Can anyone help me translate a Gaelic phrase? It is written in Gaelic in a tattoo on someone (it uses characters that are not on the keyboard). I have the image, but I am not sure how to attach it. My email address is MGFALLONL@aol.com.

You will have to post it here. We don't do translations via email, for everyone's safety. There should be no characters in Irish or Scottish Gaelic not found on the keyboard other than the accented vowels (á, é, í, ó, ú, etc.), and you can get those by clicking the appropriate buttons above the posting form (when you hit "reply," look up to just above where you type your text and you'll see all the accented vowels there).

If it contains "characters" other than those, it's probably not any kind of Gaelic. Unless you're thinking of the older style of writing Irish, which uses a somewhat stylized version of the standard Latin letters (see below).

In order to post a picture, you must first put it on some photo hosting site (such as Snapfish) or on Facebook. Then you can link to it here.

Here's the older form of Irish writing, with their modern equivalents below. Is this the kind of writing you're seeing?:

http://www.gaelicmatters.com/gaelic-wri ... habet.html

Using that, and the vowel keys above, you should be able to type the inscription here.

I am going to try and get the image on snapfish. I tranlated it from the old world characters to the alphabet. This is what I have come up with. Saortaig do cuid. Can anyone help with an english translation?

I'm not sure what you mean by "old world characters." Are you talking about the letters I linked you to? That IS the alphabet...just a bit stylized.

Redwolf

Yes, it is written in stylized letters. I apologize for using the wrong word to decribe the writing, I did not mean to be disrespectful. I used the link that you sent so that I could type the phrase with a traditional keyboard. That was helpful. It just looks "old fashion" in the way it is written, to me.

I wasn't assuming any disrespect...just trying to figure out exactly what you meant, as we've had people bring us everything from Norse runes to Chinese characters!

Redwolf

If you e-mail me the file at ilf (a) irishlearner.awyr.com, I can upload it to our server for you and give you a link to put in a post.

From what you've said, I would surmise that you have:

saorṫaiġ do ċuid "Earn your bread", "earn your living", "provide for yourself", "pull your own weight".

If the initial s is capitalised, it might instead look like this:

Saorṫaiġ do ċuid (same meaning as above).

In either case there would be dots above the t, g, and c.

Do either of these look like what you have?

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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).

Thank you, you nailed it! The first stylized phrase/writing that you have is how the tattoo appears, thank you!

I think the first word should be spelled saothraigh – with the "r" and the "th" switched around.

Yes, you're right. I didn't even notice that.

For the meaning I gave earlier, as WFM says, the r should follow the th (ṫ), i.e., saoṫraiġ do ċuid.

With the r first, it looks like a possible old form of the verb saor "to free, liberate", which would make the meaning "Free your own", but I haven't found any direct evidence of the usage of saorṫaiġ anywhere, except that saorthóir "saver, deliverer" has a th, which points indirectly to the possible existence of saorṫaiġ at some time.

Wonder what these verbs are in Scottish Gaelic?

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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).