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I found two inscriptions on a building in central Italy (both in Latin). The first one describes how two guys with lots of titles decided to erect the building and it ends with a commonly seen A.D. MDCXXXII.

The second one states that the previous building collapsed and a new one was built by other two man with multiple titles. At the end it says "A.S. CDDCCLXXI".

What does this mean? I find it particularly strange that they use "A.S.", which I couldn't find on the list of abbreviations on Wikipedia, and "CDD", which I cannot make sense of (it would be too early if it meant 900). Does anyone know?

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    Welcome to the site! This is an interesting question. If you happen to have a photo of the inscriptions, that would be helpful. You can add pictures to your question. There might be some useful little details and context there.
    – Joonas Ilmavirta ♦
    Commented Oct 1, 2017 at 22:23
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    CD is an alternative for M: I would guess the A.S. would be Year of our Salvation ; Anno Salvationis or of our Saviour; Salvatoris.
    – Hugh
    Commented Oct 2, 2017 at 2:40
  • @Hugh Would you (or anyone else) like to post that as an answer? It answers the question, so it doesn't really belong in the comments.
    – Joonas Ilmavirta ♦
    Commented Oct 2, 2017 at 5:33
  • @Hugh Thank you! As for the picture, I would've added one, but it was fairly dark and hard to read
    – John Donne
    Commented Oct 2, 2017 at 18:31
  • @Hugh Good idea! Anno salutis, or maybe salutaris makes more sense to me.
    – Rafael
    Commented Oct 3, 2017 at 12:09

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I suspect it says CǀƆǀƆCCLXXI = 1500 + 200 + 50 + 20 + 1 = 1771

But, as Joonas says, it would be helpful to see a photograph.

A.S. is "anno Salvatoris" (as Hugh has mentioned).

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  • Thank you! "A.S." = "anno Salvatoris" makes sense. Also the year being 1771 is possible (the building is loosely neoclassical in style). Unfortunately I don't have a picture as it was too dark to take one (and the inscription was high up). Do you have a reference or other instances for "CǀƆǀƆ"? I distinctly recall the second letter being "D", not "ǀƆ". (to clarify, the year was the lowest line, so easiest to read)
    – John Donne
    Commented Oct 2, 2017 at 18:37
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    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_numerals#/media/…
    – fdb
    Commented Oct 2, 2017 at 18:44
  • @JohnDonne I've seen CǀƆD before, in a book from the eighteenth century, actually.
    – cmw ♦
    Commented Oct 3, 2017 at 13:14

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