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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1976 (SND Vol. X). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

YONDER, adv., adj. Also yunder (Sh.); yon(n)er; and by conflation with Yont, yonter. Sc. forms and usages. [′jon(d)ər, Sh. ′jʌndər]

I. adv. 1. In that place, over there. Gen.Sc. Now arch. or dial. in Eng. See also Thonder.Sc. 1819 J. Rennie St Patrick III. iv.:
Yonner a gatherin' o' the Pehts.Sc. 1825 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) I. 74:
He accompanied me to the Trows, up aboon Kelso yonner.Abd. 1836 J. Grant Tales 195:
What i' the warld was he doing yon'er?Bnff. 1871 Banffshire Jnl. (19 Dec.) 9:
I'm an offisher frae the Custom Hoose at Leith yonner.Kcd. 1874 E. B. Ramsay Reminisc. 254:
“Wha was your last maister?” “Oh, yonder him,” said the boy.Sh. 1902 J. Burgess Sh. Folk 95:
Lass, der been a mosst aaful onkerry yunder.Lnk. 1923 G. Rae Lowland Hills 62:
Yonner trows the fleein' sky, Ower heaven's face.Sc. 1965 Scotland's Mag. (Sept.) 54:
A man from “through yonner” in the west.Abd. 1996 Sheena Blackhall Wittgenstein's Web 49:
Anely Henry, an aulder chiel frae his ain depairtment, wis ay yonner, scraunin the Friday job section o the local paper, like a chukken scrattin ower rock grun desperate for a pickin o seed.

2. In combs. and phrs.: (1) far frae a' yonder, nae (near) a' yonner, ‘not all there', simple-minded, half-witted (ne.Sc. 1974); (2) yonder-abouts, in that district, there or thereabout (Sh., Per. 1974); (3) yond(e)r awa, and I.Sc. forms yondra, -droo, yundru, over there, in that place (Sh., Ork. 1905 E.D.D., yondra; I.Sc. 1974); (4) yonder-by, id.; (5) yondermaist, adj., farthest, most distant (ne.Sc. 1974); (6) yontermert, further over, along a bit, a corruption of O.Sc. yonderwart, obs. Eng. yonderward, id., by conflation with O.Sc. compar. form yondermair. Cf. (5).(1) ne.Sc. 1894 A. Gordon Northward Ho 66:
He wusna jest wud or clean daft, bit he was far, far frae a' yonder.Abd. 1903 W. Watson Auld Lang Syne 81:
He's nae near a' yonner.(2) Slk. 1828 Hogg Shep. Cal. (1866) xv.:
Ye ken how we are plaguit down yonder-abouts.(3) Sc. 1817 Scott Rob Roy xxvi.:
“The limes,” he assured us, “were from his own little farm yonder-awa” (indicating the West Indies with a knowing shrug of his shoulders).Sc. 1864 M. Oliphant Katie Stewart V.:
Muckle the fisher lads yonder-awa' think o't for a treat.Sh. 1952 Robertson and Graham Sh. Grammar 15:
Sees du da mön yundru abön da Wart.Sh. 1972 Tocher No. 8. 248–9:
This James Harrison cam doon yondroo to Burravoe. . . . There a place doon yondrawa where they played the ball.(4) Ags. 1871 J. Macpherson D. Matheson 190:
“Where is her house?” “Yonner by,” said the lad, pointing to a house about a mile distant.(5) Sc. 1879 P. H. Waddell Isaiah 4:
I sal gie till thee the far-aff folk in fee, an' the yondermaist neuks o' the warld till yer ain ha'din.(6) Fif. 1825 Jam. s.v. Yound:
Sit yontermert, sit farther off.

II. adj. That (over there), distant, far (‡Abd., Ags. 1974).Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore (S.T.S.) 57:
They scour Out o'er the yonter brae, wi' a' their power.Ayr. 1831 T. MacQueen Amusements 4:
In the beild o' yonner hedge, I sat me down.