And then A.D. comes before the year and B.C. comes after the year — when you’re writing it down.
Different ethnic, cultural, and religious groups have all had different calendars going throughout time and even at the same time, basing their Year One on an important event, the start of a new ruler’s reign, the date a country or region was conquered, etc.
As the world “grew” smaller, it became necessary to get everyone — the European Christians — on the same page, so “everyone” could celebrate the greatest event in Christendom on the same day.
Following the popular crowd, our system’s great event was the birth of Christ. Unfortunately, no one knew “exactly” what year Christ was born, so somewhere between A.D. 515 and 525, a monk, Dionysius, decided to use the science of the day to determine the year. It was important, you see, because Easter was a critical event in the Catholic Church, and it was a struggle every year to create those Easter tables necessary to choose the correct day that Jesus died.
As the earth grew “smaller” yet and trade ranged more extensively (and faster), it became clear that a common calendar was needed for better communication.
Getting From B.C. to A.D.
Time-wise, B.C. does come before A.D. in that B.C. is Before Christ with a slight controversy as to whether Jesus was conceived or born in 1 B.C.
When writing, A.D. actually comes before the year, as in A.D. 1 being the year Christ was born or became one years old. Nope, there’s no zero. Westerners didn’t know there was a number zero until the idea spread from an Indian scholar Brahmagupta (A.D. 628) to Christian Europe between the 11th and 13th centuries. The calendar simply leaps from 1 B.C. to A.D. 1.
The trick to remember is that the year is followed by before Christ was born.
1458 B.C. = 1,458 years before Christ was born.
Europeans were a pretty pious bunch back in the day and their writings, etc., reflected that with in the year of Our Lord 1458…
A.D. 1458 (in the year of Our Lord 1458) = after Christ was born, it’s been 1,458 years.
Of course, now scholars and scientists believe there was a screw-up back in the day, and that Jesus Christ was actually born between 7 B.C. and A.D. 7, although most historians lean towards 4 or 5 B.C. Partially because Herod the Great (who ordered the Slaughter of the Innocents in the year of Jesus’ birth) died in 4 B.C.
The Secularization of Our Calendar
Between not knowing the true year of Christ’s birth and those groups wanting to avoid lord in their dating scheme, B.C. and A.D. have alternated with the Vulgar Era (vulgaris aerae in 1615; the English used Vulgar Era in 1635) and the B.C.E. and the C.E. since the sixteenth century.
What it comes down to is: Anno domini (AD) and before Christ (BC) are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is a dating system devised in AD 525 and not widely used until after AD 800. So if you’re writing a novel based before 800, don’t use B.C. or A.D.
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
If you found this post on “B.C. comes before A.D.” interesting, consider subscribing to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.
| B.C. | A.D. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
 — |
 — |
||
| Part of Grammar: | |||
| Abbreviation | Abbreviation | ||
| Before Christ
Denotes the years before the start of the traditionally reckoned year of the conception or birth of Jesus of Nazareth |
Anno Domini
[Medieval Latin] Translates as:
Based on the traditionally reckoned year of the conception or birth of Jesus of Nazareth, with AD counting years from the start of this epoch |
||
| BCE or B.C.E. | CE or C.E. | ||
| Before Common Era
Before Christian Era Before Current Era Replaces the religious connotations of BC and denotes the years before the commonly recognized Year One for a number of cultures and religious groups |
Common Era
Replaces the religious translation of Lord in AD Building on BCE, CE is based forward from the commonly recognized Year One for a number of cultures and religious groups |
||
| ALL CAPS | Rule: Always, always, always capitalize the AD, BC, BCE, or CE. | ||
| Periods | Rule: Use the periods. Or not. Just be consistent in whichever you choose. | ||
|
Return to top or post contents |
In 45 BC, Rome saw the end of the Great Roman Civil War.
In 45 B.C., Rome saw the end of the Great Roman Civil War. Augustus became the first Emperor of the Roman Empire from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. Augustus became the first Emperor of the Roman Empire from 27 B.C. until his death in A.D. 14. NO, Don’t combine periods with none: Augustus became the first Emperor of the Roman Empire from 27 BC until his death in A.D. 14. |
||
| Size | Rule: Yes, the size is an issue, if you’re a staunch traditionalist. Practice has used a smaller font size for the AD or BC. Consistency is the key. | ||
|
Return to top or post contents |
Traditional: Augustus became the first Emperor of the Roman Empire from 27 Bigger is Becoming Popular: |
||
| Placement | Rule: Only A.D. must be placed before the year. The rest — BC, BCE, CE — follow the year. | ||
|
Return to top or post contents |
There are several versions as to why the AD and BC are placed as they are. One states that χ number of years before Christ and after Christ, it’s been so many years.
Another theory is that the English decided to clean up their grammar and spelling and bring order. As they were enamored of Latin at the time, they followed Latin rules as closely as possible. Since A.D. was of Latin origin, they placed the A.D. in front of the year, i.e., AD 1640, AD 2019, AD 3. Since B.C. is not of Latin origin, the English slipped B.C. in behind the year, i.e., 33 BC, 190 BC, 1 BC ( Anno). Because we’re lazy buggers, usage is beginning to shove the AD behind the year, so why not stay correct and simply use the BCE and CE? Whichever you choose, be consistent. |
||
| 45 BC 45 BCE AD 1868 1868 CE |
|||
| History of the Word: | |||
| BC or B.C. | AD or A.D. | ||
| A.U.C. (ab urbe condita; “in the year of the founded city”) was the traditional date for the founding of Rome in which the Roman Year 1 equaled our Year 753 B.C. and was still being used in A.D. 400.
In one article, a mention was made that the years before Christ were numbered in the negative, but I haven’t found any confirmation as to what was meant. Around A.D. 731, Bede was using “before the incarnation of our Lord”. A work published in A.D. 1627, De doctrina temporum by a French Jesuit named Denis Petau/Petavius, was using ante Christum (A.C. or Ant. Chri.) In the 17th and 18th centuries of the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, scientists and scholars went wild with science and philosophy — and re-working the English language so it made sense, lol. This is when the concept of before Christ (but not the abbreviation) really took hold, making sense for scientists about the geological and fossil evidence they were discovering, as the before years couldn’t work if they went by the age of the earth as supposed in the Bible. |
In general, we moved from using the Roman calendar, A.U.C., to Emperor Diocletian’s in A.D. 284/5, which was used to determine the Easter tables by which Roman Catholics decided which day was Easter.
In A.D. 513 / 525, a Scythian monk named Dionysius was determined to come up with an easier method to determine Easter (and at the same time change the then translation of A.D. from “after Diocletian” to “in the year of Our Lord”. It wasn’t until 731 that Dionysius’ idea caught on when the Venerable Bede used Anno Domini in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People and brought A.D. to the attention of other scholars and missionaries who helped spread the word. In the 9th century, Charlemagne, adopting the system for dating acts of government throughout Europe, increased its popular usage. By the 15th century, A.D. was widespread through Western Europe. [See also In the 19th.] |
||
| In 1988, B.C./A.D. became an international standard when the International Organization for Standardization released ISO 8601, which describes an internationally accepted way to represent dates and times. | |||
| BCE or B.C.E. | CE or C.E. | ||
| In 1942, per Google Books’ Ngram Viewer, Before Common Era first appeared in print with a high point in 2004. | In 1615, Johannes Kepler’s Epitome astronomiae Copernicanæ usitatâ formâ Quæstionum & Responsionum conscripta (Epitome of Copernican Astronomy) used the Latin vulgaris aera (Vulgar Era) as a secular reference with “vulgar” meaning “ordinary”, not “crude”.
Per Google Books’ Ngram Viewer:
|
||
|
In 1715, Before the Common Era and Common Era were used in an astronomy book interchangeably with Vulgar Era.
In the 19th century — and wanting to avoid the reference to Christ implicit in the dominus > lord translation, Jewish intellectuals are said to have introduced BCE / B.C.E. and CE / C.E. In the latter part of the 20th century, the abbreviations became more popular with authors who wanted to emphasize secularism. |
|||
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources For B.C. comes before A.D.
Apple Dictionary.com
Coolman, Robert. “Keeping Time: The Origin of B.C. & A.D.” LiveScience. 9 May 2014. <https://www.livescience.com/45510-anno-domini.html>.
Fabry, Merrill. “Now You Know: When Did People Start Saying That the Year Was A.D.?” History Newsletter. TIME. 31 August 2016. <http://time.com/4462775/bc-ad-dating-history/>.
Ghose, Tia. “Easter Science: 8 Facts About Jesus.” LiveScience. 30 March 2013. Updated 2018. <https://www.livescience.com/28304-facts-about-jesus.html>.
Paulus, Rick. “Without Christianity, What Year Would It Be?: Maybe 2768 A.U.C.” The Sociological Imagination. Pacific Standard.com. 5 June 2015. <https://psmag.com/social-justice/the-year-would-be-that-of-1-million-years-past-our-lord-spaghetti-monsters-bday>, discusses the various calendars used by different groups.
Sullivan, Charles. “Dionysius Exiguus and the AD Calendar System.” CharlesASullivan.com. 8 October 2010. <https://charlesasullivan.com/1842/dionysius-exiguus-and-the-ad-calendar-system/>.
White, Laurie J. “Origins of the Terms BC and AD.” TheShorterWord.com. Accessed 1 July 2018. <https://www.theshorterword.com/origins-bc-ad>.
“Anno Domini.” Wikipedia. Accessed 30 June 2018. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini&grt;.
I ran across a fascinating site, Episteme Academy.com, <http://www.epistemeacademy.org/calendars/>, which is all about calendars and calculating any date you please in over twenty calendars. The current date and its feast days, an analytical ancient full year, convert any date, date-time of equinoxes and solstices, and more. Very handy if you’re writing in a different culture or time period.
Pinterest Photo Credits:
Boulier 1 by HB is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. iPhone X – Front by William Hook is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via Flickr. The screen image is my contribution.
Revised as of 10 June 2022
By: Kathy Davie