Re Andrew Millard's last question: perhaps the precision of the limiting
date of a period should be regarded as infinite, but events near the
limit should be clearly recorded as `on the cusp'.
I'm quite happy to say that the Roman period in (southern) Britain is
exactly 43--410 AD though I know both dates are in reality approximate. If
something is `40s AD' can't we describe it as 'LIA _or_ Roman' ? If we
have an exact year, from an inscription for instance, we can write that
year ( which will imply a period ).
On another point: pace Richard Light, syntax (or orthographic) standards
are (imho) a _kind_ of terminological standard and a kind much more
applicable to proper names than to periods of time. Let's stick to the
latter topic.
John Palmer
69 St Cross Road, Winchester SO23 9RE, England
+44 1962 865261
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http://www.stx69.demon.co.uk/
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