The word cross was introduced to English in the tenth century as the term for the instrument of the torturous execution of Christ gradually replacing rood, ultimately from Latin crux, via Old Irish cros. Originally, both rood and crux referred simply to any pole, the later shape associated with the term being based in church tradition, rather than etymology. The word can nowadays refer to the geometrical shape unrelated to its Christian significance from the fifteenth century. Cross forms were used as symbols, religious or otherwise, long before the Christian era .The cross is the foremost image of the Christian religion, reviewing the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the aftermath of his Passion and demise. The structures of the cross were utilized as images and for religious symbols. The cross, found in numerous societies and religions of the world, is a symbol connected with the execution of Jesus and the religion of Christianity. The …show more content…
Both consist of four equivalent arms; the crux immissa, or Latin cross, whose base stem is longer than the other three arms; the crux commissa, as the Greek letter tau, is often referred to as St. Anthony's cross. The crux decussata, is named after the Roman Decussis, known as St. Andrew's cross. Custom supports the crux immissa as it is the cross on which Christ Himself died on. Two prechristian cross forms have had some vogue in Christian usage. The ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol of life to the ankh, a tau cross surmounted by a loop and known as crux ansata was adopted and extensively used on Coptic Christian monuments. The swastika, called crux gammata, composed of four Greek capitals of the letter gamma, is marked on many early Christian tombs as a veiled symbol of the cross. The symbolic ornamentations vary in the form of a sacred place, athe cross, wooden cross in the house of worship and memorial