V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (February 2016):

HURD
       HIRD of Unix-Replacing DAEMONs (GNU, HIRD)


The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

Hurd

    The GNU project's replacement for the
   Unix kernel.  The Hurd is a collection of servers that
   run on the Mach microkernel to implement file systems,
   network protocols, file access control, and other features
   that are implemented by the Unix kernel or similar kernels
   such as Linux.  The GNU C Library provides the Unix
   system call interface, and calls the Hurd for services it
   can't provide itself.

   The Hurd aims to establish a framework for shared development
   and maintenance, allowing a broad range of users to share
   projects without knowing much about the internal workings of
   the system - projects that might never have been attempted
   without freely available source, a well-designed interface,
   and a multi-server-based design.

   Currently there are free ports of the Mach kernel to the
   Intel 80386 IBM PC, the DEC PMAX workstation, the
   Luna 88k, with more in progress, including the Amiga and
   DEC Alpha-3000 machines.

   According to Thomas Bushnell, BSG, the primary architect of
   the Hurd: 'Hurd' stands for 'Hird of Unix-Replacing Daemons'
   and 'Hird' stands for 'Hurd of Interfaces Representing Depth'.
   Possibly the first software to be named by a pair of mutually
   recursive acronyms.

   The Hurd Home (http://gnu.org/software/hurd/hurd.html).

   [June 1994 GNU's Bulletin].

   (2004-02-24)