It is a common sight in a
Church to see the letters "JHC" engraved or printed on objects. Contrary to popular belief, JHC does not stand for "
Jesus H Christ." Rather they are the
Greek letters
iota,
eta, and
sigma, which are the first three letters in the name of
Jesus. This
abbreviation can be written as either
JHS or
JHC, since the
Byzantine sigma was represented through a "
c" or "
C."
H is actually a capitalized eta, which baffled
Roman Catholics enough that they took it to be a
Latin letter and its meaning was lost, since in Latin an "H" is just an "H".
Of course, it COULD be "
Jesus 'Haploid' Christ" but that's a story for another bedtime.