Tattoo, yes another tattoo request lol. If anyone could please help me with this it would be much appreciated. I am looking for the translation for "Irish Blood". So far I have Fuil Eireannach. Hoping anyone out there can point me in the right direction before I have this permanently etched into my forearm. Thanks in advance for your help !!!

Fuil Éireannach [note the accent in the second word] does literally mean "Irish Blood". However, when referring to one's heritage (as opposed to, say, one's citizenship), some people think it's better to use Gaelach, rather than Éireannach. Others don't see much difference.

There is also a compound word, Gael-fhuil, which is sometimes used poetically, as in the song Dónal Ó Conaill, where the "Great Liberator", Daniel O'Connell, is referred to as planda fíor don Ghael-fhuil ("true scion of the Irish blood"). Some people see compound words like that as not being traditionally Irish, but the use of compound words like that goes back to at least the time of the Norse invasions. The Norse settlers who learned Irish had trouble with putting adjectives after nouns, so they often put them before the noun, which is how names like Dubh Linn ("black pool" = Dublin) and Leixlip ("salmon leap") were created.

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

I always get in trouble for saying this when speaking/ arguing with an Irish person who doesn't speak Irish - especially when they start trying to knock Irish. A Gael is a person who speaks a Goídelc language. Goídelc (Q-Celtic) meaning a language which developed from Old Irish, so you have the Irish Gaels, the Scottish Gaels and the Manx Gaels. Gael is similar to Celt, a person who speaks a Celtic Language, in that sense as its defined as a linguistic connection rather than a blood, other cultural or people who share a common territory connection.

I would consider an American who can speaks Irish a "Gael" more than I would consider an Irish Anglophone who exclusively speaks English. Of course, the monolingual English speaker is still an Irish person but not a Gael.

However, that's only when I'm trying to be argumentative . I think Fuil Ghaelach or Gael-Fhuil or Gael-Fhuil is definitely a great alternative to Fuil Éireannach and its a good exaple of Gaelachas as if you ask an Irish speaking person, who wouldn't know the definition of Gael anyway, they would more than likely call themselves a Gael. Éireannach is kind of a "new" word. Gael is also what people from outside Ireland would call the Irish.



The Norman influence is interesting, I am pretty sure though that the formation of comh-fhocail precedes the Norman invasion/ welcoming!

I have seen the comh-fhocal order swapped around in Murphy's 1817 transcription of Diarmuid Ua Longa's 1810 poem "Air Bhás Fhínghín Mhác Cártha Eascop Chorcadha"

Cártha-fhuil- Blood of the McCarthy Clan

Réx-fhuil Múmhan- Blood of the Kings of Munster

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Please wait for corrections/ more input from other forum members before acting on advice

Actually, I think Caoimhín said "Norse" (as in the Vikings), not "Norman"

Redwolf

Thanks to all of you who replied, all your input was informative and greatly appreciated. Looks like I have two choices and a decision to make. I'm really glad it's only two and not a dozen !!!

Only two so far!

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Please don't schedule the appointment yet! We strongly advise getting three people in agreement on a translation before proceeding.

I would lean toward "Fuil Gaelach" or "Gael-fhuil" myself, but please wait for the nod from at least one more person (and stick around for a bit to see if anyone comes up with anything else...Irish translation isn't always as straightforward as you might think.

Redwolf

Really? Who says that? I just read the Táin and it is filled with epithets like finnbennach "white-horned", dóeltenga "beetle-tongued", echbél "horse-lipped", rúadruca "red-blushing", and the like. (And I know that it wasn't written down until after the Vikings invaded but (a) the original core is thought to be much older and (b) there's precious little else in the work that could be ascribed to Norse influence.) Moreover, we find this sort of composition in the earliest attestations of every Indo-European language, even if it later becomes obsolete. (Latin is an excellent example of this.)

So I think you might be able to say that these sorts of compounds increased in areas of Norse influence (that's certainly the case in the North of France, for instance), but it's definitely an exaggeration to say that they originate with the Northmen.

Occasionally some people here (not myself) have expressed a dislike for certain modern compounds, such as "Gaelchultúr" or "reophointe" (to mention a couple of recent ones)...I suspect those are the people Caoimhín had in mind.

Redwolf

Yes, I was anticipating that reaction, since (like Red) I've seen it on this forum (or at least on the old forum).
Please also note that I said "to at least the time of the Norse invasions". I was aware of some compound words in Old Irish, but I'm no expert there and I wasn't sure how far back the usage went.

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