muintir

Irish

Alternative forms

• muinntear (obsolete)
• muinntir (superseded)

Etymology

Originally the dative singular, from Old Irish muinter.

Pronunciation

• (Munster, Galway) IPA^(key): /ˈmˠiːn̠ʲtʲəɾʲ/
• (Mayo, Ulster) IPA^(key): /ˈmˠɪn̠ʲtʲəɾʲ/

Noun

muintir f (genitive singular muintire, nominative plural muintireacha)

1. family
2. (collective) parents
   • 1939, Peig Sayers, “Inghean an Cheannaidhe”, in Marie-Louise Sjoestedt, Description d’un parler irlandais de Kerry (Bibliothèque de l'École des Hautes Études; 270) (overall work in French), Paris: Librairie Honoré Champion, page 193:

     Ní raibh aoinne cloinne age n-a muinntir ach í agus do mhéaduigh sin uirrim agus grádh na ndaoine don inghean óg so.

     Her parents had no children but her, and that increased the esteem and love of the people for this young girl.

3. relative
4. people, folk, tribe, nation, band

Usage notes

• When used by itself, in modern Irish it refers to ‘parents’;
• When used with a following attributive noun, it means ‘folk’ or ‘people’:

  muintir na hÉireann ― the Irish

  muintir na Spáinne ― the Spanish

Declension

Declension of muintir (second declension)

bare forms singular plural nominative muintir muintireacha vocative a mhuintir a mhuintireacha genitive muintire muintireacha dative muintir muintireacha forms with the definite article singular plural nominative an mhuintir na muintireacha genitive na muintire na muintireacha dative leis an muintir don mhuintir leis na muintireacha

Synonyms

• (parents): tuismitheoirí

Derived terms

• athair muintire m (“the father of a family”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of muintir

radical	lenition	eclipsis
muintir	mhuintir	not applicable

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “muintir”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904) “muinntear”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 500

Old Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmun͈ʲtʲirʲ/

Noun

muintir

1. inflection of muinter:
   1. accusative/dative singular
   2. nominative/vocative/accusative dual

Mutation

Mutation of muintir

radical	lenition	nasalization
muintir also mmuintir after a proclitic ending in a vowel	muintir pronounced with /β̃(ʲ)-/	unchanged

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.