Happy birthday, H.P. Lovecraft, for 20th August! This year, my present is an audio reading of “A Descent to Avernus” (1928) by H.P. Lovecraft.
Download: At the Internet Archive.
The text describing his descent into the underworld was extracted from a long travelogue titled “Observations on Several Parts of America”, written in 1928. The text has here been lightly abridged for audio production and to ensure wide distribution. With a small addition from a letter written to Zelia Bishop, 28th July 1928, describing the same trip. I’ve also let his “Observations” run on a little after the visit to the caverns, to encompass his return to the city of Providence immediately afterwards.
Note that Lovecraft uses the term “buried aeras”, which does not indicate historical eras. The word aeras is ancient Greek in origin, and indicates a sort of ethereal breath or tremulous atmosphere blown out into the air. Probably believed by the Greeks to be breathed by divine beings. In Lovecraft’s use it then poetically indicates a mighty breath trapped or frozen in rock deep beneath the surface of the earth. The same word is also used in his famous story “The Call of Cthulhu”…
… those first men formed the cult around small idols which the Great Ones shewed them; idols brought in dim aeras from dark stars.
There “dim aeras” would seem to indicate the scientific method of cosmic transportation, implying a dimly-lit atmospheric cloud which surrounded the Great Old Ones when they were traversing the depths of outer space. This would then seem to relate to the idea they could ‘sail the star-winds’ without the need of spacecraft, as hinted at slightly later in “The Call of Cthulhu”. Such enveloping seems especially likely when we hear in the story that they were not made of normal matter…
The [Great Old Ones] had shape — for did not this star-fashioned image prove it? — but that shape was not made of matter. When the stars were right, They could plunge from world to world through the sky; but when the stars were wrong, They could not live. But although They no longer lived, They would never really die. They all lay in stone houses in Their great city of R’lyeh, preserved by the spells of mighty Cthulhu for a glorious resurrection when the stars and the earth might once more be ready for Them.
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Emphatically not. “aera” is merely an archaic spelling of “era”, and when HPL says that the idols were brought “in dim aeras” to earth he simply means that it was in times that we today know very little about. It has nothing to do with any “breath” or “cloud”, nor with ancient Greek. See definition and etymology at https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/era and https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aera
Well, all I can say is that the Greek meaning fits very well, and is the sort of thing he would have known about.
Claude:
The name ‘Aeras’ appears to derive from ancient Greek origins, most likely connected to the word “ἀήρ” (aer), meaning “air” or “atmosphere.” This etymological connection suggests the name carries connotations of lightness, breath, and the ethereal qualities associated with the sky and wind. In classical mythology and philosophy, air was considered one of the fundamental elements, lending the name a sense of primordial significance. The name may also relate to Aer, a primordial deity in some Greek cosmogonies representing the lower atmosphere. Common variations include the Latinized form “Aerus” and the more elaborate “Aereas.”
While ‘Aeras’ remains relatively uncommon in modern naming practices, it has found echoes in various linguistic traditions. In Romance languages, particularly Italian and Spanish, the name sometimes appears as “Aero” or “Aerio,” maintaining its atmospheric associations while adapting to local phonetic preferences. Germanic interpretations occasionally render it as “Aeris” or “Airis,” and in some Slavic contexts, it may be adapted as “Aeros.”
ChatGPT:
Aeras is most commonly understood as a [Ancient] Greek-derived name meaning “air,” “breeze,” or “mist,” from the Greek word aeras/ἀήρ (aér), which denotes the atmosphere or moving air. As a given name or poetic epithet, it evokes lightness, freedom, and the intangible. In Greek and related Hellenic usage, forms such as Aéras and Aeras coexist, while cognate or thematic variants in other languages include Latin Aer and Aether (poetic “upper air”), as well as the Romance reflexes aire (Spanish), air (French), and aria (Italian, with the musical sense linked to “air” as melody). While these are not all used as personal names, they inform modern creative naming practices where Aeras appears in fantasy literature and contemporary naming circles.