circa prep. Abbr. c. or ca In approximately; about: born circa 1900. [Latin circ, from circum, around (probably on the model of adverbs like intr, within), from circus, circle. See circle.]
Hmmm.... I always thought circa meant about and was relative. e.g. Circa 5000bc (that could mean +/` 500 years to me). On the other hand circa May 15,2004 would mean within a week or so of that date. On birthdates that are circa 1900 or circa 1950..., to me, that means within a few years of those dates. But, then circa also means, to me, that the date specified to be "circa of" is also in question which adds even more questions as to when whatever it was happened. Circa is a good time to start looking for the actual date of whatever happened then though. :-) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ron Klotz Zellhoefer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, May 27, 2005 1:40 PM Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] learning from mistakes Jim, as to "official usage" I would have no clue. Onceuponna time I tried using "Cir" but that did seem to have some problem, long ago forgotten. Somewhere here on LUG recently someone mentioned that circa meant a range of +/- 20 years, but I think that's not exactly right, leaning toward meaning "about" as a somewhat better definition, altho circa may imply a larger range than about. ?? I use "Est" whenever documentation is unavailable and the date would be accurate only within a rather wide range. Of couse there must be "some clue" or else we'd just have lots of individuals floating somewhere out there in cyberspace!. e.g. A name with no location, no kin, no spouse and no date is useless, and would never get into anyone's gen-database (I hope!). I use "Abt" when there is a reasonable certainty, e.g. a birthdate of an Evangelical in 18th century Bavaria was quite likely only 1-3 days prior to the christening date, so I'd post "Abt Mar 1784", which should be understood by a reader as perhaps Feb/Apr 1784. Also e.g. a child born between siblings known-born in 1822 and 1828 would be given a birthdate of "Abt 1825". In other words there is some supporting documentation even when deduced, and I prefer "Abt 1825" over "Bet 1822/1828". Also e.g. a child shown as age 8 in the 1880 census is somewhat more definite, so I would use "1871/1872", and in such instance of course we would identify the source. It seems somewhat a matter of personal preference, but we try to post using whatever term should be clearly understood by our readers. In that sense "Est" is a bit problematic, as by definitition Estimate supposes some solid bit of direct source-data, despite that really just a semi-educated Guesstimate! If we stick with the standards with which Legacy deals so well, we'll be okay. RonKZ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Winfrey" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, 27 May, 2005 11:29 Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] learning from mistakes Ron, I supply estimated birth dates too and it does help to keep data in perspective. One thing I get hung up on is when to use "circa", estimated", "about", etc. Legacy defaults to Est and Abt but to me those terms mean different things. I use About when I don't have a clue and not much surrounding evidence, Est when I have dates for siblings, parents marriage, etc. I used to Circa with another program when the only evidence I had was court event records, dates for associates, etc but with Legacy I use Abt for Circa. Is there any official usage for all these similar words? Jim On 5/27/05, Ron Klotz Zellhoefer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi, > I'm coming into this thread late, but ... > When posting an individual with no known birthdate, I *always enter > something* for birthdate. > Perhaps most frequently is finding/posting a parent, where e.g. > "[childbirthdate]-30" may be appropriate, posted as e.g. "Est 1848". > Two benefits -- > first that Legacy will then mark the individual as dead at an appropriate > future date > second it's most helpful in e.g. Index View for sorting individuals and/or > in just plain seeing *something* which might help one "recognize" that > individual, especially amongst many with the same name! > HTL > RonKZ Legacy User Group Etiquette guidelines can be found at: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup%40mail.millenniacorp.com/ To unsubscribe please visit: http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/LegacyLists.asp
