Where does the word X-mas come from?

What, for meatball's sake, is "yoghurt with weekend feeling"? How can anyone say this and not sound like a twat?

Well, this was one of the anglicisms discussed by the language police in ... er Germany.

But the main cause for concern was the word X-Mas.

You guessed; the folks are unhappy that it takes the attention away from Christ. Although, to be fair, they also pointed out that such a commercialized concept does not relate what the festivities are about - like being with family and love and all those fuzzy good stuff.

Anyway, this is what caught my eye from this article:

X-mas has its share of foes in the English-speaking world as well, although the roots of "X-mas" are thoroughly Christian. X stands for the Greek letter "Chi," a long-time shorthand for "Christ." According to Webster's Dictionary, the first printed use of X-mas dates back at least as far as 1551.

Fancy that.

Source:
Spiegel