This is a third declension noun, right? and yet in the story of Persius, there is the line:
[and after he put on his magic boots] in âera sublâtus est
How can it end in ‘a’? It’s masculine, not neuter, according to my dictionary, and even if it were neuter, it would have to be plural to end in ‘a’, which makes no sense.
That looks like a Greek accusative (masc. sing). You will see this occasionally; it’s more common in verse than in prose. ‘aer’ is originally a Greek noun and my grammar indicates it usually declines this way in Latin.
Hi Phil, it is masculine, but my dictionary specifically lists the accusative as aera, so presumably it is irregular, and probably because it comes from the Greek: ἀή?.
thanks for clearing that up. Happy New Year!