I'm looking for a Irish blessing for a friend's new house.
I was thinking of

Beannachtaí ar an dteaghlach seo =?= Blessings on this house(hold)

Is that correct, or do any of you have alternate suggestions?

That's correct according to Munster Irish.

The CO would have 'ar an teaghlach'. You can also have 'Leis an teaghlach'.

I would, however, add 'mo' :

Mo bheannachtaí leis an teaghlach seo'

Sentimentality, this sounds like a 'wish'. If that's the case I I would suggest:

Go mbeannaí Dia an teaghlach seo 'May God bless this family'.

Go mbeannaítear an teaghlach seo 'May this family be blessed'.

_________________

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

Thanks for the reply. Your last suggestions sounds best for what I'm looking for.
But I have a question about your other suggestion.



I believe that "mbeannaí" is derived from "beannaigh", but I can't figure out the grammatical
usage there. Obviously, eclipsis(?) is going on because of the "Go", and I'm not quite sure what "Go"
is doing here either.

Yes, eclipsis.
Beannaí is present tense, subjunctive mood of beannaigh

Wishes are traditionally phrased go + subjunctive in Irish
Go mbeannaí Dia = "that bless God" = May God bless

Crossed with Labhrás

Just to add,

Although, the present subjunctive is underused (it should follow phrases where there's a sense of 'until' involved), it remains petrified in greetings and other phrases:

e.g. Dia (is Muire) Duit is actually a contraction of go mbeannaí Dia (is Muire) dhuit

Slán is also a contraction of Go dté tú/dtéir slán

Go mairir/ go maire tú an céád 'may you live to be a hundred'.

Go raibh maith agat is also in the present subjunctive.

The raibh isn't related to the past tense, but is made up of the ro- of possibility + bí ; it is formed from the conjunct form of the 3rd sing. present sub. in old Irish, i.e. ní/ nícon roib.

The raibh of the past tense contains the ro- of the perfect past; the perfect past collapsed with with the simple past (preterite) c. 800/850 AD.

Simple past (3rd sing.):

Boí ... Ní boí/ Nícon bhoí

Perfect Past 3rd singular

Ro boí ... Ní/ Nícon robae (rabae) > ní robha/ rabha > ní robh/ raibh

_________________

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

Thanks all again for the education and enlightenment