"{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.: