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”),[1] Gothic 𐌾𐌰𐌹𐌽𐌳𐍂𐌴 (jaindrē, “thither”).[2]
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈjɒndə(ɹ)/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈjɑndəɹ/
Audio (US): (file)
Audio (General Australian): (file) - (regional Southern US, obsolete) IPA(key): /ˈjændə(ɹ)/[3][4]
- (New England, obsolete) IPA(key): /ˈjɛndə/[5][4]
- Rhymes: -ɒndə(ɹ)
Adverb
yonder (not comparable)
- (archaic or dialectal outside of 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?
- (archaic or dialect) Synonym of thither: to a distant but indicated place.
- They headed on over yonder.
Synonyms
- (all senses): there, over there, away there
Derived terms
Translations
in a distant, indicated place
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Adjective
yonder (comparative more yonder, superlative most yonder)
- (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
- (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[3], 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
- (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
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Noun
yonder (plural yonders)
- (literary) The vast distance, particularly the sky or trackless forest.
- She set off into the blue yonder.
- 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
See also
References
- ^ https://www.dwds.de/wb/dwb/jener
- ^ “yonder, adv., adj., pron., & n.”, in OED Online , Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1921.
- ^ Stanley, Oma (1937), “I. Vowel Sounds in Stressed Syllables”, in The Speech of East Texas (American Speech: Reprints and Monographs; 2), New York: Columbia University Press, , →ISBN, § 7, page 18.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Kurath, Hans; McDavid, Raven I., Jr. (1961), The pronunciation of English in the Atlantic States: based upon the collections of the linguistic atlas of the Eastern United States[1], Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, § 5.4, page 143:
- The /ɑ ~ ɒ/ of lot is the usual vowel in yonder, but a variety of other vowels have some currency, mostly in folk speech: in the North and the North Midland, the /ʌ/ of sun and the /ɛ/ of ten; in parts of the South and the South Midland, the /æ/ of man. See Map 82. It is not clear without further investigation whether South Carolina and Georgia have /ə/ beside /ɑ/ in yonder.
- ^ Bingham, Caleb (1808), “Improprieties in Pronunciation, common among the people of New-England”, in The Child's Companion; Being a Conciſe Spelling-book […] [2], 12th edition, Boston: Manning & Loring, →OCLC, page 77.