Greetings, I would be most apprectiative if you could translate the following for me for a tattoo design I am working on:

"Father, until we meet again, may God hold you in the hallow of His hand."

Since I don't have a dialect preference, I suppose it would be (CO).

Thanking you in advance,

Angie

A athair, go gcasfar le chéile arís sinne, go gcoinní Dia i mbois a láimhe thú

Wait for confirmation.

^ Seconded.

The vocative at the beginning there (right before a relative clause) feels unnatural to me, but it feels unnatural to me in English, too—I’d much rather have it in between the two clauses, as go gcasfar le chéile arís muid, a athair, go gcoinní Dia i mbois a láimhe thú. (Actually, I’d like it better without the vocative there at all, but that’s not what’s being asked)

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Not a native speaker.

Always wait for at least three people to agree on a translation, especially if it’s for something permanent.

My translations are usually GU (Ulster Irish), unless CO (Standard Orthography) is requested.

Just for clarification, do you mean your own father here? or a priest?


I think it's unnatural to make pronouncements about what is "natural" or not in a language of which one is not a native speaker.

The position of the English is fine. In fact, it would be preferable if more people stated who they are talking to first, rather than sticking the name on the end as an afterthought.

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

Isn’t that what we’re all (well, nearly all) doing here most of the time?

(Besides, I have been speaking English since I was about three or four years old; I’ve learnt it in the same manner I learnt Danish, not academically—I just don’t count it as a native language since it wasn’t taught to me from infancy.)

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Not a native speaker.

Always wait for at least three people to agree on a translation, especially if it’s for something permanent.

My translations are usually GU (Ulster Irish), unless CO (Standard Orthography) is requested.

I am speaking to two men: my (deceased) father, telling him that until we meet again, I wish God to hold him in the palm (hallow) of his hand... My thought was to have the Gaelic words, winding in the Irish mist... and then echoed by the English words, to represent my Irish birthfather, who I never met, and the English father who adopted me at birth.

Thank you for so many quick replies!!! I am not rushing into this tattoo but wish to be (VERY) prepared when the time is right. I have been trying for a few weeks to get the correct words so again let me express my thanks. Any other suggestions would be welcomed!

Um, no. Some of us are actually quite careful to make it clear that we aren't native speakers in the linguistic sense.


This is an interesting academic question but in the end it would depend on the circumstances and environment. If you've been speaking "English" with non-native parents then probably not. If you have at least one native-speaking parent and grew up in an English-speaking country, then probably yes.

In the end, I think the real question is this: Is English your A language? Which language do you really think in? To test this, ask yourself which language you would fall back on in a stressful situation, i.e., in an emergency situation, would you think to yourself in English or Danish?

(For those who consider themselves "native" speakers of Irish: How would you answer that question if the two languages were English and Irish?)


Thanks for the clarification, Angie. Sorry for your loss.

In that case, "a athair" with a lower case a on athair would be the most appropriate.

I think our standard translation for the "blessing" over at IGTF was:

Go gcasfar le chéile sinn arís, go gcoinní Dia i mbois a láimhe thú.

I don't see the need for an emphatic pronoun sinne versus sinn (but more discussion is certainly welcome.)


So, putting the two together, I would suggest:

A athair, go gcasfar le chéile sinn arís, go gcoinní Dia i mbois a láimhe thú.
"Father, until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of His hand."


But await a rebuffal on this question (and please bear with us on the side discussion.)

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

This has been done so often on IGT that we don't really consider other ways of saying it.
It has become a stock sentence.

But I don't see anything wrong with Kokoshneta either.


Just to be clear by father you mean both your birth-father AND your adopted-father. But only one of them is deceased? But you don't want it in plural.

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It is recommended that you always wait for three to agree on a translation.
I speak Connemara Irish, and my input will often reflect that.
I will do an mp3 file on request for short translations.
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I think I'm in a similar position as Koko. I learnt English as a young child. And as I grew up it was constantly around me with people I met, books, television, radio etc. So I do consider English as a native language too even though I didn't speak it at home. Mostly I learnt English as natural acquisition, as well as being taught in school.

I believe that most Scandinavians can speak English fluently.

I remember when I was very young (before TV) there used to be a teaching Irish programme on the radio, and I was learning English from that. I was excited when I learnt that "cathaoir" was "chair".

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___________________________________________________________

It is recommended that you always wait for three to agree on a translation.
I speak Connemara Irish, and my input will often reflect that.
I will do an mp3 file on request for short translations.
___________________________________________________________

If anyone here is a native of Irish, it is you Bríd.

I agree that Scandinavians can be very fluent at English but that is not the same as being a native speaker. You can't "become" a native speaker if it hasn't been hard-wired at an early age. You can achieve near-native proficiency but it is never quite the same.

I think the main misgiving I have here, though, more than who is "native" and who is not, is people saying "that sounds natural" or "that doesn't sound natural", regardless of who it is.

These kind of pronouncements of "naturalness" are fraught with danger even from native speakers. Quite often a native speaker of one dialect wrongly thinks something in another dialect is "unnatural" or "wrong". Often such statements arise simply from a lack of contact or experience with other dialects.

If native speakers can make such mistakes, then how much moreso the danger of such mistakes being made by people who are clearly non-natives.

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).