Does spanish allow for AD and BC dates or is "anno domini" (AD) y "antes de cristo (AC) the correct abbreviations

Question

This is getting interesting. I see AD years and dC years used. May I ask if it is commonly accepted to use AD instead of dC years in Spanish? What about BC versus aC years?

Thanks for the info!

Dana

Answer 1

BC becomes "aC" or "A de J.C." or "A de C." AD becomes "dC". I don't recall ever seeing the English (or Latin) abbreviations in Spanish. You would probably do well to use "aC" and "dC".

Maybe there are variations in some areas.

The correct abbreviation should have a period after each letter, and a space between them: "a. C.", "d. C." - lazarus1907, Sep 21, 2010

Answer 2

In Spanish the common abbreviations are a.C y d.C, for "antes"/"después". I think I've seen A.D. a number of times, though it might not have been in Spanish texts after all; it isn't the common, accepted way of writing it nowadays at least. B.C. is certainly a no-no. A.D. was commonly used in the past because it came from Latin, but B.C. (before Christ) is an English expression, and as such it doesn't make sense to use it in Spanish, and I can't recall a single time I've seen one in a Spanish book.

Answer 3

In english I know it is now b.c.e (before common era) instead of b.c (before christ)

Officially, yes, but that's not common usage yet, to my knowledge. - dejongbr, Dec 16, 2012

Answer 4

A.C = Antes de Cristo (B.C = before Christ)

D.C. = Después de Cristo (A.D = Anno Domini )

Bye.

"Antes" and "después" should remain lower case: "a. C." and "d. C." - lazarus1907, Sep 21, 2010