Word referencing time of creation
I've been wondering if there is a word to express that something was current at the time of its creation. It (in bold) should plug-in into a sentence similar to:
The results are based on an analyses that deal with the then-current methods.
As far as I can tell, both "contemporary" and "current" refer to now, whereas I would like to express something was "current" in the past.
Answer
It's true that current refers to now, but for contemporary and its related terms, such as contemporaneous, this is not true.
It's a false assumption based on the fact that those terms are used now, so you interpret them as now, but they are used now, because if something is contemporaneous (see below for term explanation) it is related to us.
Contemporary, for example, per se means "living or occurring at the same time". There is no actual reference to the present, past or future, but rather to the co-presence, in a given time, with something/someone else.
Same goes for contemporaneous, as stated in the NOAD:
ORIGIN mid 17th cent.: from Latin, from con- ‘together with’ + temporaneus (from tempus, tempor- ‘time’ ) + -ous .
Existing or occurring in the same period of time: Pythagoras was contemporaneous with Buddha.
I'm not sure this word still fits in your situation, though, because this term compares two elements.
Do you need a single word or a slightly longer expression is accepted? You can say, for example:
"The results are based on analyses that deal with the methods of that time."
If I come up with something better, I'll edit the answer.
Side Note: By the way, this is the same thing for indigenous. It doesn't mean "being a cavern man/someone living out of society" or something similar.
Indigenous means "originating or occurring naturally in a particular place, native".
So, for example, I'm indigenous to the place I was born in, you are to your place, , etc.
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