X's, crosses as kisses and as blessings

[Mark Mandel]

On Fri, Jul 4, 2008 at 1:32 PM, Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:
>
> Allow me to clarify my question, which is not about "hugs and kisses," though
> thanks for the info on the latter. Xs and Os used to signify "hugs and kisses"
> started apparently in the 20th century--later than the use of Xs alone for
> kisses.
> Did X-shapes meaning kisses in epistles follow from a differently-shaped cross
> mark in epistles signifying blessings? An evolution from religious to
> romantic.
> What do you make of the Defoe, White, and Hyde texts?

I have no thoughts about the citations, but it occurred to me last
night that the use of "X" for a kiss could come from a kind of
onomatopoeia: the usual English pronunciation of "x", /ks/, for the
sound of a kiss (a voiceless ingressive rounded bilabial affricate, if
you're logging the play-by-play). It is closer than that of any other
letter, since we don't have a psi. Probably not proveable, but what do
y'all think of it as a hypothetical alternative or supplementary
origin to "X" as blessing?

--
Mark Mandel

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