Newsgroups: alt.usage.english,sci.lang,sci.lang.translation
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!cornellcs!newsstand.cit.cornell.edu!portc01.blue.aol.com!portc02.blue.aol.com!howland.erols.net!cam-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!dispatch.news.demon.net!demon!uknet!usenet1.news.uk.psi.net!uknet!uknet!newsfeed.ed.ac.uk!dcs.ed.ac.uk!rairidh.dcs.ed.ac.uk!rwt
From: rwt@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Rainer Thonnes)
Subject: Re: A.D.
X-Nntp-Posting-Host: rairidh.dcs.ed.ac.uk
Message-ID: <E5stE5.Ft8.0.staffin.dcs.ed.ac.uk@dcs.ed.ac.uk>
Sender: cnews@dcs.ed.ac.uk (UseNet News Admin)
Organization: Edinburgh University Computer Science Department
X-Newsreader: xrn 8.02
References: <Pine.A32.3.93-heb-2.07.970213121041.49200A-100000@ashur.cc.biu.ac.il> <Pine.A32.3.93-heb-2.07.970215233217.27986C-100000@ashur.cc.biu.ac.il> <5e7n9i$d02@uni.library.ucla.edu> <Pine.A32.3.93-heb-2.07.970217150235.27252C-100000@ashur.cc.biu.ac.il> <3308B881.1E23@lunemere.com> <3308f18b.29553665@news.mindspring.com>
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 1997 12:30:03 GMT
Lines: 14
Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu sci.lang:70498 sci.lang.translation:12499

In article <3308f18b.29553665@news.mindspring.com>,
dgary@mindspring.com (D Gary Grady) writes:
> 
> The question is why English got into the habit of using a Latin
> abbreviation (AD) for "positive" years and an English one (BC) for the
> others.

Could it be because the former term had been established much earlier,
in times before negative numbers had been discovered?  Presumably
historical recording of pre-Christian events was always done using
positive numbers, based on the reigns of various rulers.  By the time
historians sought the adoption of a single reference point for all
noteworthy events, Latin may no longer have been the lingua franca.
What a pity this adoption took place before the discovery of zero.
