eira

See also: -eira and Eira

Galician

Eira da Ermida: a group of garners built by an old threshing floor

Alternative forms

• aira

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese eira (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria), from Latin ārea (“threshing floor, open space”). Cognate with Portuguese eira, Spanish and Catalan era, Occitan ièra, French aire, Italian aia and Romanian arie. Doublet of área, borrowed from the same Latin word.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈejɾa/ [ˈej.ɾɐ]
• Rhymes: -ejɾa
• Hyphenation: ei‧ra

Noun

eira f (plural eiras)

1. threshing floor (a yard, usually paved, used as a clean and even surface for threshing cereals)
2. yard
   • 1853, Xoán Manuel Pintos, A Gaita Gallega, page 158:

     Inda a nai non pon o pé
     por adentro do portelo
     xa chegan os seus miniños
     «a min, a min berberecho» ;
     cisca uns poucos pola eira
     os rapaces van collé-los
     de gatiñas uns con outros
     levantandose e caendo.
     Dimpois tódo-los da casa
     arredor do fol ou cesto
     non se afartan de gandire
     os birbirichiños frescos;
     

     Mother hasn't even
     put her foot ahead the gate
     when her children come asking
     «to me, to me, cockle»;
     she scatters a few by the yard
     the kids try to catch them
     squatting, ones and others
     standing and falling.
     Later, everyone at the house,
     around the bag or basket,
     they don't get tired of devouring
     the fresh little cockles;

Derived terms

• Aira
• Aira Vella
• Airado
• Airas
• Airavedra
• Airavella
• Airoa
• Eira Pedriña
• Eira Vella
• eirada
• eirado
• Eirado
• Eiravedra
• Eiró
• Eiroa
• eiroa
• Eiroá

References

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “eira”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “eira”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “eira”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “eira”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “eira”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Old Galician-Portuguese

Etymology

Inherited from Latin ārea (“threshing floor, open space”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈei̯.ɾa/

Noun

eira f (plural eiras)

1. threshing floor (a yard, usually paved, used as a clean and even surface for threshing cereals)

Descendants

• Galician: eira
• Portuguese: eira

Further reading

• Universo Cantigas - "eira"

Paraguayan Guarani

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -a

Noun

eira

1. wild cat

References

• Canese, Natalia Krivoshein de; Alcaraz, Feliciano Acosta (2016), “eira”, in Ñe’ẽryru [Dictionary] (overall work in Spanish), Asunción: Instituto Superior de Lenguas, →ISBN, page 21, column 1

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈe(j).ɾɐ/ [ˈe(ɪ̯).ɾɐ]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈe(j).ɾɐ/ [ˈe(ɪ̯).ɾɐ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈe(j).ɾa/ [ˈe(ɪ̯).ɾa]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈɐj.ɾɐ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈɐj.ɾɐ/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈej.ɾɐ/
  • (Central Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈej.ɾɐ/
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈe.ɾɐ/

• Rhymes: -ejɾɐ
• Hyphenation: ei‧ra

Etymology 1

eira

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese eira (“threshing floor”), from Latin ārea (“threshing floor, open space”). Cognate to Galician eira, Spanish and Catalan era, Occitan ièra, French aire, Italian aia and Romanian arie. Doublet of área, borrowed from the same Latin word.

Noun

eira f (plural eiras)

1. threshing floor

   Synonym: malhadouro

Derived terms

• sem eira nem beira
• querer sol na eira e chuva no nabal

Related terms

• área, eirado

Etymology 2

eira (Eira barbara)

Borrowed from Paraguayan Guarani eira.

Noun

eira f (plural eiras)

1. (Brazil) tayra (Eira barbara)

   Synonyms: irara, papa-mel

Further reading

• “eira”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “eira”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Welsh

Alternative forms

• eiry (obsolete)

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Brythonic *ėrɣ (“snow”) (compare Cornish ergh, Breton erc’h).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈei̯ra/
• Rhymes: -ei̯ra

Noun

eira m (plural eiraoedd) (usually uncountable)

1. snow

   Synonyms: (literary) ôd, (obsolete) nyf

   • Saying:

     Eira mân, eira mawr / Eira bras, eira bach.

     Fine snow, large snowfall / Thick snow, small snowfall.

Derived terms

• adar yr eira (“starlings”)
• aradr eira (“snow plough”)
• fel piso mochyn yn yr eira (“crooked”, literally “like pig's piss in the snow”)
• gefeil-lys yr eira (“snow pincerwort”)
• llosg eira, llech eira (“chilblains”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of eira

radical	soft	nasal	h-prothesis
eira	unchanged	unchanged	heira

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• D. G. Lewis, N. Lewis, editors (2005–present), “eira”, in Gweiadur: the Welsh–English Dictionary, Gwerin
• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke, et al., editors (1950–present), “eira”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies