# AD (Latin) and BC (English)



## bycart

Does anyone know how it happened (the history) that speakers and writers of English use a Latin abbreviation (AD for Anno Domini) for dates after the birth of Christ and an English abbreviation (BC for before Christ) for dates before that?  Why don't we use Latin for both or English for both?  (Of course, I'm aware that of late a lot of people are using CE and BCE in English writing.)


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## PacoBajito

Truly I don't know but I think it has happened because there is a long tradition (since middle ages) that used AD referring to the Christian ages. The use of a name for ages before Christ was born in the Renaissance and so it was a more scientific and less christian way of saying but it was never used an analogue for modern times.


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## bycart

Grazie, PacoBajito


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## la zarzamora

bycart said:


> Does anyone know how it happened (the history) that speakers and writers of English use a Latin abbreviation (AD for Anno Domini) for dates after the birth of Christ and an English abbreviation (BC for before Christ) for dates before that? Why don't we use Latin for both or English for both? (Of course, I'm aware that of late a lot of people are using CE and BCE in English writing.)


 

I have wondered about that for ages!!! I hope somebody has an answer.
By the way, what does CE and BCE stand for?


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## Mahaodeh

CE = Common Era; BCE = Before Common Era, where common era is the time that is believed to be the Birth of Crist. I think (not sure) that it was used to tone down the religous connotations of AD and BC.


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## la zarzamora

Mahaodeh said:


> CE = Common Era; BCE = Before Common Era, where common era is the time that is believed to be the Birth of Crist. I think (not sure) that it was used to tone down the religous connotations of AD and BC.


 

thank you!! 
To be honest, I have never come across those abbreviations before.


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## OldAvatar

bycart said:


> Does anyone know how it happened (the history) that speakers and writers of English use a Latin abbreviation (AD for Anno Domini) for dates after the birth of Christ and an English abbreviation (BC for before Christ) for dates before that?  Why don't we use Latin for both or English for both?  (Of course, I'm aware that of late a lot of people are using CE and BCE in English writing.)



I guess the explanation is a phylosophical/religious one. You can't use _After Christ_, simply because such times do not exist, since Christ is supposed to be alive. So, they appealed to a convention, like _Anno Domini_.


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## la zarzamora

OldAvatar said:


> I guess the explanation is a phylosophical/religious one. You can't use _After Christ_, simply because such times do not exist, since Christ is supposed to be alive. So, they appealed to a convention, like _Anno Domini_.


 
Excellent guess!!


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## sokol

The Latin versions for both would be *AC *_(ante Christum natum = before Christ was born)_ and *AD *_(anno Domini = in the year of the Lord)._

My guess would be that, with Latin loosing importance, BC 'before Christ' just seemed more logical to the English while there seemed to be no perfect substitute for AD (with 'after Christ', as mentioned, would be strange, and 'in the year of the Lord' doesn't make for a short, pregnant abbreviation).


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## Outsider

I agree with PacoBajito.


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## Blümchen

OldAvatar said:


> I guess the explanation is a phylosophical/religious one. You can't use _After Christ_, simply because such times do not exist, since Christ is supposed to be alive. So, they appealed to a convention, like _Anno Domini_.



But why is it used in German? We use n. Chr. (nach Christus = after Christ).


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## Arrius

n. Chr. is an abbreviation of _nach Christi *Geburt*,_ (after the* birth* of Christ) as opposed to _vor Christi Geburt_, (before the birth of Christ), Christi being the Latin genitive. 
The expressions and acronyms referring to the _Christian era_ have arisen to avoid offense to Moslems, who revere Jesus but cannot, of course,  view him as their _Dominus_. Jews never seem to have been disturbed by this usage, or maybe nobody bothered to ask them.


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## ErOtto

Arrius said:


> Jews never seem to have been disturbed by this usage, or maybe nobody bothered to ask them.


 
Probably because they are in the year "five thousand something" and they have nothing to do with "before" and "after". 

In Spain we use AC/DC (not the metal band) for "antes de Cristo" and "después de Cristo".

Re
Er


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## Outsider

Arrius said:


> The expressions and acronyms referring to the _Christian era_ have arisen to avoid offense to Moslems, who revere Jesus but cannot, of course,  view him as their _Dominus_. Jews never seem to have been disturbed by this usage, or maybe nobody bothered to ask them.


It was my impression that many Jews preferred to use "C.E. - Common Era" instead of "A.D."


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## Arrius

Why_ Common_ Era? I don't get it. Common to whom?


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## Outsider

Western societies? 
Honestly, I don't know where the phrase comes from. 

P.S. The abbreviation can also be understood as "Christian Era", which might be significant.


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## Blümchen

Arrius said:


> n. Chr. is an abbreviation of _nach Christi *Geburt*,_ (after the* birth* of Christ) as opposed to _vor Christi Geburt_, (before the birth of Christ), Christi being the Latin genitive.
> The expressions and acronyms referring to the _Christian era_ have arisen to avoid offense to Moslems, who revere Jesus but cannot, of course,  view him as their _Dominus_. Jews never seem to have been disturbed by this usage, or maybe nobody bothered to ask them.



Ok, maybe it's originally  nach  Christi Geburt, but everybody I know, even my teachers in school, says nach Christus for n.Chr.


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## Blümchen

Most muslim countries uses the western system with the sunyear and the Date of the birth of Jesus as the starting point in stead of the muslim calender  with has a moonyear and the year 0 is when Muhammad "moved" from Mekka to Medina. The muslim calender is only in use form religion.


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## Arrius

Employees are paid  in Saudi Arabia according to the Islamic calendar (which means ten days' extra pay per solar year!) but even there the Christian (Gregorian) date also appears on newspapers and both systems are used in many texts where historical events are mentioned. Since the Muslim year moves backwards ten days every year, it would otherwise be very difficult,for instance, to tell just from the hijri (hegeri) dates, if Napoleon's retreat from Moscow occurred in winter or summer, which he found to be quite a significant detail!


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## OldAvatar

Blümchen said:


> But why is it used in German? We use n. Chr. (nach Christus = after Christ).



Romanian, for example, uses it too: d.Hr. (după Hristos = after Christ). It is probably just to determine a certain period, when Jesus Christ had an alive body. Though, in times of dictatorship, e.n. (era noastră = our era) was used and it is still used sometimes for political corectness purposes, since not all people are christians.


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## Outsider

And in Spanish and Portuguese (AC/DC, as ErOtto said). 
I'm not very convinced by your theory about why one does not say "after Christ" in English.


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