Christ

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sluggo
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Christ

Postby sluggo » Tue Dec 25, 2007 2:38 am

Christ

Pronunciation: kraist • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun, proper

Meaning: The Western European epithet used in referring to Jesus of Nazareth, said to have been born in Bethlehem sometime in 1 AD (CE), a birth Christians throughout the world celebrate on this date.

Notes: Jesus Christ (Jesus, the Anointed) is believed by millions to be the Son of God, the Messiah predicted in the Old Testament. Millions of others believe him to be the prophet of God. Everyone agrees that Christ is the source of the Christian doctrine that has survived and is growing today. This name is the eponym of Christian, and its noun, Christianity, referring both to the doctrine preached by Christ and the collective body of all believers in that doctrine, as in world Christianity (or Christendom).

In Play: While Christians take Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the Qur'an accepts him as a prophet on a level with Moses. Jews do not accept Christ as the Messiah. So Christians, Muslims and Jews acknowledge the same God but differ as to the status attributed to Christ in their respective religions.

Word History: The history of the epithet Christ is itself a reflection of Jesus' humble origins. The original root from which Christ is derived was the humble PIE root *ghrei- "to rub". Contracted to *ghri- and suffixed with -s it became Germanic *gris- "frighten" which underlies grisly. Suffixed with -m, it gave us grime from Old Germanic *grim "smear." In Greek it emerges as khriein "to anoint," whose past participle, khristos "anointed" has been adopted in the West as the epithet for Jesus of Nazareth.
Last edited by sluggo on Tue Dec 25, 2007 12:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

sluggo
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Postby sluggo » Tue Dec 25, 2007 2:49 am

I must say, with no implications upon anyone's beliefs, I always thought "Christ" was a title, inasmuch as it means Anointed One, rather than a proper name. This would raise an exception to the good Doctor's classification as a proper noun (note its occasional use with the definite article: 'the Christ').

Also noticed that these seasonal WOTDs have become a kind of seasonal tradition, with sleigh, Christ, swaddle and reindeer all having appeared in prior years (the latter twice in five days in 2005). Maybe we need more suggestions in the pot. Hogmanay has been proposed before, but Yule has not...
Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots! Knife no one, fink!

Stargzer
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Postby Stargzer » Tue Dec 25, 2007 3:15 pm

Then it's settled: you'll suggest YULE, and I'll suggest we lay HOLLY on the MANTEL and jump for JOY.
Regards//Larry

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gailr
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Postby gailr » Tue Dec 25, 2007 9:03 pm

Don't forget Imbolc/Oimelc/Candlemas coming up in February.

Fer ye Secular Humanists, Growndhogge Daye.

sluggo
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Postby sluggo » Tue Dec 25, 2007 10:14 pm

Don't forget Imbolc/Oimelc/Candlemas coming up in February.

Fer ye Secular Humanists, Growndhogge Daye.
Curious- save for Hallowe'en and the tangential Maypole, ye olde cross-quarter days have gone unsung. OK now that the books are freed I have a cause.

Well I'll deal with Yule a bit later on unless somebody else does...
Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots! Knife no one, fink!

Perry
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Postby Perry » Wed Dec 26, 2007 11:31 am

The original root from which Christ is derived was the humble PIE root *ghrei- "to rub".
The word messiah is also derived from "rub with oil" (mashach משח).
"Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. Lately it hasn't been working."
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Bailey
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Postby Bailey » Thu Dec 27, 2007 12:54 am

It's interesting you say that Perry, most of us think of annointing as a pouring, but it really is a massaging in.

mB.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life, Make the most of it...
kb









Stargzer
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Postby Stargzer » Fri Dec 28, 2007 11:24 pm

In honor of Gailr's snow-up-to-her-eyeballs avatar, I'll have to expound upon the Kee-Bird.

The Kee-Bird is a featherless, hairless Antarctic bird, distantly related to the penguins, that can be recognized by its behavior in which it stands around stamping its feet and flapping it's wings across its chest as it makes its distinctive call: "Kee-kee-kee-keeeeeeeeeeee-RIST-IS-IT-COLD!"
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee

melissa
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resurrection

Postby melissa » Sat Jan 05, 2008 8:34 pm

Curious- save for Hallowe'en and the tangential Maypole, ye olde cross-quarter days have gone unsung.
Well the Maypole is by definition tangential,
1. pertaining to or of the nature of a tangent; being or moving in the direction of a tangent.
(Dictionary.com).
And Easter never really took off, except for the bunny eggs. And a movable feast that might produce a solstice child, if lucky. Anointing at Yule must have been unpleasant though. With all those evergreen needles in the ointment.

And tinsel.

-melissa


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