Christ

Christ

Christ is the English representation of the Greek word Χριστός (transliterated as Khristós), which means anointed. The Christian religion takes its name from Christ, as a title given to Jesus of Nazareth, always capitalized as a singularly descriptive title meaning literally The Anointed One. In English translations of the New Testament, the Greek Ιησούς Χριστός, and related phrases, are almost invariably translated Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus, leading to the common, though inaccurate, perception that 'Christ' was the last name of Jesus of Nazareth. The part of Christian theology focusing on the identity, life, teachings and works of Jesus, is known as Christology.
Full etymologyThe spelling Christ in English dates from the 17th century, when, in the spirit of the enlightenment, spellings of certain words were changed to fit their Greek or Latin origins. Prior to this, in Old and Middle English, the word was spelt Crist, the i being pronounced either as a long e, preserved in the names of churches such as St Katherine Cree, or as a short i, preserved in the modern pronunciation of Christmas.The term appears in English and most European languages owing to the Greek usage of it in the New Testament as a description for Jesus. In the New Testament, it was used to translate Hebrew as Mashiach (Messiah) meaning "anointed". This term implied a match to the criteria of being anointed that Jewish tradition had given to their predicted future saviour.The Greek term is cognate with Chrism, meaning perfumed oil; in fact Christ in classical Greek usage could mean covered in oil, and is thus a literal and accurate translation of Messiah (anointed).