The sense of ‘favourable wind’ is etymologically older, attested in Classical Latin aura (cf. or²) and derived from Ancient Greek αυρα. From that, the sense ‘weather conditions’ or ‘atmosphere’ developed, already in Classical Latin. The chronologically secondary but much more common sense (both in Anglo-Norman and continental French) of ‘storm’ may have been attained, initially, through the use of adjectives such as grant, mal, malveis. The word seems to be used mainly (though not exclusively) in a nautical context.

The forms auré, horré, houré, huré, oré, orré and ouré can only be distinguished from variants of or² (which has the same senses) because of their rhyming position. Anywhere else, such forms can be either one or the other. According to the FEW, the accented form is derived from Latin adjectival constructions auratu or aurata (not attested in the DMLBS), with an ellipsis of the substantive, cf. FEW 25/ii 946b and 950a.