Common Era

English

Etymology

Originally Vulgar Era. The English phrase "common Era" appears at least as early as 1708, and by 1715 is used synonymously with "Christian Era" and "Vulgar Era".

Proper noun

the Common Era

1. (chronology) The secular equivalent of anno Domini and the Christian Era, the internationally recognized method of numbering years on the Gregorian calendar.
   • 1708 January, The History of the Works of the Learned‎^[1], volume 10, London: Printed for H. Rhodes, retrieved 2011-10-31, page 513:

     The second Book is divided into eight Chapters, treats of the origin of the Greek Characters, and changes that happen'd in them, to the fourth Century of the common Era.

   • 1715, David Gregory with John Nicholson and John Morphew, The Elements of Astronomy, Physical and Geometrical‎^[2], volume v. 1 (Astronomy), London: printed for J. Nicholson, and sold by J. Morphew, retrieved 2008-01-05, page 252:

     Some say the World was created 3950 Years before the common Æra of Christ

   • 1835, Alexander Campbell, Living Oracles:

     The vulgar Era, or Anno Domini; the fourth year of Jesus Christ, the first of which was but eight days." In its article on General Chronology, the 1908 Catholic Encyclopedia stated that "Foremost among these (dating eras) is that which is now adopted by all civilized peoples and known as the Christian, Vulgar or Common Era, in the twentieth century of which we are now living.

   • 1770, William Hooper with Jacob Friedrich Bielfeld, The Elements of Universal Eurdition (v. 2)‎^[3], London: G. Scott, printer, for J Robson, bookseller in New-Bond Street, and B. Law in Ave-Mary Lane, retrieved 2007-09-13, page p 105:

     1796 years before the common era, and 1020 before the first Olympiad.

Synonyms

• Era Vulgaris (pseudo-Latin, by Thelemites)

Antonyms

• BCE (Before the Common Era)

Translations

secular equivalent of anno Domini and the Christian Era

• Bulgarian: но́вата е́ра (nóvata éra)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 公元 (zh) (gōngyuán)

• Esperanto: Komuna Erao
• Finnish: ajanlasku (fi)
• French: de notre ère (fr), ère commune (fr) f, ère vulgaire (fr) f
• German: gängige Zeitrechnung (de) f
• Greek: Κοινή Εποχή (Koiní Epochí), Κοινή Χρονολογία (Koiní Chronología), Κοινή Περίοδος (Koiní Períodos)
• Hindi: ईसवी (hi) (īsvī), ईसवी सन् m (īsvī san), ईसा पूर्व (īsā pūrv)
• Hungarian: időszámításunk (hu)
• Italian: era comune f, era volgare f
• Japanese: 西暦 (ja) (seireki)
• Macedonian: нашата ера f (našata era)
• Polish: nasza era f
• Portuguese: Era Comum f
• Russian: на́шей э́ры f (nášej éry) (genitive of на́ша э́ра (náša éra))
• Sindhi: اَڄُڪَلهَه (ajjukalha)
• Slovene: naše štetje n
• Spanish: era común f, era vulgar f
• Thai: สามัญศักราช (sǎa-man-yá-sàk-gà-ràat)
• Vietnamese: Công Nguyên (vi)

References

• Common Era on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “Common Era”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, →ISBN.
• “Common Era”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• "Common Era" in WordNet 2.0, Princeton University, 2003.
• "General Chronology in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Robert Appleton Company, 1908.