Dia dhíbh!

I remember being told that 'ar bith' is not traditionally used in Munster dialects, however in An Blas Muimhneach I and II, I have spotted a few instances of ar bith. Ar bith does not appear even once in any of the many books and sources I have on Déise Irish. Is it traditionally used in Munster at all?

I also remember being told that bith is only used in ar bith, and is not a functional word by itself, however in multiple books on Déise Irish bith (or bioth since the th is pronounced broad) does appear as a fully functional noun. Is it used in other dialects too?

Grma.

I've definitely heard it used in an Fheothanach, and around Baile an Fheirtéaraigh. That's not to say it would traditionally have been used there, it could be a recent phenomenon that it's used there, or it could just be a feature of the linguistic register speakers use there when speaking with people they know aren't local or fluent. For example, I've also had a bean an tí who had been using the term "feicim" for a while before eventually explaining that she would typically say "chím" when speaking to family and people she'd know about the place.



It's primarily a noun I think. Certainly in Ó Dónaill's dictionary, the phrase "ar bith" is treated as an extension of the regular use of the noun. I think it may just the case that the noun itself is less frequently used these days outside of stock phrases like ar bith, sa bhith, and ar an mbith, particularly among L2 speakers who will have learned in school to use domhan, and may not have learned many alternatives and synonyms.