Time immemorial

[Sado]

Is there a date when time immemorial relates to.

[kev100]

immemorial means Reaching beyond the limits of memory, tradition, or recorded history.

So you cannot put any date on it.

[delilahcat]

It means a time beyond legal history - in England this was fixed as the year 1189, the beginning of the reign of King Richard 1.

[Marsh]

From http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=time%20immemorial
time immemorial
n. pl. times immemorial
1. Time long past, beyond memory or record. Also called time out of mind.
2. Law. Time antedating legal records
time immemorial
Also, time out of mind. Long ago, beyond memory or recall, as in These ruins have stood here since time immemorial, or His office has been on Madison Avenue for time out of mind. The first expression comes from English law, where it signifies "beyond legal memory," specifically before the reign of Richard I (1189-1199), fixed as the legal limit for bringing certain kinds of lawsuit. By about 1600 it was broadened to its present sense of "a very long time ago." The variant, first recorded in 1432, uses mind in the sense of "memory" or "recall

So kev100 and delilahcat are both right.

 

[mfewell]

That'll be 4004 BC because that's when the world was created (Bishop Ussher, an Irish theologian, 1581-1656. Almost certainly on October 23rd. Sir James Lightfoot later improved this to Oct 3rd, 4004 BC, at 9am)

[Sado]

Thanks, Marsh. I knew the definition to be 'beyond memory', but at the back of my mind, I knew there was a date connection. Obviously, my memory doesn't go back far enough!