muintir

Irish

Alternative forms

• muinntear (obsolete)
• muinntir (superseded)

Etymology

Originally the dative singular, from Old Irish muinter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmˠiːn̠ʲtʲəɾʲ/
• IPA^(key): /ˈmˠɪn̠ʲtʲəɾʲ/

Noun

muintir f (genitive singular muintire, nominative plural muintireacha)

1. family
   • 1938, Peig Sayers, “Inghean an Cheannaidhe”:

     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.

2. relative
3. 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 Case Singular Plural Nominative muintir muintireacha Vocative a mhuintir a mhuintireacha Genitive muintire muintireacha Dative muintir muintireacha

Forms with the definite article Case 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

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
muintir	mhuintir	not applicable
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “muintir”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “muinter”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
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