Etymology: < post-classical Latin aeira, aerea, aeria, airea, area, aria, ayeria, ayrea, eyria, eiria, erea, eria (feminine), aerius, erius, heyrius (masculine), ayerium (neuter) nest or brood of a bird of prey (frequently from 1086 in British sources; also as aera , aira , eyra ; also in continental sources), apparently (with alteration of the ending partly after Latin words in -ia, -ius, or -ium, and perhaps also partly by association with classical Latin ārea, āria area n. and (etymologically unrelated) āereus, āerius (see aerial adj.) and āēr air n.¹) < Anglo-Norman air , ayre , eir , eire , ere , here , Anglo-Norman and Old French aire , Old French haire (Middle French, French aire ) nest of a bird of prey (although this is apparently first attested later: 1155 as haire ), nest of other large birds (13th cent.), (in transferred senses) kind, sort, nature (although this is apparently first attested earlier: c1100), origin, source (c1174), lineage, family, descent (13th cent.), further etymology uncertain and disputed (see note). With sense 1b compare post-classical Latin aerium room at the top of a tower (c1300 in a British source). Sense 2 is apparently unparalleled in French, but compare Anglo-Norman and Law French ehrir , eirer , aiere , etc. (13th cent. or earlier in Anglo-Norman), post-classical Latin aerarius , eyrerius , etc. (from 1245 in British sources), in sense ‘(of a bird) brooding, nesting’. Compare earlier aire n.¹The etymology of French aire is uncertain and disputed. Most commonly, either classical Latin ager field, country (see acre n.) or classical Latin ārea area n. has been suggested as etymon. Classical Latin ager is now generally regarded as the more likely etymon, a supposition which is supported by Old Occitan aire bird's nest, favoured place (of a bird) (12th cent. as agre ), origin, family (13th cent., frequently in de bon'aire debonair adj.). For a detailed discussion of the etymology of the French word, see Französisches etymol. Wörterbuch XXV. 1318/1–1325/1. Forms with final -ie or -ée do not seem to exist in French, hence the post-classical Latin word is the most likely etymon of the English word. The concrete sense ‘nest of a bird of prey’ appears to be very rare in Anglo-Norman (apparently only one isolated attestation as ayre , end of the 13th cent.), but the word is common in Anglo-Norman (as in continental French) in its transferred sense ‘sort, kind, type’, especially in the phrases de bon aire debonair adj., de mal aire (1155), de put aire (c1100), both ‘bad, evil’, lit. ‘of a bad kind’, ‘of a vile kind’. The β. forms were perhaps reinforced by folk-etymological association with egg n.; compare:1626 H. Spelman Glossarium archaeologicum 24/2 Aërea, nidus..Dictum à Gallico aire: sed vtrumq; à Sax[onis] eȝhe, Germanis & Anglo-Normannis eye, i[d est] ouum…vnde nidus eyerie vocatur, quasi ouorum repositorium. The pronunciation history of the word presents a number of points of difficulty which have not been adequately explained. That the pronunciation of the first syllable with the vowel (or two vowels) of layer is the oldest is perhaps suggested by the following observations. (1) Johnson gives both ey′ry, which he derives ‘from ey, an egg’ and a′erie ‘from airie, French’; while Johnson may not have known the actual pronunciation of ey ‘egg’, his marking and etymology of aerie seem to suggest the layer pronunciation. (2) Walker, §269, categorically says that all words with ey, such as bey, dey, etc., and including eyre and eyry ‘are always heard as if written bay, day, etc.’, key and ley being the only exceptions (however he also gives aerie with the vowel of key, etc.). (3) Century Dict. suggests that the modern spelling aery, aerie imitates medieval Latin aërea, aëria, and this would be more likely to have occurred if the pronunciations had been similar at the time of adoption. (4) U.S. dictionaries have always tended to prefer the aerie spelling and the pronunciation to rhyme with layer. As regards the pronunciation rhyming with eerie, Century Dict. suggests that this was popularized by Walker and was a pedantic pronunciation due to mistaking the ae- for the Latin digraph ae or æ. The pronunciation rhyming with fiery is not recorded by dictionaries up to and including D. Jones Eng. Pronouncing Dict. (1917): in ed. 1 of the latter, both aerie and eyrie are given, both with the pronunciation /ˈɛəri/ first and /ˈɪəri/ second. By ed. 8 (1947) Jones has /ˈaɪərɪ/ as the primary pronunciation for eyrie (while aerie remains unchanged in this edition).

Etymology: < eyrie n. Compare post-classical Latin aeriare (from 1235 in British sources), aerare (1322 in a British source), Old French aairier , aarier (c1200, chiefly used reflexively), Middle French, French airer (c1465). Compare earlier aire v.