In research for a tattoo I have stumbled on a small problem. I have German, Irish, and Scottish heritage an my husbands heritage is mostly English. I want to get a tattoo that says " I love you" in German, Old English, Irish, and Scottish. The issue is all the versions of Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic I've found are very simular and I don't want the tattoo to be repetative. Is there just a broad Gaelic verson that would signify both languages/cultures?

Does that make sense at all? If you can help I would be mighty appreciative. Thank you!

-Amber

Well, Irish and Scottish Gaelic are very closely related, but they are different languages (think Spanish and Portuguese), so getting one thing to satisfy both is a pretty tall order. There are different ways to phrase "I love you" in Irish, though (I presume the same is true of Gaelic, but I don't speak it, so I can't say for certain):

In Irish, here are some options:

Tá grá agam duit

Tá grá agam ort

Tá cion agam duit

Tá cion agam ort

Tá mé i ngrá leat (this is actually "I'm in love with you")

Mo ghrá thú (literally, this is "you are my love," but it can be used to say "I love you")

Tá mo chroí istigh ionat (literally "My heart is within you")

Wait for more.

Redwolf

Thank you!

Question: Is there an old Gaelic language? Before it split between Irish and Scottish? I assume it would be outdated and not used. But if that existed that would be perfect.

The languages split at around the Middle Irish stage, I believe.

But what's wrong with just using different forms from each language? These are distinct cultures...they haven't been the same for a very long time. I mean, you've got German and Old English, which are as closely related as Irish and Scottish Gaelic...why short-change the Gaelic side of your heritage?

Redwolf

In your case, it's easy to have distinctive Irish and Gaelic versions of the expression. Red gave you several possibilities for the Irish. The Scottish Gaelic equivalent of the first two is Tha gràdh agam ort, and that would be used for more or less generic expressions of love. However, for a more romantic type of love, Gaelic speakers can use a more intimate word for "love", giving you this as a distinctive Gaelic expression: Tha gaol agam ort.

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

By no means do I want to " short change" my heritage, its just that all the translations I had found were only about 1 word different and it just seemed silly to have basically the same thing twice. Which is why I wanted a combined version. If there is a translation for both that look very different, then thats awesome.

The meaning in the tattoo for me is that I love everyone. It may not be the same level as my love for my husband or mother, but I am still appreciative of their existance, therefor I love you ( you= vague).

Does that make sense at all?

Okay. That helps a lot.

Question 1: Tha gràdh agam ort and Tá grá agam duit mean the same thing? ( one is scottish gaelic and the other is irish gaelic, correct?)

Question 2: whats the difference between Tá grá agam duit and Tá grá agam ort?

Maybe in the second on, the 'love' is on the person, like all over them (Tá 'carr' na bhfear orm)

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__̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.___

Carr an bhainne...

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__̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.___

Yes. The first is Scottish Gaelic and the second is Irish.


No difference, really. Some things can be expressed with more than one preposition, just as in English. Some Irish speakers would use only the one, others perhaps only the other. Scottish Gaelic speakers would almost always use ort, but would certainly understand duit, although they write it as dhuit.

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