Hello,

I am planning on getting the constellations of Ursa Major (the "Big Dipper" or "Starry Plough") And Ursa Minor as a tattoo. I would like to be able to label these stars with Gaeilge Versions of their names.

The ONLY Irish language name for a specific star I've been able to find is "Deamhanréalta" for Algol, the Demon Star. Unfortunately, this is not one of the stars needed.

The stars that ARE needed are as follows:

In Ursa Major; Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar, Alkaid

In Ursa Minor; Polaris (The North Star), Kochab, Pherkad, Yildun, Ahfa al Farkadain, Alasco

Of these, The North Star and perhaps the names of the two constellations themselves are of the greatest import. While the rest of the list would be nice, I understand if it isn't feasible.

I have looked for days online elsewhere trying to find these names myself, to no avail. If it would perhaps be more expedient to point me to a resource wherein they could be found, I would be grateful for that, as well.

Old Spelling is preferred, but not necessary. I only have experience with Munster Dialect, but I imagine that would compound the difficulty greatly to limit my scope to that, so even Standard is acceptable.

As always, any assistance at all is much appreciated.

Thank you all in advance.

--Clint

I think the Latin names are the international standard and are left untranslated in most European languages.

The North Star is An Réalt Thuaidh, but I'd imagine an Irish-speaking astronomer would call it Polaris (if I ever meet an Irish-speaking astronomer, I'll ask).

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Táim ag foghlaim fós. Fáilte roimh gach aon cheartúchán.

Since you ask........ Chuamar ar thuras chuig Réadlann Dhún Sinche anuraidh. We went on a trip to Dunsink Observatory last year. The whole evening was through Irish. If anyone knows if Irish names exist, they might be worth contacting. Although my guess is that they use the Latin names too.

http://www.dias.ie/index.php?option=com ... 39&lang=en

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Are there perhaps names that were in use before the Latin standard? Many Indo-European and Native American cultures all see similar constellations. Also, I have some experience with Asiatic languages having different names for star formations (i.e. Subaru is Japanese for the Pleiades or Seven Sisters.) Is there something similar to this in Irish? Or has there been in the past?

If not, I apologise for wasting time.

Thank you, Mick, for all your help thus far.
EDIT: just saw your post, Saoirse! Thank you for the reference. I shall contact them as soon as I can.

No question is ever a waste of time. Let us know if you find out anything from dias (Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies). By the way, a trip to Dunsink is well worth doing - really interesting place. If you can get a group together, they will organise the event as Gaeilge. Alternatively, if we are organising another one at some stage, I'll post it here. Unlikely we'll do it for ages though as we tend to go to different places.

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I just got done sending the email, and I will be sure to keep you updated on any reply I receive.

A trip to Dunsink sounds wonderful, and I would love to go. However, living in the States, as I do, makes such a trip problematic.

A journey to Ireland has long been on my "bucket list" though, as it were, and I now have another destination to add to the growing list of Must-See locations!

Again, thanks for all the help so far!

I found this BBC site which lists astronomical terms, and has a few star names (some with a Gaelic origin), but it doesn't really have the info you want:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/irish/blas/science/astronomy/glossary.shtml

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

You'd have to be an expert in astronomy to know all the stars in those constellations.
Like Mick said I'd stick with the Latin names.


http://www.focal.ie/Search.aspx?term=th ... ng=3116649

http://www.focal.ie/Search.aspx?term=Ur ... ng=3116649

Ursa Major has different Irish names, some colloquial and other more official.
An Béar Mór - The Big Bear (obviously what Ursa Major means), but I've never heard anybody actually call it that. So I think that comes under direct translation.


An Céachta - is what I've always used.

http://www.focal.ie/Search.aspx?term=th ... ng=3116649
But in the dictionary there is also -
An Camchéachta
&
an tSeisreach


An Réalta Thuaidh
http://www.focal.ie/Search.aspx?term=th ... ng=3116649

An Bodach (The Giant) = Orion
Orion's Belt = An Slat - Is what I always used. But it's also know as "Slat an Rí".


http://www.focal.ie/Search.aspx?term=Megrez
http://www.focal.ie/Search.aspx?term=Merak&lang=3116659

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It is recommended that you always wait for three to agree on a translation.
I speak Connemara Irish, and my input will often reflect that.
I will do an mp3 file on request for short translations.
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Cool Bríd. I had no idea of the words for Orion. An Cam Céachta is what's used in Munster for the plough.

There were individual names for the stars in Irish, I'll dig them out for you MacDraiocht, these are the names that were used by the Bards, but they wouldn't be used by a native speaker today.

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The dialect I use is Cork Irish.
Ar sgáth a chéile a mhairid na daoine, lag agus láidir, uasal is íseal

Here's a link to a dictionary of astronomical terms in Irish. It has a few starnames, but most of them are just gaelicized spellings of the latin names, still it might be of interest.

http://www.acmhainn.ie/tearmai/realt.htm





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