The drink was originally invented in America in the 1930s and was popularised during the war, where there often wasn't the capacity to carry a full cup of coffee so they made a stronger, shorter version for their caffeine hit and called it an 'Express Joe'. This was later contracted to expresso.
The Italians call it espresso because there is no sound for X in Italian, but the original has more claim to be correct.
As often happens, Wikipedia is wrong.
The drink was originally invented in America in the 1930s and was popularised during the war, where there often wasn't the capacity to carry a full cup of coffee so they made a stronger, shorter version for their caffeine hit and called it an 'Express Joe'. This was later contracted to expresso.
The Italians call it espresso because there is no sound for X in Italian, but the original has more claim to be correct.