Etymologically
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aera

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈae̯.ra][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈɛː.ra][1]

Forms

aera f (genitive aerae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is post-classical, probably a special use of aera “counters”, the plural of aes “bronze, money”, made into a feminine singular.[1][2][3] The TLL calls it a plural of aes with changed declension and gender.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Rufius Festus, in his Breviarium in the late 4th century, uses it of a number or item in a reckoning.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense was a number used in a calculation, an item of an account.[6][5] From that it came to mean the date from which years are counted, an era: Isidore of Seville says the era of each year was fixed by Caesar Augustus at the first census of the Roman world.[7][4] The Spanish era began in 38 BC, and Etymonline dates this use to the 7th century.[2]

In medieval Latin it was also the number of a chapter or section, especially in laws and canon collections.[8][9] English era is recorded as aera in the 1610s and as era in 1716.[2]

Timeline

  • late 4th century AD – Rufius Festus uses it of a number.[4]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville explains the era as fixed by Augustus.[7][10]
  • 1610s – English aera is recorded, later era.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Late Latin) A number, an item of an account.[6][5]
  2. (Late Latin) An era, the epoch from which years are counted.[1][6]
  3. (Medieval Latin) The number of a chapter or section.[8][9]

Word family

  • aerinus

Usage notes

A different word is aera “darnel”, a weed among grain, borrowed from Greek and used by Pliny the Elder.[11][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  5. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  10. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press