tír

See also: Appendix:Variations of "tir"

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish tír, from Proto-Celtic *tīros, from Proto-Indo-European *ters- (“dry”), i.e. “dry land” as opposed to lake or sea. Cognates include English thirst, Latin terra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʲiːɾʲ/

Noun

tír f (genitive singular tíre, nominative plural tíortha)

1. land, country
   1. state, nation
   2. region, district, territory; people of country
   3. rural district(s)
   4. land (as opposed to sea)

Declension

Declension of tír

Second declension

Bare forms Case Singular Plural Nominative tír tíortha Vocative a thír a thíortha Genitive tíre tíortha Dative tír tíortha

Forms with the definite article Case Singular Plural Nominative an tír na tíortha Genitive na tíre na dtíortha Dative leis an tír don tír leis na tíortha

• Alternative plural: tíreacha (Cois Fharraige)

Derived terms

• alltathír f (“wild, rough, country”)
• i dtír (“ashore”)
• míntír f (“mainland”)
• mórthír f (“mainland”)
• tír chluiche f (“sporting country; hunting-ground”)
• Tír Eoghain (“Tyrone”)
• tír mór f (“mainland”)
• Tír na mBascach (“Basque County”)
• Tír na nÓg
• tírdhreach (“landscape”)
• tírghrá (“patriotism”)

 

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
tír	thír	dtír
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904) “tír”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 737
• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “tír”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 tír”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “tír”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “tír”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024
• Sjoestedt, M. L. (1931) Phonétique d’un parler irlandais de Kerry (in French), Paris: Librairie Ernest Leroux, page 46

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *tīros, from Proto-Indo-European *ters- (“dry”), i.e. ‘dry land’ as opposed to lake or sea. Cognates include English thirst, Latin terra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (nominative/vocative/accusative singular and dual) /tʲiːr/, (dative singular) /tʲiːrʲ/

Noun

tír n (genitive tíre, nominative plural tíre)

1. land, country, territory, ground

Declension

Neuter s-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	tírN	tírN	tíreL
Vocative	tírN	tírN	tíreL
Accusative	tírN	tírN	tíreL
Genitive	tíreL	tíre	tíreN
Dative	tírL	tírib	tírib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

• Irish: tír
• Manx: çheer
• Scottish Gaelic: tìr

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
tír	thír	tír pronounced with /d(ʲ)-/
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 tír”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Old Norse

Noun

tír

1. accusative/dative singular of tírr