IN LOVING MEMORY OF
ELLEN
THE WIFE OF
JOHN JORDAN
WHO DIED APRIL 4TH 1900
AGED 91 YEARS
This strange symbol puzzled me.
Is it a dollar sign? With three lines?
A strange secret organization?
Of course, the truth behind this interesting symbol is very ordinary. It is just the letters I, H and S on top of each other, sometimes called a christogram. The Greek letters Iota, Eta and Sigma are the three letter of the name of "Jesus". The Roman version is the letters IHC. Another christogram is the chi-rho which are the letters x (chi) and p (rho) on top of each other from the Greek for "Christ".
See the Wikipedia article for Christogram
Have you seen this particular christogram on a tombstone? The one that looks like a dollar sign with three lines?
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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~ A Very Odd Symbol on a Tombstone in Reddenhall, England", Nutfield Genealogy, posted December 5, 2017, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/12/tombstone-tuesday-very-odd-symbol-on.html: accessed [access date]).
Since it is England, I would have expected a pound sign not a dollar sign for money. The IHS and XP symbols are interesting. I'll have to keep a lookout for them. I wonder if the custom was carried over to the US.
ReplyDeleteSince I saw this in England I have seen it inside churches (embroidered on vestments, and on a flag) here in the US, but not yet on a tombstone.
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