aes
Pronunciation
Forms
aes n (genitive aeris); third declension[1]
Etymology
It is inherited from Proto-Italic *ajos, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éyos (“bronze, metal”), with an oblique stem *ajes-.[2][1] Cognate with Umbrian ahesnes (“bronze (ablative plural adjective)”) and Oscan αιζνιω (aizniō, “made of bronze”), with Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐌶 (aiz, “bronze”), Sanskrit अयस् (áyas, “metal, iron”) and Avestan aiiah (“metal”).[2] De Vaan notes that it is not entirely clear how the attested form came from the Proto-Italic form, since there are no exact parallels, and suggests that the nominative was remade on the oblique stem and stayed uncontracted.[2] The adjective a(h)ēnus “made of bronze” is derived from it, and its spelling with ⟨h⟩ has been explained as borrowed from Umbrian.[2] Isidore of Seville says it was named for its shine.[3]
Earliest recorded meaning
De Vaan's first attestation is the Laws of the Twelve Tables, with the ablative aired in an early inscription.[2] Köbler dates the Twelve Tables to about 450 BC.[4] An early tragic fragment lists iron, bronze, silver and gold among the metals hidden in the earth.[5]
Semantic evolution
Its first sense is copper, bronze or brass as a metal.[5] Because the earliest Roman coinage was of copper or bronze, it came to mean money of that metal, as in aes grave “heavy bronze coinage”, then money in general and monetary value.[5] Aes alienum, literally “another's money”, was the regular term for a debt, already in Plautus.[5] It also meant a fee or fare paid for a service.[5]
By metonymy it named things made of bronze: cymbals, trumpets, statues and vases, and the bronze tablets on which laws were inscribed, as when Cicero speaks of the bronze tablets of the laws melted down.[5][6] Isidore notes that bronze was known to the ancients before iron, and that they ploughed and fought with it.[3] In medieval Latin it kept the senses of money, coins and debt and was also used of a bell, a trumpet and armour.[4] The Late Latin chronological term aera, from which English era comes, is probably the plural of this word, used of counters for calculation.[7]
Timeline
- c. 450 BC – The Laws of the Twelve Tables use it.[2][4]
- c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has aes alienum “debt”.[5][4]
- 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the bronze tablets of the laws.[5][4]
- c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville discusses the metal and its name.[3][4]
- 1610s – English aera, later era, is recorded from its Late Latin derivative.[7]
Meanings
Noun
- copper, bronze or brass.[5][1]
- Copper or bronze as currency, aes grave, heavy bronze coinage.[5]
- money in general, cash; monetary value.[5][1]
- aes alienum, a debt.[5][1]
- A fee or fare.[5][1]
- An object made of bronze: a trumpet, cymbal, weapon or vessel.[5][6]
- A work of art in bronze, a statue.[5]
- An inscribed bronze tablet.[5]
Word family
- aereus
- aēneus
- aera
- aeracius
- aerārius
- aerātus
- aerifer
- aerificē
- aeripēs
- aerisonus
- aerō
- aerōsus
Related words
- aerāria
- aerārium
- aerūginō
- aerūginōsus
- English era
- English ore
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ a b c Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
- ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
- ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com