Editing Era (section)

==Etymology==
The word has been in use in English since 1615,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Time Traveler by Merriam-Webster: Words from 1615 |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/1615 |access-date=2023-12-11 |website=www.merriam-webster.com |language=en}}</ref> and is derived from [[Late Latin]] ''aera'' "an era or epoch from which time is reckoned," probably identical to Latin ''æra'' "counters used for calculation," plural of ''æs'' "brass, money".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Peón |first=Baltasar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ptay4FWMeI8C&pg=PA560 |title=Estudios de cronología universal |date=1863 |publisher=Imprenta Nacional |language=es}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Giorgio |last=Levi Della Vida |author-link=Giorgio Levi Della Vida |year=1943 |title=The 'Bronze Era' in Moslem Spain |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=63 |issue=3 |pages=183–191 |doi=10.2307/593870 |jstor=593870}}</ref>

The Latin word use in chronology seems to have begun in 5th century [[Visigoths|Visigothic]] Spain, where it appears in the ''History'' of [[Isidore of Seville]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hispalensis |first=Isidorus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cLi2PgAACAAJ |title=Isidori Hispalensis Historia de regibus Gothorum, Vandalorum et Suevorum |date=1773 |language=la}}</ref> and in later texts. The [[Spanish era]] is calculated from 38 BC, Before Christ,<ref>{{cite book |title=A Handbook of Dates: For Students of British History |first1=Carl D. |last1=Cheney |first2=Michael |last2=Jones |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2000 |edition=Rev.|page=2}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Roth |first=Norman |title=Calendar |editor-first=E. Michael |editor-last=Gerli |encyclopedia=Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia |publisher=Routledge |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-415-93918-8 |page=190}}</ref> perhaps because of a tax (cfr. [[indiction]]) levied in that year, or due to a miscalculation of the [[Battle of Actium]], which occurred in 31 BC.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Actium, 31 BC: the beginning of the end for Mark Antony and Cleopatra |url=https://www.historyextra.com/period/roman/battle-actium-31-bc-mark-antony-downfall/ |access-date=2023-12-11 |website=HistoryExtra |language=en}}</ref>

Like epoch, "era" in English originally meant "the starting point of an age"; the meaning "system of chronological notation" is c. 1646; that of "historical period" is 1741.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-11-22 |title=Definition of EPOCH |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epoch |access-date=2023-12-11 |website=www.merriam-webster.com |language=en}}</ref>