# Enigma's MCMXC a.D. Why the lowercase "a?"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enigmas-mcmxc-a-d-why-the-lowercase-a/497108>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [May 20, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enigmas-mcmxc-a-d-why-the-lowercase-a/497108 "2009-05-20T20:31:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Rattlehead02](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rattlehead02/32/3944_2.png) [@Rattlehead02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rattlehead02)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enigmas-mcmxc-a-d-why-the-lowercase-a/497108/1 "2009-05-20T20:31:24Z")

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I checked Wikipedia and the closest they come to explaining it is:

> [@](#):
>
> MCMXC a.D. (1990 in Roman numerals followed by a seemingly incorrect abbreviation of “Anno Domini”) is a concept album created by the musical project Enigma, spearheaded by Michael Cretu.

So if it isn’t an abbreviation for Anno Domini, what does it mean?

Thanks!

Jeff

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**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enigmas-mcmxc-a-d-why-the-lowercase-a/497108/2 "2009-05-20T22:36:29Z")

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It’s an enigma wrapped in a riddle.

😃

Couldn’t help that… I’m guessing the lower-case ‘a’ is nothing more than a stylistic decision.

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enigmas-mcmxc-a-d-why-the-lowercase-a/497108/3 "2009-05-21T01:24:47Z")

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Maybe they believe in God, but they’re not too sure about years.

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**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enigmas-mcmxc-a-d-why-the-lowercase-a/497108/4 "2009-05-21T07:54:07Z")

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It is the abbreviation for anno Domini. Thing is, Romans didn’t use lowercase letters or periods to indicate “this is an abbreviation” (so, the Latin abbreviation is AD), but now we do use lowercase letters, we do use periods to indicate abbreviation, and in many languages we do use a lowercase letter to abbreviate a lowercase word, an uppercase letter to abbreviate a capitalized word.

It is not the usual abbreviation for anno Domini - it’s a… hypercorrect abbreviation, tho. Maybe someone from Enigma is a Doper 😃

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**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enigmas-mcmxc-a-d-why-the-lowercase-a/497108/5 "2009-05-21T08:41:27Z")

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I was always to busy gettin busy to the sexy beats to even notice the lower case a…or at least wishin I was 🙂