Counterflow superfluidity in a system with N≥3 components is distinctively different from the N=2 case. The key feature is the difference between the number (N) of elementary vortex excitations and the number (N-1) of independent branches of phonon modes, that is, the number of superfluid modes is larger than the number of ordered phase variables. We formulate a hydrodynamic theory of this state. We show how all the dynamical and statistical aspects of this ("Borromean") type of ordering are naturally described by effective N-component theory featuring compact-gauge invariance. We also discuss how off diagonal intercomponent couplings convert the Borromean supercounterfluid into a Borromean insulator, with an emphasis on the properties of a nontrivial state with broken time-reversal symmetry.