Aye
Yes. The standard Ulster Scots and Northern Irish word for yes. 'Aye, you're right.' 'Aye, sure.' As an emphatic full-clause response or as the first word of a longer sentence.
Etymology
Documented in English from 1575 as an affirmative interjection. Origin contested: possibly from Middle English 'ay' (= ever, always, the same root as 'aye-aye' in shipboard usage) or possibly a vowel-shift of 'I' used as an affirmative. Standard English narrowed 'aye' to parliamentary voting and nautical contexts; Scots and Ulster Scots kept it as the standard everyday word for yes. The Old English form 'aye' is older than the modern 'yes'.
In a sentence
"Will you be at the match on Saturday?" "Aye, see you there."
Historical notes
Aye is the most reliable marker of an Ulster Scots speaker to a Hiberno-English ear: a Donegal man says 'aye' in answer to a question; a Cork man says 'yeah'. Both mean yes. The Ulster Scots form is the older one; the southern Irish form follows standard English. In Westminster, 'the ayes have it' is the parliamentary survival of the older sense; in Ulster, 'aye' is the everyday word.
Sources
- Oxford English Dictionary, entry aye adv. (affirmative). · dictionary
- Dictionaries of the Scots Language (DSL), entry AYE. · dictionary