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If you have seen "ca" in connection with a date, it is the abbreviation for "circa" which is from the Latin for "near to." This pretty much means, "approximately." So if you say that the Vikings started raiding ca 988, you'd be saying "around 988."

The other abbreviations I think you are confusing ca with are "CE" and "BCE". These mean "Common Era" and "Before the Common Era" and are the same as B.C.--before Christ and A.D. which stands for "Anno Domini", Latin for "Year of the Lord." When Christianity became politically incorrect in scholarly circles, the BCE and CE were adopted to avoid dating things only in terms of before and after the birth of Jesus.

In summary: ca means "around that time"

CE or AD mean after the year zero--it is now 2011 CE or 2011 AD.

BCE or BC mean before the year zero as dated from the birth of Christ.

Interesting tidbit--it is thought that the dating for the birth of Christ was miscalculated when the calendar was established, off by four years. So you have the interesting fact of Jesus Christ's birth taking place in a year dated 4 BC--four years "Before Christ!" Nice trick!

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13y ago

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