_Derivation of "Æra"_ (Vol. iv., p. 383.).--With regard to the
derivation of _Æra_ (or _Era_). I have always been accustomed to
explain the derivation of _Æra_ or _Era_ thus:--that it is a term
transferred from the [brazen] tablets, on which the records of events
were noted, to the events themselves, and thence to the computum, or
fixed chronological point from which the reckoning proceeds.
My difficulty here has been to find sufficient instances of the use of
brass in ancient times for these purposes. Brass was the material on
which laws, &c. were commonly registered: but the fasti at present
discovered, as far as I can learn, are engraven on marble; as, for
instance, the Fasti Capitolini, discovered in the Roman Forum in 1547,
and the fragments afterwards brought to light in 1817, 1818.
Isidore of Hispola, in the eighth century, in his _Origines_, gives this
derivation:
"Æra singulorum annorum constituta est a Cæsare Augusto, quando
primum censum exegit. Dicta autem Æra ex eo, quod omnis orbis æs
reddere professus est reipublicæ."
I quote on the authority of Facciolati, who adds that others derive the
word from the letters A.ER.A., "annus erat Augusti." These are not at
all satisfactory; and I shall be glad if you will allow me to throw in
my derivation as "being worth what it will fetch."