(Vol. iv., pp. 383. 454.; Vol. v., p. 106.)
Your correspondents do not seem to be aware that this _questio vexata_
has given rise to a volume in folio! In 1744 Don Gregorio Mayans y
Siscar published, at the expense of the Academy of Valencia, a volume
containing nearly 400 pages under the following title: _Obras
Chronologicas de Don Gaspar Ibañes, &c., Marquis de Mondejar, &c. &c._,
which is principally occupied by a discourse entitled, "Origen de LA ERA
ESPAÑOLA i su Diferencia con los años de Christo."[4] Prefixed to this
is a very able and learned Preface, by the editor, of nearly 100 pages;
and one would have thought that between these distinguished scholars the
subject in dispute would be set at rest.
[Footnote 4: A re-impression of the Valencia edition was made at
Madrid in the year 1795.]
Unfortunately, however, Spanish scholars and antiquaries have too much
neglected the Gothic element in their language, and they have
consequently missed the only source from whence, as it appears to me,
the true origin of _Era_ could be developed. The Marquis de Mondejar
indeed seems to have had a suspicion of the true source; for he has a
chapter thus entitled "Si puede ser _Gothica_ la voz ERA i aver
introducido los Godos su computo en España?" in which he thus expresses
his incapacity to answer his own question:
"I assi contentandonos con aver expressado nuestra imaginacion con
el mismo recelo que la discurrimos, _prohibendonos la ignorancia
de la lengua Gothica antigua_, el que podamos justificar si pudo
aver procedido de ella la voz ERA propria del computo de que
hablamos."
As long since as 1664 that eminent northern philologist Thomas Marshall,
in his notes on the Gothic Gospels, had thus expressed himself,
confirming, if not anticipating, Spelman:
"{jER} proprie significat annum, sicque usurpatur in omnibus linguis
Gothicæ cognatis; suâ scilicet cuique Dialecto asservatâ. Videant
Hispani, nunquid eorum HERA vel ERA, quod _Ætatem_ et _tempus_
dicitur interdum significare, debeat originationem suam Gothico
{jER}, atque num forsan hinc quoque aliquid lucis affulserit
indagantibus originem vexatissimi illius _Æra_, quatenus
significat Epocham Chronologicam."
In the _Glossary_ the further development of the origin of the word is
ingenious, but not satisfactory:
"Prisca interim Gothorum atque Anglo-Saxonum orthographiâ inducor
ut credam {ger} vel {gear} esse à γυροῦν Gyrare, in orbem
circumvolvere, juxta illud poetæ principis, _Georg_. II. 402.:
'Atque in se sua per vestigia volvitur annus.'
Unde et Annum idem poëta, _Æneid_. I. 273., Orbem dixit:
'Triginta magnos volvendis mensibus orbes
Imperio explebit,'
ubi Servius: Annus dictus quasi Anus, id est Anulus; quod in se
redeat, &c."
That the Roman word _Æra_ signified _number_ in earlier times, we learn
from Nonius Marcellus:
"_Æra_ numeri nota, Lucilius lib. xxviiij. Hoc est ratio perversa,
_æra_ summa, et subducta improbe."
Those who desire further confirmation will find it in that extraordinary
storehouse of erudition, the _Exercitationes Pliniana_ of Salmasius, p.
483., ed. 1689.
It is equally certain that, soon after the establishment of the Gothic
domination in Spain, it was applied in its present signification; but
that it also signified _time_ or period will be evident from the
following passage of the _Coronica General_, Zamora, 1541. fol.
CCC.XXVJ. Speaking of the numbers of the extraordinary armament
assembled by Don Alonzo, preparatory to the battle of Las Navas:
"E para todo esto complir avia menester el rey Don Alfonso de cada
dia doze mil maravedis _de aquella_ ERA, que era buena moneda."
That is to say, money _of that time_.
From our imperfect acquaintance with the early history of the Goths, it
is not easy to decide upon the reasons why they adopted their mode of
reckoning from thirty-eight years before the Christian epoch; but if we
accept the signification which we know it was not unusual to affix to
the word _Era_, namely, that of _year_, _time_, or _period_, the
solution is easy as to its origin. It was only the engrafting of their
own vernacular word into the barbarous Latin of the time, from whence
also it was adopted into the Romance, Castilian, or Spanish.
It may also be observed that Liutprand uses the word in this sense: in
speaking of the Mosque of San Sophia at Constantinople, and how the
course of the reign of its rulers was noted there, so as to be manifest
to all, he concludes:
"Sic ÆRAM qui non viderunt intelligunt."
So Dudo, _De Actis Normannorum_, lib. v. p. 111.:
"Transacta denique duarum _Herarum_ intercapedine, mirabilibusque
incrementis augmentata profusus Ricardo Infante, coepit Dux
Willelmus de Regni commodo salubriter tractare."
It is also remarkable that we find it in use only in those places under
the domination of the Goths, as in the southern provinces of
France,--the Council of Arles, for instance.--_V. Mansi Collect.
Concil._, t. xiv. col. 57.
The earliest inscription in which it has been found was at Lebrija, in
the kingdom of Seville, and the date corresponds with that of the year
465 from the birth of Christ. It runs thus:
ALEXANDRA . CLARISSIMA . FEMINA
VIXIT . ANNOS . PLVS . MINVS . XXV
RECESSIT . IN . PACE. X . KAL . IANVAR
ERA . DIII . PROBVS . FILIVS . VIXIT
ANNOS . DVOS . MENSEM . VNVM.
It is possible there may be some error even here, for no other
inscription yet recorded is so early by eighty years.
Had it been in use at an earlier period, the Spaniard, Paulus Orosius,
whose _History_ ends with A.D. 417, would doubtless have used it;
whereas we find that he makes use of the _Anno Mundi_, of the Olympiads,
and of the _A.U.C._ of the Romans.
All circumstances, therefore, considered, we may safely conclude that in
the Spanish _Era_ we have nothing more than the adoption of the _jera_
of Ulfilas, by whom it is used for ἔτος and χρόνος.
The Gothic word being written with the consonant _j_ {j} will account
for the form in which, to mark the aspiration, _Era_ is often found with
the initial _H_. Whoever may desire to trace the etymology further will
do well to consult Dieffenbach's very valuable _Vergleichendes
Wörterbuch der Gothischen Sprache_.