420 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 131. 



thaniell Henshawe, of Valence, in Essex; M' Ben- 

 jamin Henshawe, of Cheapside, in London; and 

 M'' Thomas Henshawe, of Saffron Walden, in 

 Essex." The third Dedication is dated from Lut- 

 terworth, in Leicestershire, May 10: the others 

 from King's Coll., June 12, 1627. C. W. B. 



MS. Account of Fellows of Kings, anno 1616. 



" Ralph Winterton of Lutterworth, Leicester, Bro. 

 of Fran., who was Gent, of the Pr. Chamber to Hen. 

 Maria, and served under D. of Hamilton in Germ., and 

 was killed at Custrin, on the Borders of Silesia. See 

 History of that Expedition. 



" M.D., Prof. Regi Med., Sept 13, 1636, at which 

 time all the Reg. Prof, were of K. C. 



" He was a great Physician & Scholar, insomuch 

 that he was a Candidate to succeed Downes as Greek 

 Prof. He translated Gerhard's Sum of Xtian Doctri., 

 1640, of which see Dedication. On his Bro. depart- 

 ing for Germany, he translated Drescelius on Eternity, 

 and on another occasion returned to Gerhard. Tliis 

 was probably on some difficulty which was started to 

 his Degree of M.D. by Provost Collins. He is said 

 at one time to have suffered so, as for a time to have 

 lost his senses. His Books are prefaced by recommen- 

 datory Verses from K. C. men, viz. D. Williamson, 

 1627 ; R. Newman, H, Whiston, and Thomas Page, 

 1627 ; Wym Carew, 1622 ; Tho. Bonham, 1621 ; Edm. 

 Sheafe, 1613; R. Williams, 1623; T, Yonge, 1624. 



" He published Dionysius de ■'•itu Orhis, with a De- 

 dication to Sir H. Wotton, and Hippocrates' Aphorisms 

 in Gr. Verse, 1633. Qu", if the Lat. Verses not writ- 

 ten by Fryer, an eminent Physician at Camb. Qu', the 

 PoetcB Minores." 



See, too, a short account in Harwood's Alumni 

 JEtonensis, p. 218. J. H. L. 



MEA.NING AND ORIGIN OF " ERA." 



(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 fijUowing title : Obras Chronologicas 

 de Don Gaspar Ibanes, SfC, Marquis de Mondejar, 

 ifc. SfC, which is principally occupied by a dis- 

 course entitled, " Origen de la Era Espanola i 

 su Diferencia con los auos de Christo."* 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. 



Unfortunately, however, Spanish scholars and 

 antiquaries have too much neglected the Gothic 

 element in their language, and they have conse- 

 quently missed the only source from whence, as it 

 appears to me, the true origin of Era could be de- 



* A re-impression of the Valencia edition was made 

 at Madrid in the year 1795. 



veloped. 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 com- 

 puto en Esparia?" 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, con- 

 firming, if not anticipating, Spelman : 



" C6R proprie significat annum, sicque usurpatur in 

 omnibus Unguis Gothicse cognatis ; sua scilicet cuique- 

 Dialecto asservata. Videant Hispani, nunquid eorum 

 HERA vel ERA, quod JEtatem et tempus dicitur interdum 

 significare, debeat originationem suam Gothico Q€R, 

 atque num forsan hinc quoque aliquid lucis afFulserit 

 indagantibus originem vexatissimi illius JEra, qua- 

 tenus significat Epocham Chronologicam." 



In the Glossary the further development of the 

 origin of the word is ingenious, but not satisfac- 

 tory : 



" Prisca interim Gothorum atque Anglo- Saxonum 

 orthographia inducor ut credam S^n vel seap esse a 

 yvpovv Gyrare, in orbem circumvolvere, juxta illud 

 poetae principis, Georg. ii. 402. : 



' Atque in se sua per vestigia volvitur annus.' 

 Unde et Annum idem poeta, jEneid, 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 JEJra signified number in 

 earlier times, we learn from Nonius Marcellus : 



*' jEra Humeri nota, Lucilius lib. xxviiij. Hoc est 

 ratio perversa, eera 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 establish- 

 ment of the Gothic domination in Spain, it was 

 applied in its present significati(m ; 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 assem- 

 bled 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 raaravedis de aquella Era^ 

 que era buena moneda." 



That is to say, money of that time. 



