Circa

Circa (from Latin, meaning 'around, about, roughly, approximately')  frequently abbreviated ca. or c. and less frequently circ., cca. or cc.  signifies "approximately" in several European languages and is used as a loanword in English, usually in reference to a date.[1] Circa is widely used in historical writing when the dates of events are not accurately known.

When used in date ranges, circa is applied before each approximate date, while dates without circa immediately preceding them are generally assumed to be known with certainty.

Examples

  • 1732–1799: Both years are known precisely.
  • c. 1732 – 1799: The beginning year is approximate; the end year is known precisely.
  • 1732 – c. 1799: The beginning year is known precisely; the end year is approximate.
  • c. 1732 – c. 1799: Both years are approximate.
gollark: At least we actually have some choice of ISP, though, and mostly no data caps.
gollark: The government has some sort of "gigabit voucher" scheme for people in rural areas with slow internet connections.
gollark: I thought Virgin Media did cable.
gollark: Er, it does.
gollark: If you have lots of "smart" things, probably at least a few of them are participating in some botnets.

See also

References

  1. "circa". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
  • Media related to Circa at Wikimedia Commons
  • The dictionary definition of circa at Wiktionary
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