# þeir
## Icelandic
### Etymology

From Old Norse þeir.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /θeiːr/
* Rhymes: -eiːr
* Homophone: þeyr

### Pronoun

þeir (m)
* (personal pronoun): nominative plural of the word hann meaning "he"; literally meaning "they"
    Hvernig vita þeir þetta?How do they know that?
    Strákar; þeir elska stelpur og stelpur elska þá.Boys; they love girls and girls love them.
* (demonstrative pronoun):, plural of sá

### See also

Icelandic personal pronouns :
| singular | first person | second person | third person masculine | third person feminine | third person neuter |
| nominative | ég, eg, ek | þú | hann | hún, hon, hón | það, þat |
| accusative | mig, mik | þig, þik | hann | hana | það, þat |
| dative | mér | þér | honum, hánum | henni | því |
| genitive | mín | þín | hans | hennar | þess |
| plural | first person | second person | third person masculine | third person feminine | third person neuter |
| nominative | við | þið, þit | þeir | þær | þau |
| accusative | okkur | ykkur | þá | þær | þau |
| dative | okkur | ykkur | þeim | þeim | þeim |
| genitive | okkar | ykkar | þeirra | þeirra | þeirra |

## Middle English
### Alternative forms

* þeire, þeyr, þeyre, their, theire, theyr, theyre, þer, þere, ther, there, þair, þaire, þayr, thair, thaire, thayre, þar, þare, thar, thare, þaier, thiere, þur, þeȝȝre, yeir, yar, yair, yaire, tar, teȝȝre

### Etymology

Borrowed from Old Norse þeirra.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈθæi̯r(ə)/, /ˈðæi̯r(ə)/

### Determiner

þeir (nominative pronoun þei)
* Third-person plural genitive determiner: their

### Pronoun

þeir (nominative pronoun þei)
* Third-person plural possessive pronoun: theirs, of them

#### Descendants

* English: their
* Scots: thair

#### References

* ↑ Brink, Daniel (1992) “Variation between <þ-> and <t-> in the Ormulum”, in Irmengard Rauch, Gerald F. Carr and Robert L. Kyes, editors, On Germanic Linguistics: Issues and Methods (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs; 68), De Gruyter Mouton, →DOI, →ISBN, pages 21-35.
* ↑ Thurber, Beverly A. (2011 February 15) “Voicing of Initial Interdental Fricatives in Early Middle English Function Words”, in Journal of Germanic Linguistics, volume 23, number 1, Cambridge University Press, →DOI, pages 65-81.
* ↑ “their(e,, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 4 June 2018.

## Old Norse
### Etymology

From Proto-Norse *ᚦᚨᛁᛉ (*þaiʀ), from Proto-Germanic *þai (“they, those”), plural masculine of *sa (“that”). Cognate with Gothic 𐌸𐌰𐌹 (þai).

### Pronoun

þeir
* those (nominative plural masculine demonstrative pronoun)
* they (third-person nominative plural masculine personal pronoun)

#### Alternative forms

Nominative
* ᚦᛅᛁᛦ (þaiʀ) — early Common Nordic
* ᚦᛅᛁᚱ (þair), ᚦᛂᛁᚱ (þeir) — after merger of r and ʀ, occurring by the 800s in West Norse and late 1000s in East Norse
* ᚦᛂᚱ (þer), ᚦᛂᛦ (þeʀ), ᚦᛁᚱ (þir), ᚦᛁᛦ (þiʀ) — after East Norse monophthongization, starting in the mid 900s in Denmark
Accusative
* ᚦᛅ (þa)
Dative
* ᚦᛅᛁᛘ (þaim) — Common Nordic
* ᚦᛂᛁᛘ (þeim) — after invention of stung runes
* ᚦᛂᛘ (þem), ᚦᛁᛘ (þim) — after East Norse monophthongization
Genitive
* ᚦᛅᛁᚱᛅ (þaira), ᚦᛅᛁᛦᛅ (þaiʀa), ᚦᛂᛁᚱᛅ (þeira), ᚦᛂᛁᛦᛅ (þeiʀa), ᚦᛂᚱᛅ (þera), ᚦᛂᛦᛅ (þeʀa), ᚦᛁᚱᛅ (þira), ᚦᛁᛦᛅ (þiʀa)

#### Descendants

* Icelandic: þeir
* Faroese: teir
* Norwegian Nynorsk: dei
* Jamtish: di
* Elfdalian: dier
* Old Swedish: þēr, the, þir, thi
** Swedish: de, (archaic) the, dhe (dialectal) di, da
* Old Danish: þhe, the
** Danish: de
** Norwegian Bokmål: de
* Old Gutnish: þar
** Gutnish: dair, di
* → Middle English: thei, they
** Scots: they
** English: they