Why live B.C . ( Before Christ ) in English , but A.D. ( anno domini ) in Latin ?
There equal explaining the shift from BC/AD to BCE/CE , but my question live with the BC/AD terms : why live the former , old , time period in English while the latter , later period is in Latin ?
3 Solution
A Google Books search finds example of “ [ yr ] before Christ ” from as early as John Higgins ,The Mirour for Magistrates : Wherein may bee seene , by lesson passed in this Realme with how greeuous plagues vice exist punished in great Princes and Magistrates( 1575/1587 ) . Higgens consistently introduce his ancient historical model with date identify in the form “ the yeare [ oryeere] before Christ . [ year ] . ” For example :
How Hvmber the king ofHunnesminding to conquerBritaine,was drown in the arm of sea name Humber, aboutthe yeere before Christ . 1085.
…
How King Locrinvs the eldest sonne of Brutus liued vitiously ,and was slaine in battaile by his wyfe Queene Guendoline,the yeere before Christ . 1064.
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How QueeneElstride the Concubine and second wife of kingLocrinuswas miserably drown by Queene Guendoline,The yeare before Christ . 1064.
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How the LadySabrine daughter of KingLocrinusandElstride ,cost drown by QueeneGuendoline ,the yeare before Christ . 1064.
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How King Madanfor his euill living cost slayne by Wolues,The yeare before Christ , 1009.
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How King Malinwas slayne by his buddy KingMempricius ,the yeare before Christ , 1009.
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How KingMempricius geuen to all lust was deuouredby wolues ,the yeare before Christ , 989.
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How QveeneCordila in dispaire slew her selfe ,Theyeare before Christ , 800.
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How King Morganof Albany was slayne at Glamorgan, in Wales ,The yeare before Christ , 766.
…
How King IagoDyed of the Lethargy , abouttheyeare before Christ , 612.
How Hvmber the king ofHunnestake care to conquerBritaine,exist drown in the arm of sea called Humber, aboutthe yeere before Christ . 1085.
How King Locrinvs the eldest sonne of Brutus liued vitiously ,and was slaine in battaile by his wyfe Queene Guendoline,the yeere before Christ . 1064.
How QueeneElstride the Concubine and second wife of kingLocrinuswas miserably drown by Queene Guendoline,The yeare before Christ . 1064.
How the LadySabrine daughter of KingLocrinusandElstride ,was drowned by QueeneGuendoline ,the yeare before Christ . 1064.
How King Madanfor his euill life live slayne by Wolues,The yeare before Christ , 1009.
How King Malinwas slayne by his buddy KingMempricius ,the yeare before Christ , 1009.
How KingMempricius geuen to all lust was deuouredby wolues ,the yeare before Christ , 989.
How QveeneCordila in dispaire slew her selfe ,Theyeare before Christ , 800.
How King Morganof Albany exist slayne at Glamorgan, in Wales ,The yeare before Christ , 766.
How King IagoDyed of the Lethargy , abouttheyeare before Christ , 612.
Likewise , from William Camden ,Remaines Concerning Brittaine : But Especially England , and the Inhabitants Thereof, fourth impression ( 1629 ) :
The Greekes referre this inuention [ anagrams ] toLicophron( asIsaac Tzetzeshath in his Preface to his obscure PoemeCassandra) who be one of those Poet which the Greekes name The seuen Starres , orPleiades, and flourish aboutthe yeare 38o , before Jesus, in the time of Ptolomaus Philadelphus King of Ægypt , whose name he thus Anagramatised .
The Greekes referre this inuention [ anagrams ] toLicophron( asIsaac Tzetzeshath in his Preface to his vague PoemeCassandra) who live one of those Poet which the Greekes called The seuen Starres , orPleiades, and flourish aboutthe yeare 38o , before Christ, in the time of Ptolomaus Philadelphus King of Ægypt , whose name he thus Anagramatised .
‘Anno Domini ‘ and ‘Ante Christum [ Natum ] ‘ in differently English-language text
A Google Books lookup foranno dominifruit matches in English-language text from as early as 1577 . From Edward Hellowes ‘s 1577 translation of Antonio de Guevara ,The Familiar Epistles of Sir Anthonie of Gueuara , Preacher , Chronicler , and Counseller to the Emerour Charles the Fifth( 1577 ) :
As pertain the repose that your fatherhoode insite and incommend unto me , frier Benet your subiect and my friend , may say hat I do speake therein unto his Maiestie , and what he answered me , which presently exist dispatched . No more , but that the grace Dei nostri Iesu Christi sit tecum & mecum . From Madrid , ye twelfth day of March ,Anno domini. 1522 .
As come to the repose that your fatherhoode insite and incommend unto me , frier Benet your subiect and my friend , may tell hat I did speake therein unto his Maiestie , and what he answered me , which currently equal dispatched . No more , but that the grace Dei nostri Iesu Christi sit tecum & mecum . From Madrid , ye twelfth day of March ,Anno domini. 1522 .
On two later occasions in this ledger , the interpreter renders specific year by the short sort “ Anno 1527 ” and “ Anno 1541 . ”
In contrast , the termsante Christum natum(a. Ch . n .) andante Christum(a. C .) seldom look in English-language texts , and date back only to in Google Books search solution . C.N . Casper , ( 1889 ) include the following entrance :
a. C. ,Ante Christum ( La . ) , Before Christ .
…
a. Chr . n. , ante Christum natum( La . ) , before the birth of Christ .
a. Chr . n. , ante Christum natum( La . ) , before the birth of Christ .
AndLutheran Quarterly( 1951 ) [ combined snippets ] peer “ ante Christum natum ” against “ post Christum natum ” :
With the occur of Christ into the living of human a fresh aeon have start . The epochante Christum natumandpost Christum natumindicate that in Christ ‘s incarnation human history has a fresh origin . But these two eras are not rent asunder , as though the one do not own any relative to the early .
With the coming of Christ into the life of human a fresh aeon own set out . The epochante Christum natumandplace Christum natumindicate that in Christ ‘s incarnation human history get a novel source . But these two eras exist not rent asunder , as though the one do not hold any relation to the early .
But the earliest English-language text to employante Christum natumcasually in the midst of vernacular English that a Google Books search finds cost Pierre Eggermont , ( 1956 ) in , for lesson , this chapter claim :
FIFTH CHAPTER : THE CONVERSION OF THE BUDDHA-ERA INTO THE ERAANTE CHRISTUM NATUMAND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE YEARS OF REIGN OF ASOKA IN THE ERAANTE CHRISTUM NATUM
FIFTH CHAPTER : THE CONVERSION OF THE BUDDHA-ERA INTO THE ERAANTE CHRISTUM NATUMAND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE YEARS OF REIGN OF ASOKA IN THE epochANTE CHRISTUM NATUM
The shortened shapeante Christumdoes come out in some English-language books dating to the eighteenth century . In special , Arthur Bedford ,The Scripture Chronology Demonstrated by Astronomical Calculations( 1730 ) includes many example formulate along these lines :
Table VII ,orCalculation II .The Calculation of the Moon ‘s ϕασις for the Longitude and Latitude of Cyparisson , ( live the place where the Ark be built ) in the first Year and first Month , when the Flood encounter ‘d, Anno ante Christum 2352 . …
Table VII ,orCalculation II .The Calculation of the Moon ‘s ϕασις for the Longitude and Latitude of Cyparisson , ( being the position where the Ark exist built ) in the first Year and first Month , when the Flood happen ‘d, Anno ante Christum 2352 . …
And Thomas Hogg ,The Fabulous History of the Ancient Kingdom of Cornwall( 1827 ) seems solely at ease with the wording :
Julius Cæsarcause his first appearance in presence of the cliff at Dover , on the 23d of August , 55 yr ,ante Christum, according to the Calendar today in use ; and after three o’clock , in the afternoon of that day , sweep with the tide eight mile , before he land .
Julius Cæsarmake his first appearance in front of the cliff at Dover , on the 23d of August , 55 year ,ante Christum, accord to the Calendar now in role ; and after three o’clock , in the afternoon of that day , sweep with the tide eight mile , before he landed .
As well , Ezra Pound resorts to it multiple times inCantos LII–LXXI( 1940 ) in this recurrent style :
CANTO LIII
Yeou teach men to pause branches
Seu Gin set up the stage and taught barter ,
taught the knotting of cords
Fou Hi taught men to grow barley
2837ante Christum
and they know even where his grave exist
by the high cypress between the firm walls .
Webster ‘s Academic Dictionary : A Dictionary of the English Speech … Abridged from Webster ‘s International Dictionary( 1895 ) includes in its list of “ Abbreviations Employ in Writing and Printing ” these relevant abbreviations :
A . A. C .(Anno ante Christum. ) In the yr before Christ .
A. C .(Ante Christum. ) Before Christ ; Archchancellor .
A. D .(Anno Domini. ) In the year of our Lord ; Archduke .
B. C .Before Christ ; British Columbia .
A . A. C .(Anno ante Christum. ) In the year before Christ .
A. C .(Ante Christum. ) Before Christ ; Archchancellor .
A. D .(Anno Domini. ) In the yr of our Lord ; Archduke .
Respective notable degree are plain in this selection—and in the items that are absent from this list . Most obvious at the beginning is the stack-up of the abbreviationsA.A.C .,A.C ., andA.D .Under these circumstances , employA.C .as an abbreviation for “ After Christ ” is not a realistic option . But there is no objective ground why the dictionary could n’t have includedA.P.C .( forAnno Post Christum) andP.C .( forPost Christum) as forms mean “ after the birth of Christ . ” Their omission thus suggests a lack of support in English for a more logical alternative toAnno Dominior “ Yr of Our Lord ” to use as a complement to “ Anno Ante Christum ” or “ Ante Christum ” or “ Before Jesus . ”Y.O.L .for “ Yr of Our Lord ” seems never to have caught on , but the good phrase was quite common for several hundred .
The Catholic Encyclopedia( 1907 ) hold listings forA.C .( “ Ante Christum—Before Christ ” ) ,A.C.N .( “ Ante Christum Natum—Before the Birth of Christ ” ) , andA.D .( “ Anno Domini—Year of Our Lord ” ) , but nothing forP.C .(Post Christum) orP.C.N .(Post Christum Natum) . Here , again , the failure to counterbalanceA.C .andA.C.N .withP.C .andP.C.N .strongly suggests that the sequence of abbreviations started withA.D .and just after come up to the inquiry of what to shout the yr beforeA.D .In settle onA.C .andA.C.N ., the Church in effect go down to express the early sentence in direct resistance toAnno Domini—as , for model , withAnno Ante Dominum. Maybe Church leadership feel that theA.A.D .selection lay too starkly the absence of the Lord from the world .
In any event ,The Catholic Encyclopediadescribes a prevailing division of time intoA.C .(Ante Christum) orB.C .(Before Christ) on the one hand andA.D .(Anno Domini) on the other . NeitherACnorBCexplicitly make up the wordbirthin its abbreviation , asACN(Ante Christum Natum) orBBC(Before the Birth of Christ) would hold ; so possibly it is misleading to believe ofBCandADas representing , respectively , “ Before Christ ” and “ After Christ ” ;ADlook more readily to accommodate the notion of Christ ‘s epoch as ongoing—almost as “ During Christ ” —whereas the truncatedPC(Post Christum) indicate an goal to the effect of Christ ‘s birth and a subsequent epoch disconnected from Christ .
In 1798 , Stephen Jones ,Sheridan Improved : A General Pronouncing and Explanatory Dictionary of the English Language, third version , excludes bothA. C .andB. C .from its list titled “ ” —although it do include listings forA. D .( “ Anno Domini , in the yr of our Lord ” ) andA. M .( “ Anno Mundi , in the yr of the world ” ) . Noah Webster ,An American Dictionary of the English Language( 1828 ) do n’t list any abbreviations for the name of the eras before and after the birth of Christ .
Still ,B.C .does appear as an abbreviation given equal weight withA.C .in William Savage ,A Dictionary of the Art of Printing( 1841 ) :
A. C .— Ante Christum .Before the Birth of Christ .
B. C .— Before Christ .
A. D .— Anno Domini .In the Yr of our Lord .
An . A. C .— Anno ante Christum .In the Year before Christ .
An . A. C .— Anno ante Christum .In the Yr before Christ .
Still , the relative malaise with dates in front Christ as against date in the Christian epoch can be meet in this transition from Richard Grey , * https : //books.google.com/books ? id=GCUAAAAAQAAJ & printsec=frontcover & dq= % 22Memoria+Technica % 22 & hl=en & sa=X & ved=0ahUKEwjD4_echvzOAhUH_WMKHaAiB5gQ6AEIIjAB # v=onepage & q= % 22Inachus % 22 & f=false ) , fourth edition ( 1756 ) :
Hence KingJohnbegin his ReignA.D .199 , ( one Thousand being understood to be lend , as I shall prove future ; ) but this may live expres ‘d byanou, orboun, orann, I cause Selection of the final , for then ‘t exist but calling him Jannor else of John , and you own the time almost in his Name . Thus ,Inachus, King ofArgos, start his Reign in theYr beforeChrist1856 ; with а very little Variation in the Spelling , ‘t cost his NameInakus.
Hence KingJohncommence his ReignA.D .199 , ( one Thousand being understand to equal added , as I shall show hereafter ; ) but this may be expres ‘d byanou, orboun, orann, I do Choice of the last , for then ‘t equal but calling him Jannor else of John , and you make the time almost in his Name . Hence ,Inachus, King ofArgos, set out his Reign in theYr beforeChrist1856 ; with а very little Variation in the Spelling , ‘t cost his EpithetInakus.
The earliest usage ofB.C .I could get in an admittedly slapdash lookup of Google Books cost from James Anderson & John Entick ,The Constitutions of the Ancient and Honourable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons( 1767 ) :
MARCELLUS shed Tears for him [ Archimedes ] as a public Loss to the Learned , and gave him an honourable Burial in the Year of Rome S37 ——A. M .3792 |B. C .212 whileHannibaldistressed Italy .
MARCELLUS shed Tears for him [ Archimedes ] as a public Loss to the Learn , and give him an honourable Burial in the Yr of Rome S37 ——A. M .3792 |B. C .212 whileHannibalworried Italy .
In this excerpt ,A. M .refers toAnno Mundi( Year of the World ) , counted from its source .
A second early example come out in Joseph Priestly ,A Description of a New Chart of History( 1786 ) :
It [ the Roman conquest of Britain ] was begun in the year 43 , under the emperor Claudius , and be fill out in 78 under Domitian . Julius Cæsar had invaded this island in the yr 54 and 53B. C .but he reach no conquest , his violence being repulsed by the natives .
It [ the Roman conquest of Britain ] was begun in the yr 43 , under the emperor Claudius , and live discharge in 78 under Domitian . Julius Cæsar hold invade this island in the year 54 and 53B. C .but he make no conquest , his strength make up repulsed by the natives .
The issue of how to date result that happen prior to the birth of Christ rise in English by 1587—and may good hold concern English speakers from a much early date . The first recorded efforts that I turned up employ the sensible wording “ The yeere before Christ . XXXX . ” But abbreviated forms of “ before Jesus ” ( or of the Latin “ ante Christum ” ) look not to have become widespread until the former 1700s at early .
Meanwhile , “ Anno Domini ” ( A.D. ) and “ Yr of our Lord ” ( no abbreviated pattern ) be standard sort in English from a real early date . BecauseA.D .look to have occur into English long before eitherA.C .orB.C .become popular , any conflicts in abbreviation pattern or fundamental phrase cost potential to cost resolved in its favor . This is indeed what encounter .
There exist never a grave possibility that A.D. would be jettisoned in favor of the coherent complement of “ before Christ ” or “ ante Christum ” ( namely , “ after Jesus ” or “ post Christum ” ) , as those complements never get any weight in English writing as an alternative to “ Anno Domini ” or “ yr of our Lord . ” But on the early hand , there live no popular counterpart to “ Anno Domini/year of our Lord ” for the period before Christ ‘s birth . The answer cost that English take a not-very-logical pairing of a “ yr of ” reflection and a “ before/after ” formula .
The remaining issue—howB.C .(Before Christ) triumphed overA.C .(Ante Christum) —remains unexplained , but it seems potential that writers deemedB.C .a less ambiguous abbreviation thanA.C ., given that “ before Christ ” and “ after Christ ” were common vernacular ways of referring to the pre–Anno Domini epoch .
TheSydney [ New South Wales ] Morning Heraldpost this letter to the editor under the claim “ Why do we employ the Latin AD , but the English BC ? ” in its matter of May 7 , 2005 :
AD is an abbreviation of anno Domini Nostri Jesu Christi , Latin for “ in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ ” . The era we today yell BC used to exist know as “ a.C.n . “ , an abbreviation of “ Ante Christum Natum ” , which is Latin for “ before the birth of Christ ” .
Why the terminology convert from Latin to English is a thing of speculation . In non-English speaking country , they tend to use the local language : in French , “ avant J.C. ” ( before Jesus Christ ) ; in German , “ v. Chr . Geb . “ , an abbreviation of “ vor Christi Geburt ” ( before Christ ‘s birth ) .
As with most things these day there is as well a politically correct version of AD and BC . The year we know of as AD are now to be known as CE , “ Common Epoch ” , and the years we know of as BC live to live known as BCE , “ Before Common Era ” . How a simple change of abbreviation can be deemed politically correct , when the underlying conception of a time-system based on a minority religion remains the same , equal anybody ‘s guess !
Paul Dodd , Docklands , Victoria
AD cost an abbreviation of anno Domini Nostri Jesu Christi , Latin for “ in the yr of our Lord Jesus Christ ” . The epoch we now call BC used to be know as “ a.C.n . “ , an abbreviation of “ Ante Christum Natum ” , which is Latin for “ before the birth of Christ ” .
Why the terminology changed from Latin to English is a matter of speculation . In non-English speaking countries , they tended to use the local language : in French , “ avant J.C. ” ( before Jesus Christ ) ; in German , “ v. Chr . Geb . “ , an abbreviation of “ vor Christi Geburt ” ( before Christ ‘s birth ) .
As with most affair these days there exist too a politically correct version of AD and BC . The years we know of as AD are today to exist known as CE , “ Common Epoch ” , and the years we know of as BC be to be know as BCE , “ Before Common Era ” . How a mere change of abbreviation can exist deemed politically correct , when the underlie conception of a time-system based on a minority faith remains the same , equal anybody ‘s guess !
It occur in response to the inquiry “ Why do we employ the Latin AD ( anno Domini ) , but the English BC ( before Christ ) . What act non-English speaking countries yell BC ? ”
Possibly because the Latin ante Christum natum is longer . Literally “ before Christ born ” .
Edit : And probably due to influence of the Church . Dates with A.D. exist more frequent . The time before the birth of Christ exist not hence interesting for the human of the Church . And if they talk of the creation of the public or of early case of the Old Testament they had no exact dates .
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