skygod44 wrote in post #13924163
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Great "old" pics coming into the OLDER thread!
Well done, all.
And @Rog.
Exactly
when did all this BC --> BCE malarkey come into being?
Certainly not while I was in school.
Nor while I was at university.
And is it "USA" based/introduced?
Do you know?
Regards,
Simon
[Up at 1:32am with an awful headache which I can't shake off....
]
Yes, I know.
The AD/BC notation dates from the Christian monk Dionysius Exiguus in the year 525, who originated our modern dating system. He called the new era "Anni Domini Nostri Jesu Christi" (the Years of our Lord Jesus Christ). This was too much of a mouthful and was shortened quickly to "Anno Domini" (the year of the Lord—not the year of our Lord, as is commonly misquoted).
In 731, Bede introduced this numbering system into England, and also introduced the concept of noting years previous as "years before Christ." Bede wrote in Latin using Roman numerals, which have no zero. So, even though Bede knew of the zero, he chose not to use it, and our dating system has been suitably screwed up ever since.
In 1615, the term "vulgaris aerae" (vulgar era) was used in a book by Johannes Kepler. A 1635 English translation of that book has the term "vulgar era." "Vulgar," in this context, means "not regnal," that is, not according to the legal dates of the realm, which were dated from the beginning of the king’s reign.
In 1584, the term "aerae christianae" (Christian era) was used in a theological text. In 1649, that same Latin term was used on the title page of an English almanac. A 1652 ephemeris was the first known use of the term "Christian era" in English.
The term "common era" appears as least as early as 1708. The term "before the common era" was first used in 1770. The 1797 edition of the Encylopædia Britannica uses both the terms "vulgar era" and "common era." The 1909 Catholic Encyclopedia goes one further, using the terms "Christian era," "vulgar era," and "common era" interchangeably. "Vulgar," in this use, is a synonym for "common."
In the mid-nineteen century, many Jewish scholars, including the great Rabbi Morris Raphall, began using CE/BCE notation in lieu of AD/BC notation. In many ways, this was a passive backlash to the rampant anti-Semitism prevalent in England at the time. The VE/BVE notation was also common among Jewish scholars of the time.
Several scholars and others in the fields of theology, education, and history have adopted CD/BCE notation. For example, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, the leading publishing body of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, has been using CE/BCE notation exclusively since 1964.
Major museum and like institutions, such as the Smithsonian Institution, have begun recommending or requiring the use of CE/BCE notation.
Several style guides and grammars now prefer or mandate the use of CE/BCE notation, including the American Standard English, the official formal grammar of the United States government.
In the U.S., the usage of CE/BCE notation in textbooks and other publications is growing. The World Almanac has used it exclusively since 2007, ending 138 years of AD/BC usage. Similarly the College Board uses CE/BCE notation on its history tests, and the Norton Anthology of English Literature uses CE/BCE notation exclusively.
Outside the U.S., the CE/BCE notation system was introduced in the U.K. school curriculum in 2002. The BBC announced in 2011 that it would be using CE/BCE notation on its programs and website. Many British universities, museums, historians, and book publishers are now using CE/BCE notation exclusively or alongside AD/BC notation.
In 2011, the Australian government announced its intention to replace AD/BC notation with CE/BCE notation in its textbooks.
So yes, as you can see, it’s a Johnny-come-lately "politically correct" thing peculiar to the U.S.
Besides, the CE/BCE system is at least intuitively correct. In the AD/BC system, the "AD" correctly goes before the date and the "BC" after the date. I’ll bet most of you didn’t know that!
Happy now?
