology.

Full etymology

The spelling Christ dates from the 17th century, when, in the spirit of the enlightenment, spellings of certain words were changed to fit their perceived Latin origin. Prior to this, in Old English, the word was spelt Crist, the i being pronounced as a long e, which is preserved for example in the names of churches such as St Katherine Cree.

Related Topics:
The enlightenment - Latin - Old English - Long - E - St Katherine Cree

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The term appears in English, due to the popularisation of the Greek usage of it in the New Testament as a description for Jesus. In the New Testament, it was used to imply a match to the criteria that Jewish tradition had given to their predicted future saviour, as such a match should have lead to the figure being anointed, a status referred to in Hebrew as Messiah.

Related Topics:
New Testament - Jesus - Hebrew - Messiah

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The term derives from Chrism, meaning perfumed oil, and essentially Christ in normal, rather than Christian, Greek usage means covered in oil, and is a literal translation of Messiah (anointed). In particular, Chrism means roughly perfumed oil.

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