| 释义 |
era|ˈɪərə|
Also 7–9 æra.
[a. late L. æra fem. sing. ‘a number expressed in figures’ (see Forcellini, s.v.), prob. f. æra counters used in calculation, pl. of æs brass, money
The chronological use of the word appears to have originated in Spain; where (as also in Southern Gaul and North Africa) it is found in inscriptions prefixed to the number of years elapsed since 38 b.c., the selection of which as an initial year has not been satisfactorily explained. (Isidore of Seville in the 6th c. says that this was the year in which Augustus first ordered the taxation of Spain.) Thus ‘æra (oftener written era) dxxxviii’ (= ‘No. 538’) meant the year 500 a.d. This method of reckoning was in use from the 5th to the 15th century, and Spanish Latin writers employed the word æra as its specific designation. The phrase æra Hispanica, ‘Spanish æra’, suggested to the scholars of the Renascence the parallel expressions æra Christiana, æra Varroniana, etc., in which the n. had the generalized sense ‘a reckoning of time from a particular epoch’, for which no term had previously existed in Latin.]
1. A system of chronological notation, characterized by the numbering of years from some particular point of time; e.g. the Christian era, Common era, or Vulgar era (see Christian 7); era of the Hegira (Hijrah), the Muslim era, reckoned from the year of Muhammad's flight from Mecca; era of Nabonassar, a Babylonian era, employed in astronomy, commencing 747 b.c., etc., etc. These phrases are also frequently employed in sense 2.
a1646J. Gregory Learned Tracts (1649) 164 Dionysius the Abbot..brought in the æra of Christ's Incarnation, so that..the Christians did not use to reckon by the years of Christ, until the 532 of the Incarnation. 1650Row Hist. Kirk (1842) 504 They would begin their epocha or æra from his comeing to Jerusalem. 1658Ussher Ann. Ep. Rdr. That midnight which began the first day of the Christian æra. 1716Prideaux Connect. O. & N.T. i. i. 1 The vulgar era, by which we now compute the years from his incarnation. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. II. 658 The computing of time by the Christian æra is introduced by Dionysius the monk. 1840Carlyle Heroes (1858) 223 In the year 570 of our Era..the man Mahomet was born. 1861F. Hall in Jrnl. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 149 A few words on the vexed subject of the Gupta era.
2. The initial point assumed in a system of chronology; also, any date from which succeeding years are numbered; = epoch 1.
1615Bedwell Arab. Trudg., Tarich..is the same that Epocha is to the Greeks: or æra to the Latines. 1657Wharton Wks. 49 The Greek Church numbereth from the Creation to Christ's æra, 5508 compleat years. 1704Hearne Duct. Hist. (1714) I. 6 æra is the same with Epocha, signifying..a fixed point among Historians whence to begin to reckon the Years. 1748Hartley Observ. Man ii. ii. 116 When we come still farther to the Aera of Nabonassar. 1777Robertson Hist. Amer. I. i. 10 About six hundred and four years before the Christian æra. 1816Singer Hist. Cards 13 The 7th century before the present æra. 1853Herschel Pop. Lect. Sc. v. §12 (1873) 187 Some three centuries before our era.
3. a. A date, or an event, which forms the commencement of a new period in the history of a nation, an institution, individual, art or science, etc.; a memorable or important date. Cf. epoch 2.
1703Rowe Fair Penit. ii. i. 488 From this sacred æra of my Love A better order of succeeding Days Come smiling forward. 1765T. Hutchinson Hist. Col. Mass. I. 90 [The earthquake of 1638] was a remarkable æra. 1787J. Barlow Oration 4th July 6 This single circumstance..will..mark it [the American revolution] as a distinguished æra in the history of mankind. 1851Dixon W. Penn xxiv. (1872) 210 The landing of this English Governor was an era in their lives. 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. vi. 419 This same year a Witenagemot was held, which marks an æra in the reign of Cnut.
†b. Date of origin; = epoch 2 b.
1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iv. ix. 199 And it will evidently appeare, that custome hath an elder æra then this Chronologie affordeth.
4. a. A historical period; a portion of historical time marked by the continuance throughout it of particular influences, social conditions, etc. Cf. epoch 5.
1741Middleton Cicero I. i. 12 This æra of joy. 1758H. Walpole Catal. Roy. Authors (1759) I. Advt. 2 The polished æra of Queen Anne! a1789Burney Hist. Mus. (ed. 2) IV. i. 21 The beginning of this century (1600) was the æra of musical recitation on the public stage at Florence. 1809N. Pinkney Trav. France 106 Gallantry is..as much in fashion..as in the most corrupt æra of the monarchy. 1858Kingsley Lett. (1878) I. 399, I cannot but hope that a better intellectual era is dawning for the working men.
b. A period in an individual's life, or in the history of any continuous process; = epoch 5 b. In Geol. sometimes with more specific sense: see epoch 5 c.
1796Morse Amer. Geog. I. 341 In autumn, after harvest, that gladsome era in the husbandman's life. 1809Crabbe Tales 63 Felt the new æra of her changeful life. 1839Murchison Silur. Syst. i. Introd. 11 The æra when the newly-raised surface was first occupied by lakes. 1870F. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 95 It belongs to the worst era of architecture.
c. era of good feeling(s, in U.S. Hist., a period during the presidency of Monroe (1817–24), when there was virtually only one political party. Also transf.
1817Columbian Centinel 12 July (Th.) (heading) Era of Good Feelings. 1851H. A. Garland Life J. Randolph II. 278 During the ‘era of good feelings’, and the undisturbed repose of Mr. Monroe's administration, [these ideas] had been widely disseminated. 1904N.Y. Herald 22 Sept. 4 The nomination was made unanimously, and the era of good feeling continued throughout the naming of the rest of the ticket. 1945Chicago Daily News 16 Aug. 10/2 We do not wish to disturb the new ‘Era of Good Feeling’ in traction. 1948Pennsylvania Mag. Hist. Apr. 113 The era of the 1820's—the so-called but ludicrously named ‘Era of Good Feeling’. 1951G. Dangerfield (title) The Era of Good Feelings.
5. The portion of historical time to which an event is to be assigned; the approximate date, ‘period’, ‘epoch’ of an event, of a monument, etc.
1714Mandeville Fab. Bees (1733) II. 132 Many useful arts and sciences, of which the beginnings are of uncertain æra's. 1774J. Bryant Mythol. I. 261 The pillar stands..its parts..betray a difference in their æra. 1819Byron Juan i. cxxi, 'Twas in November, but I'm not so sure About the day—the era's more obscure.
6. attrib., as era-date; era-making a. = epoch-making.
1758W. Thompson Hymn to May 242 Ne rueful murder stain thy æra-date. 1894J. Millar tr. Weizsäcker's Apostolic Age I. ii. iii. 188 The era-making significance of the treaty. 1929R. A. Cram Cath. Ch. & Art iv. 53 The great monastic sovereignty..that had grown out of the first and era-making beginnings at the hands of St. Benedict. 1965Times Lit. Suppl. 27 May 438/3 We recognize easily enough in the history of cultures how era-making an invention writing has been. |