Hi,

I am looking to get a tattoo written either Irish in sean-chló font or the Ogham alphabet. I have been looking up the Ogham alphabet and would like to confirm if I have gotten the correct translation or not.

These are the words I would like translated along with how I think they would be written in Ogham as far as I am aware. I would be very grateful if someone could confirm if the below is correct and if not would be the correct translation please. I also wanted to confirm if they should be written across as shown below or vertical as I have seen on many stone inscriptions and if the > and < at the beginning and end of each sentence should also be used as they appear on some translations and not on others.

Never Regret Anything
᚛ᚅᚓᚃᚓᚏ ᚏᚓᚌᚏᚓᚈ ᚐᚅᚆᚈᚆᚔᚍ᚜

Because At One Time It
᚛ᚁᚓᚉᚐᚒᚄᚓ ᚐᚈ ᚑᚅᚓ ᚈᚔᚋᚓ ᚔᚈ᚜

Was Exactly What You Wanted
᚛ᚃᚐᚄ ᚓ ᚐᚉᚈᚂᚆ ᚃᚆᚐᚈ ᚆᚑᚒ ᚃᚐᚅᚈᚓᚇ᚜


I would appreciate any help with this as I am not fluent in either.

Thanks

Niamh.

What you have there is a transcription of the English directly into Ogham (with an f instead of the v in never.) Ogham is a phonetic script for Old Irish so it doesn't fit English well.

To put your quote into Irish, perhaps:

Ná bíodh aiféala ort faoi rud ar bith "Never Regret Anything"
Mar bhí an t-am ann "Because At One Time"
Gurb é go díreach an rud a bhí uait "It Was Exactly What You Wanted"

Once we settle on a translation, we can work on the sean-chló and/or ogham for you.

_________________
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).

Hi Breandán

Using the Irish translation for the quote is perfect. The F instead of a V was a type on my part apologies. I would be very grateful if you could show the Irish version in Ogham and the Sean-chló font please if it's not touch trouble.

Thank you again for all your help I really appreciate it.

Niamh

A: If the end markers signify sentences then what you've written reads "Never regret anything. Because at one time it. Was exactly what you wanted." Not good.

B: Typically the end markers actually mark the start and end of the whole thing, so what you've got isn't just broken into sentences, but actually into three independent texts.

Ogham should be written on a continuous line and vertical vs horizontal isn't actually that important -- the theory is that most Ogham probably wasn't written on stone, but on sticks as a means of transporting short messages (a bit like an ancient "text message"!) -- they say this because Ogham carvings are essentially one dimensional, even though the stones they're carved on present a two-dimensional surface, whereas a stick is practically one-dimensional. Sadly, because wood rots, we don't expect to find any well-preserved evidence, so we'll never actually know. The Celts all over Europe tended to make tall, thin stone monuments, so if you're going to pick one dimension, the vertical one is best....

Anyhow, I believe there are a few extant stones where the message goes up one vertical edge, along the top edge, then down another vertical edge.

The only other thing I'd point out is that I don't believe the Ogham ever used orthographic spaces (ie. spaces between words -- most scripts didn't incorporate them in ancient times; Latin originally didn't), but the Ogham you've got there is riddled with them (including one where the X of "exactly" would go -- that would need replaced with CS....).

_________________
A language belongs to its native speakers, and when you speak it, you are a guest in their homes.
If you are not a good guest, you have no right to complain about receiving poor hospitality.

Hi Niall

Thank you for your reply and information below its very interesting I really appreciate it. So ideally I should only have a marker at the very beginning and very end of the text as I don't want them as 3 independent sentences and I should have no spaces between the words when translating the into Ogham?

I do want to have it vertical so I would turn it 90 degrees anticlockwise then?

thanks

Niamh

Hi Breandán

I was wondering if there was another way as such to say the below quote by any chance. I have changed what you suggested into Ogham which I hope is correct, if possible could you please confirm same and I have not used any spaces between the words as per Niall response also.

But as you can see the 1st and 3rd sentence are rather longer than the 2nd, so I was wondering if there was another way to interpret the 1st line as such.

Ná bíodh aiféala ort faoi rud ar bith "Never Regret Anything"
Mar bhí an t-am ann "Because At One Time"
Gurb é go díreach an rud a bhí uait "It Was Exactly What You Wanted"

᚛ᚅᚐᚁᚔᚑᚇᚆᚐᚔᚃᚓᚐᚂᚐᚑᚏᚈᚃᚐᚖᚏᚒᚇᚐᚏᚁᚔᚈᚆ᚜
᚛ᚋᚐᚏᚁᚆᚔᚐᚅᚈᚐᚋᚐᚅᚅ᚜
᚛ᚌᚒᚏᚁᚓᚌᚑᚇᚔᚏᚕᚉᚆᚐᚅᚏᚒᚇᚐᚁᚆᚔᚒᚐᚔᚈ᚜

I would be very grateful for any help you can provide.

Thanks

Niamh

I'm not an Irish speaker, so this is addressed to those who are.

Is the "faoi rud ar bith" really necessary? If you dropped it, wouldn't you have something similar to "have no regrets"? The preference for "never regret anything" over "have no regrets" in English is idiomatic.

Is there any equivalent to "the very thing" in Irish? They've got "an dearbh rud" in ScG and that would help to balance it off visually.


Sorry for fiddling with your words.
But I'm trying to get across.
The effect of what you've written.
As I tried to explain this before.
But you seem.
Not to have understood.

What you have written in English is not 3 sentences.

_________________
A language belongs to its native speakers, and when you speak it, you are a guest in their homes.
If you are not a good guest, you have no right to complain about receiving poor hospitality.

Sorry for fiddling with your words.
But I'm trying to get across.
The effect of what you've written.
As I tried to explain this before.
But you seem.
Not to have understood.

What you have written in English is not 3 sentences.[/quote]

Hi Niall

I seem to have misunderstood what you are referring to when you say "What you have written in English is not 3 sentences". I took it as the starting and ending symbols > < if this is incorrect I would be grateful if you could explain further.

I apologise for my lack of understanding, I am trying to get a understanding of Ogham and Irish also so that I get the tattoo correct. The quote as such I broke into 3 separate lines for translating into Ogham as there is a limit to the number of characters you can enter. Also I don't want it to all run in 1 continuous line I like that it is broken into 3 lines.

Looks like some did and some didn't. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogham_inscription)


Yes, that might be better. (Though I think having rud in two places creates a link between the two parts of the statement.)


Or C: The markers represent the corners of stones, i.e., any break in the text.


an rud (ceannann) céanna

Perhaps:

Ná bíodh aiféala ort "Have no regret"
Mar gurb é an rud céanna "because it is exactly the thing"
a bhí uait uair amháin "that you once wanted."

᚛ᚅᚐ ᚁᚔᚑᚇᚆ ᚐᚔᚃᚓᚐᚂᚐ ᚑᚏᚈ᚜
᚛ᚋᚐᚏ ᚌᚒᚏᚁ ᚓ ᚐᚅ ᚏᚒᚇ ᚉᚓᚐᚅᚅᚐ᚜
᚛ᚐ ᚁᚆᚔ ᚒᚐᚔᚈ ᚒᚐᚔᚏ ᚐᚋᚆᚐᚔᚅ᚜

Ná bíoḋ aiféala ort "Have no regret"
Mar gurb é an rud céanna "because it is exactly the thing"
a ḃí uait uair aṁáin "that you once wanted."

_________________
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).