While initially considered an independent deity associated with vegetation and portrayed in hymns as violent, she eventually came to be viewed as analogous Ninhursag.
[2] A connection with Sumerian a-ru or a-ri, which can be translated as "the one who lets the seed flow," has been deemed implausible by Manfred Krebernik, as this term is only used in this sense to refer to men.
[9] Specific plants mentioned in compositions dedicated to her include poplar, date palm, cedar, Prosopis and the unidentified teme and marmaḫ.
[11][9] While she could be referred to as ama, according to Jeremy Black despite its literal meaning this term does not necessarily denote her as a mother, and can also be translated as "venerable woman" or simply "female.
[14] Jeremy Black noted that while syncretism is impossible to deny, known sources do preserve information which seemingly pertains to originally individual cults of the goddesses from this category, including Aruru.
[2] In a hymn to Nisaba, this goddess is referred to as the "Aruru of the land," which according to Westenholz is meant to highlight her high status, rather than point at a connection to birth.
[1] In other contexts where this theonym occurs as an epithet of this goddess, or of Ezina-Kusu, it most likely reflects their respective roles as vegetation deities,[18] Aruru was regarded as the older sister of Enlil.
[20] In a hymn, a minor god named Baraguleĝara is described as a member of Aruru's entourage residing in Kesh, though this reference is unique, and he is otherwise absent from literary texts.
[22] Based on the presence of the closely associated god Baraguleĝara in the pantheon of Larsa Black suggested Aruru might have been worshiped in this city as well during the reign of Rim-Sîn I.
[6] A number of compositions focused on Aruru treated as a distinct goddess are known, though all of them are written in Emesal, a dialect of Sumerian, which makes them difficult to translate and interpret.
[33] One of the two known hymns to Ninimma mentions Aruru, according to Christopher Metcalf in this context described as a birth goddess, and portrays the deity it was dedicated to as her assistant.
[36] According to Jeremy Black, this composition postdates the texts portraying Aruru as a distinct deity by around a thousand years, and in this context she is only a "generic mother goddess.