Good morning Irish experts!

I am looking for the correct Irish translation for "All of her life", which i need as part of a tattoo I am getting done.

If anybody could take the time to help me out on this, it would be much appreciated.

Thank you,



Ian

A saol uilig/iomlán would work if you’re simply referring to ‘all of her life’ as ‘her entire life’ (as in “She spent her entire life doing blablabla”).

If you mean it adverbially (as in “All of her life, she’d been blablabla”), you’d need to say something like i rith a saoil (uilig/iomláin) (I have a feeling there’s a more natural way of saying this, but I can’t think of what it is—someone else will be sure to have better memory than me).

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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.

Thank you so much for the reply!

It is a part of the saying:

"a son is a son 'til he finds him a wife,
a daughter is a daughter, ALL OF HER LIFE"

I hope this helps in explaining it?

Ar feadh a saoil go léir is how I think I’d say it in that context.

Or perhaps more likely: óna breith go dtí a bás (‘from her birth till her death’)

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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.

From Seanfhocla Chonnacht - a few different equivalents of that proverb. No doubt there are others in other parts of the country.

Is mac duit do mhac go bpóstar é, Ach is iníon duit d’iníon go dtéir sa gcré.
Is mac duit do mhac go bpóstar é, Ach is iníon duit d’iníon go dté sí sa gcré.
Is é do mhac do mhac inniu ach is í d’iníon d’iníon go deo.
Is leat féin do mhac go bpósa sé, ach más scaoilte nó pósta í d’iníon is leat go deo í.

One translation of 'for all her life' is feadh a saoil go léir or ar feadh a saoil go léir. feadh a saoil loosely means 'for the duration of her life', so I think the 'all' bit is redundant (whether we use uilig/uile/iomlá(i)n/go léir or whatever).

Since no one has mentioned it yet, I'm posting just to note that there is a traditional Scottish Gaelic version of that proverb, the words of which are nearly all the same as in Irish, although I don't know whether the proverb exists in this form (traditionally) in Irish:

Fear gu aois, is bean gu bàs

The wording in this traditional version is somewhat cryptic, meaning more or less "Man 'til of age, and woman until death", but it has always (so far as I know) been taken as having the meaning of the English proverb you started with.

An Irish equivalent for that would be:
Fear go [h]aois is bean go bás [note that the accent flows in the opposite direction in Irish]

I'm on a break from jury duty right now, so I have none of my Irish materials with me, and I'm drawing a blank as to whether the "h" would be needed for the transition between go and aois.

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I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.

Please put at least part of your request in the subject line (I've fixed this one). We get thousands of requests for tattoos...by spelling out at least some of what you're looking for in the subject like, it makes it easier for us (and you) to find and keep track of your request.

Redwolf

It would, yes.

It doesn’t seem to exist, though: Google gives only three hits, all old threads on IGTF.

It wouldn’t be that suitable for this context, either, since “all of her life” would then just be go bás ‘till death’.

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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 think something like this should be included at the top of the page. I know that the guidelines may be in danger of being very long but this is an important one.

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