At 40 I've finally applied for my Irish passport and soon can return home to live if I wish (and I do). I would like to get a tattoo with some words I wrote but the only translation I can find is through Google....Ink is for life, so can I have someone translate just to see if it's correct?

English- Man on fire, born of the sea, cradled by Earth and charged with spirit; harness the howling winds of love

Google translation- Man ar an tine, a rugadh ar an fharraige, cradled ag Domhan agus a mhuirearú le spiorad; leas a bhaint as na gaotha howling an ghrá

When I reverse the translation it says- Man on fire, born of the sea, cradled by Earth and charged with spirit; exploit the howling winds of love

I don't like the word "exploit" instead of harness....

What do you think? Is there no Gaelic words for howling or cradled?

Thanks for your help

Thank God you came here. Google's "trashlation" was even worse than usual! It didn't even bother to try to translate "man" or "cradled"!

This is a bit more complicated in Irish than you might think. It will take a while, and we will probably have to paraphrase a great deal (for example, I'm not sure that "man on fire" (it's literally "Fear trí thine," by the way), translated literally will convey the message you want (we don't want people to think they should call the fire department, after all!)0. If you don't mind waiting a bit, though, and staying on top of this so it doesn't get forgotten, we can probably get you to something you'll be happy with.

Congrats on the passport!

Redwolf

Google translate is a machine. It can't think and doesn't grasp the nuances of language,It frequently will give the wrong version of a word, or leave the word in English. Avoid it like the plague.

Nice guys! That would have been most unfortunate. I am a firefighter, but "Man on fire" is more to deal with the phoenix from the flames that my journey resembles. Thank you for putting in the time. This means a lot to me

bheith i dtine bhruite means to be in a consuming passion, so perhaps:

A fhir i dtine bhruite, a rugadh as an bhfarraige, a tógadh leis an Domhan, atá luchtaithe le spiorad, bain leas as gála gártha an grá.
"O man on fire, who is born from the sea, who was raised with the world, and who is charged with spirit, harness the howling wind of love."

I've assumed the first part is an invocation to the person the order, i.e., "harness ..." is aimed at. In Irish this should be in the vocative, otherwise it becomes a description.

gála gártha is an idiom for "a howling tempest". gála means "a gale".

Await correction, confirmation, or better suggestions ...

_________________
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).

I'm thinking, from what he's said, that it is descriptive of himself, so perhaps changing "A fhir" to "Fear" (I love "i dtine bhruite"!)

I'd like to get a ruling from the OP as to what he means by "earth." As I was reading the English, I was thinking of "earth" as the element, and thus leaning toward "talamh" or even "créafóg."

darrenward, at question here are two things: 1) Did you mean this to be a description of yourself, or are you invoking someone else, such as a god? 2) What do you mean by "earth"? What Breandán has given you is "earth" as in "The Earth" (the planet, as opposed to Mars or Venus). It's also used to mean "the world." My suggestions are more "earth" as the element or the substance: "talamh" is earth as opposed to heaven or the sky. "Créafóg" is literally "clay," and can mean "earth" as in the ground you plow (or in which you are buried).

Redwolf

This tattoo is meant to be a reminder to myself of who I am and what I am made of.
I used all the 5 elements fire, water, wind, earth and spirit.
Man on fire= Me, cast from a star as all matter is and also my fire like/ passionate nature
Born of the sea= Irish heritage, my life long calling to be by the ocean, mostly made of water
Cradled by Earth= Planet Earth, the mother, the element
Charged by spirit= We are all energy/frequency, the eternal being living within the body
Harness the howling winds of love= Even though life can be a raging storm, love is at the root of all creation, and if you're brave and have faith, the howling winds can fill your sails and take you to places/states that are better than you could of even imagined.

Well that's my intention word for word. I hope this clears it up. The fact that total strangers are working on this with me makes it the much cooler. Cheers to you

Darren Ward (AKA Badwolf)

I'm still not 100% sure what to do with the "earth" bit. In Irish, "planet earth" is not "the mother"...it's just this big rock ball on which we live. So you kind of need to decide if you want to say what would be, in English, "The world" (in other words, the rock ball), "the earth" ("ground," as opposed to heaven/sky), or "dirt/soil/clay." The latter is closest in meaning to "earth" as element. Given the rest of what you've said, that would be my inclination, but if you really want the rock ball, we need to know that.

Redwolf

Agreed Redwolf, I'll have it translated as earth-the element(soil,clay)

Thank you.

Tweaking:

A fhir i dtine bhruite, a rugadh as an bhfarraige, a tógadh leis an talamh, atá luchtaithe le spiorad, bain leas as gála gártha an grá.
"Man on fire, who is born from the sea, who was raised with the world, and who is charged with spirit, harness the howling wind of love."

I still think the vocative is more appropriate. Even if there is an element of description in the call, it is still a call - from the author to himself - and flows better with the imperative that follows.

The nominative (using fear) would make it a bit of a non sequitur, switching from third person to second person midsentence, e.g., "A man on fire, ... spirit. Harness ..."

_________________
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).