Dear learned listmembers,

 

A colleague and I were puzzling over the fact that in English the word “Christ” has a long “I”. The rules of English pronunciation suggest this should be a short vowel, followed by two consonants, as indeed are related terms such as Christopher, chrism and so on. In Latin and Greek, I believe, the vowel in “Christ” is also short. Does anyone know why this anomaly exists in English? The colleague suggested it might have its roots in Anglo-Saxon but that was just a guess.

thanks

jbw