yonder

English

WOTD – 2 December 2006

Alternative forms

• younder (dialectal)

Etymology

From Middle English yonder, yondre, ȝondre, ȝendre, from Old English ġeonre (“thither; yonder”, adverb), equivalent to yond (from ġeond, from Proto-Germanic *jainaz) + -er, as in hither, thither.
Cognate with Scots ȝondir (“yonder”), Saterland Frisian tjunder (“over there, yonder”), Dutch ginder (“over there; yonder”), Middle Low German ginder, gender (“over there”), German jenseits (“on the other side, beyond”), Gothic 𐌾𐌰𐌹𐌽𐌳𐍂𐌴 (jaindrē, “thither”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈjɒndə(ɹ)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈjɑndəɹ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• (Southern US, obsolete) IPA^(key): /ˈjændə(ɹ)/
• (New England, obsolete) IPA^(key): /ˈjɛndə/
• Rhymes: -ɒndə(ɹ)

Adverb

yonder (not comparable)

1. (archaic or dialect especially Cumbria, Southern US) At or in a distant but indicated place.
   • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], line 149:

     See who yonder is.

   • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     "A fine man, that Dunwody, yonder," commented the young captain, as they parted, and as he turned to his prisoner. "We'll see him on in Washington some day. He is strengthening his forces now against Mr. Benton out there."

   Whose doublewide is that over yonder?

2. (archaic or dialect) Synonym of thither: to a distant but indicated place.
   • 1535, Bible (Coverdale), Genesis, 22:

     As for me and the childe, we wyl go yonder.

   They headed on over yonder.

Synonyms

• (all senses): there, over there, away there

Derived terms

• absence makes the heart go yonder
• here and yonder, hither and yonder

Translations

in a distant, indicated place

• Albanian: atje (sq)
• Arabic: هُنَاك (hunāk), هُنَالِك (hunālik)
• Bengali: সেথা (bn) (śetha), হোথা (hōtha)
• Breton: hont (br), ahont (br)
• Catalan: allà (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: （在）那邊 / （在）那边 (zh) ((zài) nàbiān)

• Cornish: hons, enos, en-hons
• Czech: onde (cs), tam (cs)
• Dutch: ginder (nl)
• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} tie (eo)
• Estonian: taamal (et)
• Finnish: tuolla (fi)
• French: là-bas (fr)
• Georgian: იქით (ikit)
• German: dort drüben, dort (de), drüben (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: ἐκεῖ (ekeî)

• Hungarian: amott (hu)
• Icelandic: þarna (is)
• Irish: ansiúd
• Italian: laggiù (it)
• Japanese: あそこに (ja) (asoko ni), 彼方 (ja) (kanata)
• Korean: 저편 (ko) (jeopyeon)
• Macedonian: о́нде (ónde), о́ндека (óndeka)
• Malay: sana (ms), di sana
• Maori: korā
• Mongolian: энэ хавьд (ene xavʹd)
• Ojibwe: iwidi
• Portuguese: além (pt), acolá (pt)
• Russian: вон та́м (von tám), там (ru) (tam)
• Scottish Gaelic: an siud
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: о́нде

  Roman: ónde (sh)

• Sicilian: ddassutta, ddocu sutta
• Spanish: allá (es) (less specific, somwhat like "over yonder"), acullá (es) (further than "allá"), allí (es) (more specific, somewhat like "in/right yonder")
• Tagalog: doon
• Turkish: orada (tr)
• Ukrainian: он (uk) (on), там (uk) (tam), отам (otam), онде (onde); тамо (tamo), оно (ono) (colloquial)
• Welsh: acw, draw
• West Frisian: jinder

Adjective

yonder (comparative more yonder, superlative most yonder)

1. (archaic or dialect) The farther, the more distant of two choices.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 163:

     "You have all necessary proofs in your possession, though you may not be aware of their existence," replied Arden; "will you allow me to open yonder box?"

Synonyms

• see farther

Determiner

yonder

1. (archaic or dialect, as an adjective) Who or which is over yonder, usually distant but within sight.

   Yonder lass, who be she?

   • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

     But ſoft, what light through yonder window breaks?
     It is the Eaſt, and Iuliet is the Sunne […]

   • 1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter II, in The Last Man. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:

     Fire, the Sword, and Plagueǃ They may all be found in the yonder city; on my head alone may they fallǃ

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 163:

     "You have all necessary proofs in your possession, though you may not be aware of their existence," replied Arden; "will you allow me to open yonder box?"

   • 2006, Cécile Corbel, “Siúil a Ruin”, in Songbook 1‎^[2], performed by Cécile Corbel, Brittany: Keltia Musique:

     I wish I were on yonder hill
     and there I’d sit and I’d cry my fill,
     and ev’ry tear would turn a mill,
     And a blessing walk with you, my love

2. (archaic or dialect, as a pronoun) One who or which is over yonder, usually distant but within sight.

   The yonder is Queen Niobe.

Synonyms

• (distant but within sight): yon

Derived terms

• that yonder
• this yonder
• yonderly
• yondermair
• yondermost

Translations

distant but within sight

• Albanian: atje (sq)
• Breton: hont (br)
• Catalan: aquell (ca) m, aquella (ca) f
• Cornish: enos
• Finnish: tuo (fi)
• French: là-bas (fr)
• Gothic: 𐌾𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃 (jains)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: ἐκεῖνος (ekeînos), κεῖνος (keînos) (in verse)

• Japanese: あの (ja) (ano)
• Korean: 그 (ko) (geu), 그것 (ko) (geugeot)
• Macedonian: о́нде (ónde), о́ндека (óndeka), оној (onoj)
• Portuguese: aquele (pt) m, aquela (pt) f, aquilo (pt) n
• Russian: вон то́т m (von tót), вон та́ f (von tá), вон то́ n (von tó), вон те́ pl (von té)
• Spanish: aquel (es) m, aquella (es) f
• Turkish: oradaki
• Welsh: acw

Noun

yonder (plural yonders)

1. (literary) The vast distance, particularly the sky or trackless forest.
   • 1939, Robert MacArthur Crawford, Army Air Corps::

     Off we go in to the wild blue yonder,
     Climbing high into the sun...

Derived terms

• into the wide blue yonder
• yonderward
• yonderway

Translations

the vast distance

• Finnish: tuo (fi)
• German: dort drüben
• Japanese: あれ (ja) (are)
• Russian: далёко (ru) (daljóko)

See also

• yon
• beyond

Anagrams

• Dorney, Rodney, Yerdon, droney