Talk:Year of the Prophet

BP: not really

I was just thinking... labelling years before 1 YP with "BP" for "before the Prophet" is not actually correct. Since the YP calendar measures years since the Prophet's death, the notation "30 BP" would literally indicate "thirty years before the Prophet" when in fact Zarakatias was alive and presumably going strong in that year, as he'd have been around 40 years old already, having lived to around 70 IIRC. So the notation -30 YP is perhaps more desirable? *shrug* Radius 03:12, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

I agree. -30 YP would be better. IMHO it also facilitates thinking about relative chronology because the negative value indicates you have to count backwards, so no danger of accidentally mixing up events... Cedh 08:22, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

On the other hand, we run into the question of how to deal with 0 YP. Is 0 YP the year he dies, or the year before that? - Zhen Lin 13:53, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

I agree that using the -30 YP notation is clearer when dates are listed individually, but it makes giving a range of dates a little awkward (mostly because the minus sign looks like a dash).

(An aside-- It might be good to use Adāta words rather than English. I've sometimes been using "LR" for Lād ax Rūnak 'Year of the Prophet' in my personal notes; maybe the native name for the negative years could use the preposition axērit 'as far as, up to, until', which sounds more like it could include the Prophet's lifetime... so "AR" Axērit Rūnak might be better that "BP"?)

Re: Zhen Lin's comment-- even if we use the -30 YP notation, there doesn't have to be a 0 YP; it could go straight from -1 to 1 if we want, though that would make calculating time spans across the boundary slightly more difficult. (I suppose you're aware that the concept of zero is a rather advanced one, and many ancient cultures didn't have it-- though the Maya did IIRC.)

That wouldn't resolve Zhen Lin's question, though, which could be restated "is 1 YP the year Zārakātias died, or the year after?" It seems like it could easily be either (imagine if it started by people saying "three years after the Prophet died, ...").

I guess the answers to all these questions fall under Dewrad's jurisdiction, if he wants to make a decree. Corumayas 00:33, 19 September 2008 (UTC)