era

era¹ era

Etymology tree of era¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin aes

Latin aera

Catalan era

English era

Italian era

Spanish era

From the same root · era¹

Latin aēneus ← aes

Latin aerārius ← aes

Latin aerātus ← aes

Latin āereus ← aes

Latin aerūgō ← aes

Latin obaerātus ← aes

Pronunciation

• Northern: [ˈe̞.ɾə]^[1]
• Balearic, Central: [ˈe.ɾə]^[1]
• Northwestern, Valencia: [ˈe.ɾa]^[1]

Forms

era f (plural eres)^[1]

Etymology

The word for an era is borrowed from Late Latin aera (“number, figure; era”), originally the plural of aes (“bronze; money; amount”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]}

In Latin the sense of a date from which years are counted appears from the 4th century, that of a long epoch first in Isidore.^[6] It was also borrowed as Spanish era, Portuguese era, Italian era and French ère.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Coromines finds the word before the year 1000 in documents more Latin than Catalan, for the eras used in dating, of the Incarnation or the Hispanic era.^[2] The first Catalan record is of the late 14th century: Pere Gilbert explains how to turn la era de Jhesu Christ into la era del Rey en Pere by subtracting 1320 years.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages the word was a term of chronology, the point from which years are counted; the Hispanic era, begun in 38 BC, was used in the Crown of Aragon until 1358.^[9] Labèrnia's dictionary of 1839 adds the sense of a certain time or season.^[10] Fabra's of 1932 has the extended sense of a notable epoch that begins a new order of things.^[11] The DIEC2 adds the unit of geological time above the period, and terms of cosmology.^[9] The GDLC also records a medieval use for a section of a legal text or of a Bible reading, from Medieval Latin.^[5]

Timeline

• before 1000 – the Latin word in documents, for dating eras.^[2]
• late 14th century – Pere Gilbert's Sciència de les steles: la era de Jhesu Christ.^[2][8]
• 1839 – Labèrnia: the starting point of a count of years, and a certain time.^[10]
• 1932 – Fabra: an epoch that begins a new order.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. An era, a period counted from an important event from which it often takes its name: l'era cristiana, l'era hispànica.^[9][5][1]
2. A notable epoch in which a new order of things begins: Amb la impremta va començar una era nova.^[9][12]
3. (geology) A unit of geological time above the period and below the eon.^[9][5]

era² threshing floor; garden plot

Etymology tree of era²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin ārea

Aromanian aryi

Catalan era

Italian aia

Romanian arie

Spanish era

English area

Italian area

From the same root · era²

Latin āreola ← ārea

Pronunciation

• Northern: [ˈe̞.ɾə]^[1]
• Balearic, Central: [ˈe.ɾə]^[1]
• Northwestern, Valencia: [ˈe.ɾa]^[1]

Forms

era f (plural eres)^[1] The vowel is closed /e/ in all Catalan dialects except the Pallars Sobirà, which has open /ɛ/;^[2] Ribagorça has /e/ again.^[2] Throughout the Pyrenees the word is pronounced iera after the article or a demonstrative, with an /i/ added in connected speech.^[2]

Etymology

The word for the threshing floor is inherited from Latin ārea (“open space; threshing floor”).^{[2][13][4][5][1]} The Latin word meant a space or yard without buildings as well as a threshing floor.^[2][14]

The same Latin word is Spanish era, Portuguese eira, French aire, Italian aia and Romanian arie.^[15] The learned doublet is àrea.^[2][1]

The origin of the Latin word is disputed: the OLD suggests āreō (“to be dry”);^[14] Wiktionary gives that explanation and another from *h₂eh₂r-e-yeh₂, a derivative of *h₂erh₃- (“to plough”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records, of the 11th and 12th centuries, are documents from Pallars on salt pans: eras de sal in a document of 1047–1098 for the salt pans of Gerri, and a donation of 1141 of six eras de sal in the county of Pallars.^[2] Earlier still the word is a place name, Era Mala, in 890.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word was soon applied to other places like a threshing floor: around the Albufera a high dry spot beside the rice fields, and in the valleys of Cardós and Vall Ferrera the covered cattle pen, the shed for fodder or the upper floor of a barn.^[2][13] Labèrnia's dictionary of 1839 defines it as a plot of ground for threshing grain.^[10] Pal·las adds in 1927 the yard where potters grind clay or brickmakers dry it, a rectangular plot of cultivated land, and the piece of ground enclosed by the ridges that share out irrigation water.^[16]

The derivatives are old: erola from 1038, erer, a large sieve for the grain, from 1380, and erada, the sheaves spread on the floor for threshing, from 1396.^[4][2] The learned àrea was taken from Latin with the sense of an open space and is recorded in 1839.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 890 – the place name Era Mala.^[2]
• 1038 – first record of the diminutive erola.^[4]
• 1047–1098 – eras de sal in a document from Pallars.^[2]
• 1141 – a donation of six eras de sal in the county of Pallars.^[2]
• 1380 – first record of erer.^[4][2]
• 1396 – erada in a document of the Segarra.^[2]
• 1839 – Labèrnia's definition;^[10][2] àrea first recorded.^[10][2]
• 1932 – Fabra adds the small plot for vegetables or flowers.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A threshing floor, a levelled, firm piece of ground, sometimes paved, where the harvest is threshed: Portaven les garbes a l'era.^[9][5]
2. A similar levelled space used in some trades: l'era del rajoler.^[9][5]
3. A small plot of land for growing vegetables or flowers; a garden bed.^[9][5][1]
4. (dialectal) A building for storing fodder.^[9][5]
5. A square between two ridges of a salt pan.^[13]

Word family

• erada
• eral
• erer
• erol