B.C.E.

Origins

The Anno Domini system was devised by the monk Dionysius Exiguus, while he was, in Rome, working on a table to establish future dates for Easter. When he devised his table, Julian calendar years were identified by regnal years and by naming the consuls who held office that year. He wished to replace the Diocletian years that had been used, because he did not wish to continue the memory of a persecutor of Christians. In the process, he determined a year for the beginning of the life of Jesus. Whether he intended the year of Jesus' birth or his conception is an issue still debated. Many historians and Biblical scholars place the birth of Jesus from one to about six years earlier than Dionysius calculated. These scholars include D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris. An Introduction to the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992, 54, 56; Michael Grant, Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels, Scribner's, 1977, p. 71; John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew, Doubleday, 1991–, vol. 1:214; E. P. Sanders, The Historical Figure of Jesus, Penguin Books, 1993, pp. 10–11, and Ben Witherington III, "Primary Sources," Christian History 17 (1998) No. 3:12–20. He gave a method to calculate "annos ab incarnatione Domini nostri Jesu Christi" (Latin for years since the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ). Dionysius, Nineteen Year Cycle of Dionysius [1] [2], Nineteen Year Cycle of Dionysius, "In this document, Dionysius used both "annis Christi" and "anni Domini nostri Jesu Christi" for titles and headings. He also used "annos Domini", "annos ab incarnatione Domini nostri Jesu Christi", "annos incarnationis Domini nostri Jesu Christi", "annus ab incarnatione Domini nostri Jesu Christi", and "anni ab incarnatione Domini". He made no reference in this document to years before Jesus. He himself stated that the then current year was 525 years since the incarnation of Jesus.

Some two centuries later in northern England, the Venerable Bede began the process of bringing the AD system Dionysius had invented into general use in Western Europe, when he (Bede) used it to date the events in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed in 731. Bede also used another Latin term "ante uero incarnationis dominicae tempus" ("the time before the Lord's true incarnation"), equivalent to the English "before Christ", to identify years before the first year of this era.[3], Historiam ecclesiasticam gentis Anglorum, Book 1, Chapter 2, first sentence. According to the General Chronology article in the 1914 Catholic Encyclopedia, usage of AD gradually became more common in Europe in the latter part of the ninth century, and, while it occurred occasionally in papal documents of the time of John XIII (965-972), it was not the rule before the 12th century.[4], B. M. Lersch, Einleitung in die Chronologie, 2 vols., Freiburg, 1899 (vol. ii. on Christian Calendar) p. 233. In 1422, Portugal became the last Western European country to switch to the Anno Domini system.[5], General Chronology, New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia

The term "Common Era" is traced back in English to its appearance as "Vulgar Era" (from the Latin word vulgus, the common people, i.e. those who are not royalty) at a time when vulgar did not mean "crudely indecent". In Latin, Common Era is written as Vulgaris Aera. The first instance of this found so far in Latin is in a 1762 book by Laurentis Joanne Bertie, entitled Ecclesiasticae historiae breviarium. Editio, post secundam venetam. Pars prima quae compectitur Chronologiae Rudimenta. Pars secunda quae progreditur usque ad unnum Vulgaris Aera; [6] A 1716 book by Dean Humphrey Prideaux says, "The vulgar era, by which we now compute the years from his incarnation." Merriam Webster accepts the date of 1716, but does not give the source. [7], Merriam Webster Online entry for Vulgar Era,