And why flammable and inflammable?...but a bit off topic..but I feel better now

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Nuair a shuíonn an coileach péacoige ar a thóin, níl ann ach turcaí
Chief Buffalo Breath
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Wisdom is never on the menu, you have to own the restaurant.

‘Flammable’ = directly from ‘flame’.
‘Inflammable’ = from ‘inflame’.

Real simple, really.

Or just think of it as indóite.

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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.

No...that's actually the line used in the confessional in English: "Bless me father, for I have sinned. It's been X since my last confession."

In this case, you're asking for the priest's blessing before you relate your sins.

Redwolf

True, but the blessing doesn't come until after you have told the priest your sins.

Whether the blessing comes before or after telling the sins doesn't really matter. The whole idea of confession is that you are sorry for your sins and do not intend to repeat them. You go to confession with sorrow for your wrongdoing and ask in a contrite way for the priest's blessing so that it will do whatever blessings are meant to do for you - strengthen you spiritually or whatever. The suggestion that a blessing could even be considered a reward for sins is ludicrous.

I agree with everything you've said, Scooby. In fact, your comment "The suggestion that a blessing could even be considered a reward for sins is ludicrous." is exactly the point I was trying (rather clumsily) to make. In view of that, wouldn't you agree that Errigal's suggestion below is good advice for the original poster?

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I'm only a learner, so please help me by correcting my mistakes - I won't be offended!

Yes, Errigal's advice is spot on.

Although 'maith dom' is translated as Forgive me, Maith does mean 'good/goodness', so a more accurate translation would be 'goodness upon me', which does seem very similiar to the semantic meaning of 'bless me'.

That's the thing about translations, especially when it comes to religious terms like these, no translation can ever really mimic the true nature of another tongue, it merely reflect what side of the words we want them too. We could actually trace this to more ancient roots, the English word Forgive comes from Old English and means 'completely give/allow/give up, in other words to give up a right to punish. The Romans who invaded the area that would.become England feared their Gods, so did the Hebrews, they feared their Gods, so in saying forgive, they were asking God to give up his right to punish them.

The celts were a bit different, although they didn't write, a number of Greeks and Romans did. The one thing mentioned by these writers is the that 'the celts did not fear their Gods', so in asking for goodness, it could be interpreted that they were asking for a blessing, a sanctfication of their soul so that they might act in a good righteous way...

That's just my two cents, but it's part of my mindset on languages/linguistics, and why I choose to learn Irish. It's *our* language, how our people saw the world, the connections they made, how they lived, its a unique system of vocal sounds that invokes the very heart of the Irish soul; this is something you can't 'translate'. Whenever I hear Irish I can't help but smile, It's like a vibrating warmness from within.

Maith is a verb here, though, and as a verb, it does mean ‘to forgive’.

As in English, the thing forgiven is the direct object of the verb, while the person forgiven for the thing is the indirect object, in Irish indicated (as usually) by the preposition do.

So you’d expect the priest to reply, Maithim duit ‘I forgive you’.

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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.