Etymologically
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era

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈɪə.rə/, US /ˈɪr.ə/, /ˈer.ə/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin aera (“a number used as a basis of reckoning; an epoch from which time is reckoned”), also ēra,[2][3][4] perhaps influenced by French ère,[3] probably the same word as Latin aera (“counters used for calculation”), the plural of aes (“brass, copper, money”) used as a feminine singular.[2][3][4] It is related to ore.[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The starting point from which a series of years is reckoned: 1615 in the OED, Barnhart and Merriam-Webster, spelled aera;[6][3][5] the spelling era is from 1716.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The use of the Latin word in chronology is said to have begun in 5th-century Spain, where the local era, the aera Hispanica, began in 38 BC.[2][3] Other ancient eras included those of Actium (31 BC) and the Olympiads (776 BC).[2] “A system of chronological notation” is from the 1640s,[2][6] and “a historical period” from 1741,[2][6] as in the American Era of Good Feelings (1817), which, Etymonline remarks, was anything but.[2][6] A period in a person's life is from 1796,[6] and in geology one of the longest divisions of time.[7][8]

Timeline

  • 1615 – the starting point of a reckoning.[6][3]
  • 1640s – a system of dating.[2]
  • 1716 – the spelling era.[2][3]
  • 1741 – a historical period.[2][6]
  • 1796 – a period in a person's life.[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A period of time reckoned from a particular date or event: the Christian era.
  2. A period marked by particular circumstances, events or persons: the Victorian era.
  3. An event or date that begins such a period; an epoch.
  4. In geology, one of the longest divisions of time, made up of periods.

Usage notes

ERA is also an abbreviation of earned run average in baseball and of the Equal Rights Amendment in the United States.[9][8]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press