CE

The term "Common Era" (CE) is a secular term used to remove reference to the historical baseline for the primary calendar dating system. "Common Era" has no historical foundation or meaning. The origin of this term is unclear and the 1972 Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary has no entry for "Common Era". A later edition (11th) defines it as the Christian Era which is contradictory due to the basis of its inception.

The established calendar dating system is based on the calculations of Dionysius Exiguus for the estimated birth year of Jesus, relative to the foundation of Rome, and no one disputes that. But this birth did not begin a "common" era, or any immediate change in history. The 1997 Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary gives a date of 1889 for the origin of the term "Common Era," but there is no indication of who began using it then, and why. Some claim it is a substitute for an occasional reference to the "Vulgar Era," with "vulgar" being Latin for "common" but acquiring a derogatory English meaning over time.

While use of "Common Era" attempts to erase recognition for the Christian origin of the calendar, there are no similar attempts to erase non-Christian religious names from the calendar, such as the days of the week named after Norse gods. Numerous texts, particularly schoolbooks, have replaced "B.C./A.D." with "Common Era" symbols over the past decade.

Consider this frank question and answer with a rabbi about the use of "Common Era," which illustrates that the term "Common Era" did not come from Judaism:

Dear Rabbi:

I would like to know why we say "before the Common Era" and "Common Era" (BCE and CE).

I mean, why do we call it "common?" ...

Dear Viviane [],

When I was a school boy I thought that CE stood for "The Common Error."

Now, 25 years and a number of common errors later, I assume that Common Era simply means "the date commonly accepted and used." But the truth is that I don't know, so I asked your question to a professor of European history. He didn't know either.