Tattoo; Family Above All

jay · **Joined:** Wed 25 Jun 2014 11:55 pm **Posts:** 4

Hey everybody,
Im looking to get a matching tattoo with my father. We would like to get the saying "Family Above All" in Irish Gaelic. We are unsure how to write and pronounce this saying, your help is much appreciated. Thank you.

Redwolf · **Posted:** Thu 26 Jun 2014 12:21 am

jay wrote:

Hey everybody,
Im looking to get a matching tattoo with my father. We would like to get the saying "Family Above All" in Irish Gaelic. We are unsure how to write and pronounce this saying, your help is much appreciated. Thank you.

Hi Jay. Audrey Nickel here, from the Omniglot Fan Club. So glad to see you here!

The first thing we have to determine is who do you want to include in your definition of "family"? Irish has several words that can mean "family," depending on where you want to take it (and none of them matches exactly what we mean by the term in English).

The options:

Muintir: This literally means something along the lines of "people" or "folk," and is often used to describe "family" in its broadest sense: Parents, kids, sibs, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, ancestors, and descendants. One of our regulars long ago described it as "the entire family reunion crowd." It's also used to refer to a particular "people" or "tribe" (for example "Muintir na hÉireann": The people of Ireland).

Teaghlach: This literally means "household," and is often used today to refer to what we would call the "nuclear" family: Parents and children. It can be expanded to refer to anyone who lives with you, whether related or not.

Gaolta: This means "family" as in "relatives." It lacks the "warmth" of other forms of "family" (pretty much as "relatives" does), but it is very specific.

Clann: "Clann" really means "descendants/offspring". It's used to talk about the collective children of a family, or descendants of a common ancestor. Sometimes it's used to describe one's siblings or one's children. It isn't truly synonymous with the English word "clan," though it is the origin of it ("muintir" is closer in actual meaning to "clan").

Some of these words can alter slightly in usage, depending on where you are in Ireland.

Once you've picked the word that is closest to your idea of "family," we'd follow it with "thar gach uile ní." This would come out to mean "Family above everything."

The problems with what you got from Google "trashlate" are:

1) It used a genitive form of "teaghlach." If "teaghlach" is the word you want to go with, you need to spell it as I have here, not as you got it from Google.

2) It used "aon," which means "any" or "one," but can't be used by itself the way it was in the phrase you had.

Please wait for at least three people here to be in agreement before you have the inking done.

Redwolf

jay · **Joined:** Wed 25 Jun 2014 11:55 pm **Posts:** 4

Redwolf wrote:

jay wrote:

Hey everybody,
Im looking to get a matching tattoo with my father. We would like to get the saying "Family Above All" in Irish Gaelic. We are unsure how to write and pronounce this saying, your help is much appreciated. Thank you.

Hi Jay. Audrey Nickel here, from the Omniglot Fan Club. So glad to see you here!

The first thing we have to determine is who do you want to include in your definition of "family"? Irish has several words that can mean "family," depending on where you want to take it (and none of them matches exactly what we mean by the term in English).

The options:

Muintir: This literally means something along the lines of "people" or "folk," and is often used to describe "family" in its broadest sense: Parents, kids, sibs, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, ancestors, and descendants. One of our regulars long ago described it as "the entire family reunion crowd." It's also used to refer to a particular "people" or "tribe" (for example "Muintir na hÉireann": The people of Ireland).

Teaghlach: This literally means "household," and is often used today to refer to what we would call the "nuclear" family: Parents and children. It can be expanded to refer to anyone who lives with you, whether related or not.

Gaolta: This means "family" as in "relatives." It lacks the "warmth" of other forms of "family" (pretty much as "relatives" does), but it is very specific.

Clann: "Clann" really means "descendants/offspring". It's used to talk about the collective children of a family, or descendants of a common ancestor. Sometimes it's used to describe one's siblings or one's children. It isn't truly synonymous with the English word "clan," though it is the origin of it ("muintir" is closer in actual meaning to "clan").

Some of these words can alter slightly in usage, depending on where you are in Ireland.

Once you've picked the word that is closest to your idea of "family," we'd follow it with "thar gach uile ní." This would come out to mean "Family above everything."

The problems with what you got from Google "trashlate" are:

1) It used a genitive form of "teaghlach." If "teaghlach" is the word you want to go with, you need to spell it as I have here, not as you got it from Google.

2) It used "aon," which means "any" or "one," but can't be used by itself the way it was in the phrase you had.

Please wait for at least three people here to be in agreement before you have the inking done.

Redwolf

I think we are going to go with "Muintir thar gach uile ní"
thank you once again Audrey, I would love to hear all the other opinions and what people have to say. Not trying to rush anybody but my fathers birthday is Friday and I would like to surprise him on that day. Sorry for the short notice but I know you all rock so it wont be a problem

Bríd Mhór · **Joined:** Sun 28 Aug 2011 8:29 pm **Posts:** 2985

jay wrote:

Redwolf wrote:

jay wrote:

Hey everybody,
Im looking to get a matching tattoo with my father. We would like to get the saying "Family Above All" in Irish Gaelic. We are unsure how to write and pronounce this saying, your help is much appreciated. Thank you.

Hi Jay. Audrey Nickel here, from the Omniglot Fan Club. So glad to see you here!

The first thing we have to determine is who do you want to include in your definition of "family"? Irish has several words that can mean "family," depending on where you want to take it (and none of them matches exactly what we mean by the term in English).

The options:

Muintir: This literally means something along the lines of "people" or "folk," and is often used to describe "family" in its broadest sense: Parents, kids, sibs, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, ancestors, and descendants. One of our regulars long ago described it as "the entire family reunion crowd." It's also used to refer to a particular "people" or "tribe" (for example "Muintir na hÉireann": The people of Ireland).

Teaghlach: This literally means "household," and is often used today to refer to what we would call the "nuclear" family: Parents and children. It can be expanded to refer to anyone who lives with you, whether related or not.

Gaolta: This means "family" as in "relatives." It lacks the "warmth" of other forms of "family" (pretty much as "relatives" does), but it is very specific.

Clann: "Clann" really means "descendants/offspring". It's used to talk about the collective children of a family, or descendants of a common ancestor. Sometimes it's used to describe one's siblings or one's children. It isn't truly synonymous with the English word "clan," though it is the origin of it ("muintir" is closer in actual meaning to "clan").

Some of these words can alter slightly in usage, depending on where you are in Ireland.

Once you've picked the word that is closest to your idea of "family," we'd follow it with "thar gach uile ní." This would come out to mean "Family above everything."

The problems with what you got from Google "trashlate" are:

1) It used a genitive form of "teaghlach." If "teaghlach" is the word you want to go with, you need to spell it as I have here, not as you got it from Google.

2) It used "aon," which means "any" or "one," but can't be used by itself the way it was in the phrase you had.

Please wait for at least three people here to be in agreement before you have the inking done.

Redwolf

I think we are going to go with "Muintir thar gach uile ní"
thank you once again Audrey, I would love to hear all the other opinions and what people have to say. Not trying to rush anybody but my fathers birthday is Friday and I would like to surprise him on that day. Sorry for the short notice but I know you all rock so it wont be a problem

Well explained Redwolf.
It is indeed complicated in Irish. Even "muintir" can have multiple meanings/usages.

"Muintir thar gach uile ní" - I think that's correct.

Just a personal preference of mine, I think putting "our" in there sounds better - again it's not necessary. ""ár muintir thar gach uile ní"

jay · **Joined:** Wed 25 Jun 2014 11:55 pm **Posts:** 4

Thank you, great to hear that another person thinks its correct

I see that you said you could do short translations.. do you think you could send one my way? please and thank you.

Redwolf · **Posted:** Fri 27 Jun 2014 12:25 am

jay wrote:

Thank you, great to hear that another person thinks its correct

I see that you said you could do short translations.. do you think you could send one my way? please and thank you.

Do you mean a recording? She does lovely recordings, and she's a native speaker, so you get the real deal.

I do agree with Bríd about putting "Ár" in front of it. Makes it very clear that you're talking about family:

Ár muintir thar gach uile ní

Also, do be certain the artist gets the accent marks on the Á and the í (both slant to the right).

Redwolf