aurrae

Uncertain. It certainly begins with the prefixes ar- +‎ fo-, but the root to which they are added is unclear. Meyer suggests the root to be rath (verbal noun of ernaid (“to grant, bestow”)) (from Proto-Celtic *ɸratom), as it is with the near-antonym deorad (“outcast”),^[1] but this etymology would require the form aurrad, which is not attested until Middle Irish, to be older than aurrae and also leaves no explanation of why aurrae was formed. It is more likely that aurrae, which is attested earlier, is in fact the older form, and that later aurrad was re-formed under the influence of deorad.

DIL mentions a proposal by D. A. Binchy that the root is ráth (“surety, guarantor”), a meaning that Middle Irish aurrad also has (but which is not attested for Old Irish aurrae); however, that is to be met with the same objections as Meyer’s derivation.

• IPA^(key): [ˈau̯r͈ɘ]

aurrae m

1. native freeman (someone whose rights are protected by the clan and community)
2. leader, chief

Inflected forms not found until Middle Irish.

• aurradus
  • Irish: urrús

• Middle Irish: aurrad, urrad
  • Irish: urra
  • Scottish Gaelic: urra

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “aurrae, aurrad”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language