Etymology

Vulgar Era

Today it means: Synonym of Common Era. Full definition →

Latin aerae vulgāris
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The story

  1. Latin · calque ofaerae vulgāris
  2. English todayVulgar Era

Calque of Latin aerae vulgāris (from vulgāris, from vulgus (“the common people, i.e. those who are not royalty”)), which originates at least as early as 1615, long before vulgar came to mean “crudely indecent”. Earliest English usage is from 1635 (see quotation).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.