idir

Alternative forms

• eadair, eadar (Ulster)
• eidir (Connacht)

Etymology

From Old Irish eter,^[1] from Proto-Indo-European *h₁enter (“between”). Cognate with Latin inter (“between”) and Sanskrit अन्तर् (antár, “between, within, into”). Compare Scottish Gaelic eadar.

Pronunciation

• (Munster) IPA^(key): /ˈɪdʲəɾʲ/^[2]
• (Galway) IPA^(key): /ˈɛdʲəɾʲ/^[3] (corresponding to the form eidir)
• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /ˈɛd̪ˠəɾʲ/^[4] (corresponding to the form eadair)

Preposition

idir (plus nominative in singular, dative in plural, triggers lenition except in certain constructions with distance, time, difference, or opposition)

1. between

   idir fhir agus mhná ― between men and women

   • 2014, Bruno Coulais (lyrics and music), “Amhrán Na Farraige [Song of the Sea]”:

     Idir ann is idir as. Idir thuaidh is idir theas.

     Between in and between out. Between north and between south.

2. both (paired with agus (“and”))

   idir chait agus mhadraí ― both cats and dogs

3. partly...partly..., half...half... (paired with agus (“and”))

   idir bheith ag caint agus chanadh ― half talking, half singing

References

Etymology

From Middle Irish [Term?], from Old Irish etir (“at all”), originally 3rd person sg. neut. form of Old Irish eter (“between”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈitʲɪɾʲ/
• (Lewis) IPA^(key): /ˈitʲɪɾ/^[1]
• Hyphenation: idir

Adverb

idir

1. (not) at all

   Chan eil idir. ― Not at all.

References

• Edward Dwelly (1911) “idir”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary]‎, 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
• MacLennan, Malcolm (1925) A Pronouncing and Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language, Edinburgh: J. Grant, →OCLC
• Colin Mark (2003) “idir”, in The Gaelic-English dictionary, London: Routledge, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “etir”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language