What did people in 40 or 50 B.C. call the year they lived in? I always wondered this.?

Depends on where in the world you were referring. The link below gives a pretty good summary. As it notes the birth of "Iullus Antonius (the son of Marcus Antonius)" was in "consules ordinarii a.u.c. [Ab Urbe Condita] 744; that's 10BC". But this was in the Roman calendar for those in the Roman context.

Way back in time.People had no conception of time,as we know it today.Rather the year was measured by the seasons.The days by the sun.Ordinary people did'nt know when the year begun or ended.As most of the population was involved in rural work,and were aware of the seasons by the plants,animals,insects and birds around them.For example they would refer to thier children as 4 spring/summer/autumn/winters old.So if a person was15summers old This meant the person was born in summer 15 summers ago Similialy if someone was 15 winters old the same rule applied.They relied on priests and philosophers for everyday guidance

Many times, people referred to the year in which they lived as "The Nth year of the reign of such-and-such ruler." This continued quite a long time after Chistianity came to exist. The Christian Gospel of Luke makes several reference like this, mentioning "the reign of Caesar Augustus" and "when Cyrenius was governor of Syria."

Most civilizations had their own way of numbering the years. The Romans used the number of years a particular emperor had been reigning (For example, the 5th year of the reign of Caesar Augustus).

Specify your question: Where ?

In what is today Israel they used the jewish counting,

in the roman empire they usually used the reigning year of the actual ceasar,

in China: I do not know ....

They usually dated their time from the start of the king's reign

Do you think they called it 40 BC?

That's our own terminology, they probably called it something like remarkable life happening to them, too!

Yours Very Truly;

Jonnie

B.F. or A. F. "Before Flood/After Flood" LOL