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On the Meaning of

追い払う (opparau or oiharau: to drive away)
     to drive away + to drive away

To my surprise, (hara(u)) doesn’t just mean “to pay.” In fact, its primary meaning is “to clear away.” (So perhaps the connection to “paying” isn’t so strange; one can “clear away” debts by paying them.)

A similar meaning is “to drive away,” as is true of in 追っ払う.

And which of these meanings applies in 酔っ払う (yopparau: to get drunk)? None of the above! In this case, (yo(u)) means “to become intoxicated” (logically enough), while -払 functions as an emphatic verbal suffix, according to Halpern.

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