[Grammar] About 'not since'

[BrianW]

"No one has lived there for nearly two thousand years- not since the summer of the year AD 79, to be exact."
Can somebody tell me why the author used 'not since' here? Can I use 'since' intead? Because it is only about from that time on.

 

[Finicky]

Can I use 'since' intead?

No. What does that 'not' do in 'not since'? What it does is reiterate the negation in the preceeding statement (has not lived).

 

[BrianW]

Thank you very much!:up:

 

[5jj]

Can I use 'since' intead? Because it is only about from that time on.

Yes you can.

No one has lived there for nearly two thousand years - since the summer of the year AD 79, to be exact.
That's probably the sentence we'd expect.

No one has lived there for nearly two thousand years- not since the summer of the year AD 79, to be exact.
The speaker is emphasing the not-living idea. The purist might object that what is being said is 'No one has lived there not since [...] AD79', but most of us would simply think that a second, reinforcing, idea has been added: no one has lived there for nearly two thousand years - 'they' have not lived there since [...] AD79.

 

[Tdol]

I agree that you don't have to use not there.