dem. pron. and adj. Sc. and north. dial. Forms: 3 ?, 4– thir; also 4 (þeir, þier), þer(e, þar(e, there, 4–5 þir(e, 4–7 ther, 5 thire, theire, thair, (8–9 north. dial. ther, thor, thoor, thur). [Origin obscure. The introduction of the word app. coincided with the change of þās in the north from being plural of this to being synonymous with þā, pl. of that: see THESE, THOSE, THO. The earliest evidence is that of Cursor Mundi and the northern works of 1300–1350, in which þās and þā appear as plural of that, and thir in various spellings is the established plural of this, = southern thēs, midland thise, these. Some suggest its adoption from ON. þeir, þǽr ‘those,’ pl. masc. and fem. of the simple demonstrative sá, sú, þat, of which the plural was used also as 3rd pers. pron. pl. ‘they.’ Others have suggested a combination of þe with hēr ‘here,’ as if = the here, those here. Both suggestions present difficulties. See Note.]
A. pron. = THESE dem. pron.
13[?]. Cursor M., 6291 (Cott., Gött.). Þir [F., Tr. þes] er þe folk of israel. Ibid., 6481 (Cott.). Þir [F. þer, G. þis, Tr. þese] er þe coma[n]mentes ten. Ibid., 23053 (Edin., Gött). Gret lauerdschip sal þir [Cott. þar, F. ham] be lent. Ibid., 23643 (Edin., Gött.). Þir sal worsip al creature.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter iii. 2. Þere ere leghers, and þai say to bigile þe.
13[?]. Evang. Nicod., 28, in Herrig’s Archiv, LIII. 392. We, whatkyn godes er þire [rhymes syre, ire, desyre]?
c. 1450. St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 3521. Þir [five onions], he saide, has bene my mete.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 85. Of all thir, thare is nane sa gude as … defens of gude rycht.
1552–3. Reg. Privy Council Scot., I. 137. Thir ar the artikills of the Lordis.
1637–50. Row, Hist. Kirk (Wodr. S.), 197. Any one of thir requyrs a wholl man.
1825. Brockett, N. C. Words, Thur, these.
1828. Craven Gloss., Thur, thir, these.
B. adj. = THESE dem. adj.
13[?]. Cursor M., 4085 (Cott.). Þeir [Gött. þir, F. þes, T. þese] breþer, þat i said of are. Ibid., 5938. ‘Yee prai your lauerd,’ he said, ‘þat he Wald do þier frosses [F. þere froskis, G. þir froskis, T. þese frogges] a-wai fra me.’ Ibid., 19391. Þir [F. þer, Tr. þese] seuen were Sett be-fore þe aposteles sere.
1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 1682. Als þir clerkes fyndes writen.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), Pref. 2. Þir werldly lordes.
c. 1420. Anturs of Arth., 575. Witturly ther weys [Deuce MS. þes wighte mene] thayre weppuns thai weld.
1423. Jas. I., Kingis Quair, li. I … said thir versis sevin.
c. 1440. Alphabet of Tales, 55. He lukid evur when þir fendis suld com agayn.
1490. Exch. Rolls Scotl., X. 663. To quhais knauleg thire our letterris salcum greting.
1553. Kennedy, Compend. Tract., in Wodrow Soc. Misc. (1844), 109. Sen the tyme of the Apostolis to thir our dayis.
1678. Contract, in Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot. (1896), XXX. 21. Both pairties are content that ther present[s] be insert.
1715. Wodrow Corr. (1843), II. 33. Thir two men have bred trouble enough.
1790. Burns, Tam o’ Shanter, 155. Thir breeks o’ mine, my only pair.
1790. Mrs. Wheeler, Westmld. Dial., Pref. 11. Thor Men hed been at a College, coad Cambridg.
[Note. Difficulties of derivation from ON. þeir, þǽr are: (1) The retention of inflexional -r, otherwise unexemplified, and the fact that þei-r had already been adopted in its pronominal sense as þeȝȝ, they, thei, in the north þai, þay, and was in full use in Cursor M. and other northern works: see THEY. Moreover, neither thir nor ther appears to represent þei-r phonetically, as Ormin’s þeȝȝ and E. Midl. þei did. (2) The sense is quite different; the ON. word means ‘those’ or ‘they,’ distinct from þesser, -ar ‘these’; while thir has been from the beginning emphatically ‘these,’ as distinct from þā, þās ‘those.’ The explanation ‘the here,’ ‘those here’ suits the sense; but (1) no trace has been found of these in an uncombined form; and (2) the addition of here to a demonstrative, common in the midlands and south of England (see HERE 1 d), is not known as a northern idiom.]
