IHS

Origin of: IHS

IHS

These letters are often seen in the churches, rituals and vestments of various Christian religions, especially Catholicism, Orthodoxy and High Anglicanism. The oldest and most likely source is that they represent the first three letters of the Greek name for Jesus. In Ancient Greek, the first three capital letters of Jesus’s name would be iota, eta, sigma, which would be written as IHS. There are, however, three other contenders, all deriving from Latin and therefore not quite as old as the Greek origin. Iesus Hominum Salvator, which means Jesus saviour of men, In Hoc Signo, which means ‘in this sign’ (thou shalt conquer), and finally, In Hac Salus, which means ‘in this (cross) is salvation’.