Sign in or 
Share this
THE X-FACTOR
I originally wrote this piece for a blog of mine years ago,Un Grain de Sable, my first blog. I hope you enjoy it...Rebecca Tacosa Gray
Two people kissing always look like fish. -Andy Warhol
X. Is it a letter? Or is it a kiss?
Having had the great pleasure of exchanging X’s via e-mail, I have often wondered what it is that has caused X to be associated with perfunctory salutes, passionate partings, and sweet goodbyes. So, tonight I took it upon myself to take a closer look at this transformative little character. A little x-treme, you think? Probably. But I have always liked x-traordinary questions, and this one happened to be x-tra interesting to me. Bear with me, and I think it will x-cite you as well! The letter X is the 24th letter of the alphabet. According to research, it is derived from the fifteenth letter of the proto-Sinaitic alphabet, and it was called samekh. Samekh means “support” or “the act of supporting” in Hebrew. According to numerous authors, the proto-Sinaitic origin is a fish (G.R. Driver, H. Grimme). Some authors, concerned that the fish imagery didn’t match the meaning of the letter samekh, claim that it is derived from an Egyptian determinative depicting a bunch of plant stalks. The stylized tree shape appears regularly from the 13th century B.C.E. onward. According to Marc-Alain Quaknin, “If one is to reconcile the theory of the fish with that of a tree that looks like a ladder offering support, it could be imagined that the letter represents a fishbone that has lost the head and tail. Eventually, the Greeks borrowed the Hebrew and Phoenician letter in its tree form and used it as their own, albeit with a few variations on bar placement and global position. In today’s Greek alphabet, the xi stays in the 15th place it occupies in the Hebrew and Phoenician alphabets. In the Etruscan and Greek alphabets found in Italy (at Cumes), the xi takes the form of a cross inside a square (Etruscan and Italian Greek). It is surmised that this particular representation has given us the shape of the X in our own alphabet. In the Athens alphabet, it was pronounced “ksi” like xi. When it made the transition to Latin, the S was lost and all that remained was the X, which is pronounced “k” in Greek. However, Latin already possessed a “k” sound. Thus, the X was used to represent the sound “ks” despite the absence of an S. The Latin X now occupies the 24th place in our alphabet.
Due to its background of being associated with “support,” its derived meanings are framework, infrastructure of an organism or system, skeleton, ladder, cane, wood, piling, and support or to support. Boiled down to a single concept: “support or trust.”
Interestingly enough, I also looked up “ex.” I wanted to see if there were any relative meanings there. There are. “Ex” (eks) can represent the plural for X, as in exes. The well known prefix “ex” also might come to mind, as in ex-wife and exhale. The meaning here is touted as “forth, from, out,” “beyond, away from, out of,” “without, not having” and “upward.” What this might have to do with fishes, ladders and supports, I do not know. Your guess is as good as mine, since I’m not an expert. My only comment is that it might possibly come from Latin uses of words like “excludere” (shut out, exclude), “exilium” (exile), “exire” (go out, leave) and “expellere” (drive out, expel).
Today, X exhibits many personalities. X can represent the signature of a person who cannot write. X can indicate a particular point on a map or diagram. X can indicate the degree of fineness of flour, sugar, etc. X is the Roman Numeral 10; with a superier bar, 10,000. X can represent a person or thing unknown or concealed. X has been used to indicate Christ, as in the derived religious holiday, Xmas. Finally, X is most regally known as the consummate bearer of kisses, lascivious or benign So there you have it. From proto-Sinaitic and Latin to modern day use, X has divided itself into two equal positions. We might affectionately term it the “Gemini Letter,” since it presents itself quite like two people, simultaneously representing those that love and those that hate. (Or simply just want to get away from each other!) Amazing, isn’t it? I never thought reading between the lines would lead to so much cross x-amination!
So, the next time you insert an X at the end of your daily correspondence, remember that (If you would like to learn more about the origins of our wonderful alphabet, check out Marc-Alain Quaknin’s book Mysteries of the Alphabet. If you’re lazy, the link is on the sidebar to your right!)
The X-Factor COPYRIGHT 2008 REBECCA TACOSA GRAY
|
RebeccaTacosaGray |
Latest page update: made by RebeccaTacosaGray
, Dec 9 2008, 2:08 AM EST
(about this update
About This Update
Edited by RebeccaTacosaGray
1 word added 1 word deleted view changes - complete history) |
|
Keyword tags:
None
More Info: links to this page
|
There are no threads for this page.
Be the first to start a new thread.
