the Fourth Week of Advent
Click here to learn more!
Bible Encyclopedias
Epoch
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
or (Gr. eiroXi, holding in suspense, a pause, from 7rExtu', to hold up, to stop), a term for a stated period of time, and so used of a date accepted as the starting-point of an era or of a new period in chronology, such as the birth of Christ. It is hence transferred to a period which marks a great change, whether in the history of a country or a science, such as a great discovery or invention. Thus an event may be spoken of as "epoch-making." The word is also used, synonymously with "period," for any space of time marked by a distinctive condition or by a particular series of events.
In astronomy the word is used for a moment from which time is measured, or at which a definite position of a body or a definite relation of two bodies occurs. For example, the position of a body moving in an orbit cannot be determined unless its position at some given time is known. The given time is then the epoch; but the term is often applied to the mean longitude of the body at the given time.
These files are public domain.
Chisholm, Hugh, General Editor. Entry for 'Epoch'. 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/bri/e/epoch.html. 1910.
