Hello all,

My friends and I met in an unusual way and want to commemorate that with a tattoo, which is fine with me, but I am struggling. What 2 of them chose and have already had done, is a sweet sentiment but I fear misguided. The symbol is 2 hearts, intertwined, one upside down. The statement on meaning is "According to Celtic spiritual tradition, the soul shines all around the body...when very open with another person, your two souls flow together. This deeply felt bond means you have found your anam cara, or "soul friend." Your anam cara always beholds your light and beauty, and accepts you for who you truly are."

Just a little googling gave me pause. The image is nice, but I'd rather have script, I think, and anam cara seems to be a big "nono!" Is anyone familiar with the symbol? I would attach a pic if I could.

If you have suggestions on alternatives, either symbols or terms, that express the same kind of sentiment, I would appreciate hearing about them.

Thank you all!
Kara

Yikes is right. And I think you are wise to pause a bit and get some ideas on this.

Although I never lent credence to the word, the Irish online dictionary foclóir.ie has the word "anamchara" as well as "buanchara" and "cara cléibh". I don't know which would be better although, for myself, I would choose something less popular. Actually, I wouldn't even be getting a tattoo . . .

Wait for more ideas.

Tim

Thank you Tim. I was thinking about "buanchara" and "cara cléibh" - found them on youtube, Bitsize Irish, I think.

Any other suggestions out there?

Those are probably your best choices. I was waiting for Redwolf to comment on anamchara, but what she would tell you is that it acquired a special meaning, that of one's personal confessor. All languages are in a constant state of change, though, and it's starting to be used popularly by non-native speakers for "soulmate", so some would argue that that is now an acceptable meaning, especially given that religious observance is falling off.

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

Thank you!

I don't think anamchara is right for the sentiment... All of this is very helpful. Thanks to all, and keep it coming!

I wouldn't say "it acquired" that meaning. That's what it means.

Redwolf

I have to agree with Tim here, I would be very sceptical about the text you've written above.

For one thing, no significant writings exist in any of the Celtic languages from a time before Christianity. Old Irish is the earliest Celtic language to have enough text surviving from an early period for the language of that period to be reasonably reconstructed (according to Thurneysen), and that period began at least a century after Christianity had taken root in Ireland. There are certainly no writings from an earlier period than about the 6th century which are long enough to potentially contain the text you have in your opening post. It's largely believed that writing came with Christianity to Ireland, as Christian missionaries would have been able to read and write Latin. One of the earliest pieces of writing thought to come from Ireland is St. Patrick's Confessio from about the 6th century. The majority of Early Irish texts were written by Christians in monastic settlements after this point, and it is difficult to imagine them describing in detail the belief system of a religion they had just ousted.

Off the top of my head, there is an Old Irish text describing the infancy of St. Bridget which describes her being found in her safe in her house during a fire, then soon after describing a column of light coming from a house where the infant was. This may allow the interpretation that there was a "glowing light" around her. There is some debate as to whether the saint may have been conflated with an earlier pre-christian deity, mentioned in the mythological cycle of Irish literature. It's also been suggested that early Christians may have completely appropriated the deity and made her into a Christian saint. Without going down that rabbit hole, it's not beyond the realm of likelihood that somebody in the modern day may have decided that this story was not Christian in origin, but pre-christian and hence, the glowing light was a facet of a "Celtic" belief system. Though, it seems to be a stretch from there to what you have written above, even if this is, in fact, its origin. I can't think of anything else written in an early period which sounds remotely close to this, though, and based on the Irish used it was written about 400 years after the date generally given for the death of St. Bridget.

In short, this sounds like unfounded nonsense.

I wonder if there would be a word or phrase that would express what kcmjs wants.
How would two people express a special friendship like that?

"friends in light" . . .