Etymology Dictionary

AERY,  lit. an eagle's nest; also, a brood of eagles or hawks.  (F.,—Teut.?)   'And like an eagle o'er his aery towers;' K. John, v. 2. 149.   'There is an aery of young children;' Hamlet, ii. 2. 354.—F. aire; Cotgrave has 'Aire, m. an airie or nest of hawkes.'—Low Lat. area, a nest of a bird of prey; of which we find an example in Ducange.   'Aues rapaces...exspectant se inuicem aliquando prope nidum suum consuetum, qui a quibusdam area dicitur;' Fredericus II, de Venatu.   β. The word aire is marked as masculine in Cotgrave, whereas F. aire, Lat. area, in the ordinary sense of 'floor,' is feminine.   It is sufficiently clear that the Low Lat. area is quite a distinct word from the classical Lat. area, and is a mere corruption of a term of the chase.   Now these terms of the chase are mostly Teutonic; hence Brachet derives this F. aire from the M.H.G. ar or are (O.H.G. aro, mod. G. aar, an eagle).   γ. It must be admitted, however, that the word is one of great difficulty; and Littré maintains the contrary opinion, that the F. aire is nothing but the Lat. area, supposed to mean 'a flat place on the surface of a rock, where an eagle builds its nest.'   He thinks that its meaning was further extended to imply dwelling, stock, family, race; so that hence was formed the expression de bon aire, which appears in the E. debonair.   He would even further extend the sense so as to include that of manner, mien, or air; as in the E. expression, 'to give oneself airs.'   See Littré, Hist. de la Langue Française, i. 61.   δ. Cognate with Icel. ari, an eagle, are O.H.G. aro, Goth. ara, Swed. örn, A.S. earn, all in the same sense, Gk. ὄρνις, a bird; probably from ✔AR, to raise oneself; cf. Gk. ὄρνυναι, Lat. oriri.   ¶ When fairly imported into English, the word was ingeniously connected with M.E. ey, an egg, as if the word meant an egg-ery; hence it came to be spelt eyrie or eyry, and to be misinterpreted accordingly.  [†]

ADDENDA

The derivation of Low Latin area remains obscure.   The word may be described as simply '(F.)', as little more is known about it.   Note that Drayton turns aery into a verb.   'And where the phenix airies' [builds her nest]; Muses' Elysium, Nymphal 3.