English term (edited): �twas Christmas

It is an abbreviation of "it was", formerly common colloquially and in literature, now poetic or archaic, and dialectal. (Oxford English Dictionary).

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Note added at 2 hrs 55 mins (2005-05-22 13:42:44 GMT)
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Re the issue raised by Rita et al:
The Oxford English Dictionary uses the term ‘abbreviation’ to describe a number of shortened forms. Zounds, for example, is ‘a euphemistic abbreviation of by God\'s wounds’.
Strictly speaking, what we have in \'twas is aphaeresis (the taking away or suppression of a letter or syllable at the beginning of a word, e.g. round instead of around). See: http://ol.scc.spokane.edu/jstrever/poetry/a_terms.htm or http://www.truepoetmagazine.com/forms-styles.html
In a contraction, something gets dropped in the middle, e.g. he’ll, don’t, let’s, dept, Dr.
Therefore, I believe the OED’s ‘abbreviation’ is a much safer term than the AHD’s contraction.

English term (edited): �twas christmas

Contraction of it was.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.



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Note added at 3 hrs 15 mins (2005-05-22 14:02:59 GMT)
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Apostrophes also indicate letters left out in contractions:

\'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves.... (\'Twas = it was)
Who\'s going to claim the umbrella whose handle is broken? (who\'s = who is)
It\'s a long way to Tepperary.... (it\'s = it is)
http://www.amherst.edu/~writing/writingbetter/mechanics.html

Early Modern English
... extensive use of contractions. EMnE preferred proclitic contractions (\'tis), while PDE prefers enclitic contractions (it\'s). Graphics ... (also called Shakespeare\'s English)
mockingbird.creighton.edu/english/ worldlit/teaching/upperdiv/emodeng1.htm


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Note added at 3 hrs 20 mins (2005-05-22 14:07:41 GMT)
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Aphaeresis, apocope, hyphaeresis, synalepha, and syncope are methods of contraction.
4. Aphaeresis: is a technique of overt elision which drops the initial unstressed syllable—usually a vowel—of a word; i.e., “’til” for until, “’tis” for it is.
http://www.calvertonschool.org/waldspurger/pages/Poetic Sche...

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Note added at 5 hrs 25 mins (2005-05-22 16:12:19 GMT)
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it is unfortunate that some peers feel it necessary to turn Kudoz into an academic debate - which is really not helpful to askers in Eng-Eng who mainly come for clarification because their English is not good enough...citing dissertations from Finland will hardly help them in their translation work. I invite Mr. Subito to discuss this topic in forums, if he feels it necessary or advisable.

Re: the paper cited by Mr. Subito below is entitled \"variants of contraction: the case of it\'s and \'tis\".
\"Contractions are combinations of 2 forms in such a way that one of the elements is reduced and the combination functions like a single word\"

English term (edited): �twas christmas

opening line of a famous tale.