Hello all. I am in need of assistance on a tattoo/patch idea that I have. I would like a translation of the following: "To The Dead"

Google comes up with: leis na mairbh. Is this correct or is there something more appropriate?

A little background on that because I know it seems a little off. I operate a motorcycle club called the Dead Irishmen, a tip of the hat as it were to the Dead Rabbits of days past. So our cheers or toast is always, To The Dead.

I would also like to get a translation for "Dead and Cold" as well. Again Google says: marbh agus fuar

Any help you can provide on these two phrases will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

There’s recently been a topic about translation of to fighting as in a toast, and faoi thuairim… was offered for ‘to…’ in toasting, so perhaps faoi thuairim na marbh (but wait for further input and better ideas).

leis na mairbh or more archaic leis na marbhaibh would literally mean ‘with the dead’ (but can mean different things in context, eg. is maith leis na mairbh é would be ‘the dead like it’ and deirim sin leis na mairbh would be ‘I tell that to the dead’…)

As for dead and cold, yes, that’d literally be marbh agus fuar (as in he is dead and cold, tá sé marbh agus fuar) but I am not sure if it has the same connotation that its English equivalent, not sure if such a phrase is used in Irish.

It depends on what is meant by "to"
e.g.
Ag caint leis na mairbh = talking to the dead
Ag tabhairt do na mairbh = giving to the dead
Ag ceangailt de na mairbh = linked to the dead

Without any such context, "do na mairbh" (to/for the dead) is the more generally used form.

Adjectives aren't linked by "agus" (and) in Irish.
So: dead and cold = fuar marbh
He is dead and cold. = Tá sé fuar marbh.

As far as the context of To The Dead, it's like: here's to the dead or a cheers to the dead.

Thank you for the input. It helps alot.

Good point. I didn’t notice that the usage of agus here would be a béarlachas.

Wouldn’t marbh agus fuar be traditionally understood as contrasting them, dead (ones) and (separate) cold (ones), and not as attributes? Eg. like in feardha agus banda ‘male and female’ or firinscneach agus baininscneach ‘masculine and feminine’ in GnaG (two separate categories).



As above, in that case I suggest faoi thuairim na marbh.

So as this is for a patch to go on our vests (and quite possibly club tattoos), we usually have to condense text to short phrases. Could we use do na mairbh for To The Dead and fuar marbh for Dead & Cold?

Thanks for all the input on this.

Yes, do na mairbh would be nice and succinct, and I doubt anyone would misunderstand what you mean.

The expression fuar marbh also works well. There is an alternative traditional expression, however, which is mín marbh, which means something like "flat out dead".

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

Thank you for all of your help and input.