Hello all!

I just had a beautiful baby boy named Gael. I wanted to get a tat done that reads:

"my boy, my life, my soul"

A friend of mine that was in Ireland gave me this translation: "mo mhac, mo shaol, mo anam", but when I went online to check it (just to be sure) I found something different here http://imtranslator.net/translation/english/to-irish/translation/: "mo buachaill, mo shaol, mo anam". Which one is correct? Is there another way to write it?

I will use this font to write it: http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/~oduibhin/mearchlar/gifs/gael_a.gif, so I would also like to know how to write it in the traditional form (SL I guess), where I put a dot over the M instead of writing MH, for example.

Thank you veeery much for the help!

Hi, welcome to the forum and congratulations on the new arrival. There are small grammatical problems with both. Lets start with the one your friend gave you:

"Mo mhac, mo shaol. mo anam"

The grammatical problem is with "mo anam" in Irish you can't have vowels contesting for pronunciation, a bit like French. So this should be m'anam. This is a very common mistake made by learners. The second problem, if it even is one, is "mac" means son, rather than boy.

Coincidentally you'll find the word "mac" in a lot of names of Irish descent. Its often anglicised as "Mc", so "McCarthy" > "Mac(c) Cárthaigh"- son of Cárthach.

Now, the computer one: "mo buachaill, mo shaol, mo anam"

It should be: "mo bhuachaill/ mo gharsún/ mo ghasúr, mo shaol, m'anam"

Strictly speaking, a boy is only called a "buachaill" when he's at the age where he's old enough to be looking after cows . But it no longer retains this meaning now however.



Unfortunately, the Irish-gaelic font given in the font options (Bunchló Ársa) uses the "h"(séimhiú/ lenition) rather than the dot. However, there are people here with the font you require, they should be along shortly! .

Since your going with the "seana-chló" or the old font, may I suggest using the spelling of the time in which this font was in use i.e before the 1930s/40s: "mo shaol"/ my life, would have been spelled as "mo shaoghal"

Hope this helped, waitt for some more input .

Cian.

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

Congratulations on your new arrival!


I think buachaill is a bit literal here. By "boy" you really mean your son, so your friend was correct in that respect.

I'd suggest using mo mhac, mo shaol, m'anam.

In sean-chló with SL:

mo ṁac, mo ṡaoġal, m’anam




Actually, the font handles both. What is missing (from our system and possibly from your computer) is an input method for typing the dotted consonants. I use Cló Gaelach (http://www.gaelchlo.com/mearclar.html) for this.

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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).

I can second this, both for the reason stated, and because "mo bhuachaill" is often used to mean something more along the lines of "my boyfriend."

If I can suggest an alternative (not that the above is wrong...this is just an alternative suggestion):

Mo mhac, mo chuid den tsaol My son, my share of life

It's not inherently better, but it has a very natural, Irish, sound to it.

Redwolf

In my experience, "mo bhuachaill" is only used to say "my boyfriend"...

By the way, the phrase was meant to be in the vocative case, ie. if you're talking to the person? Because normally you can't use the possessive "mo" if the nouns are in the vocative case...

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

Unless a parent is saying it - then yes, I would tend to agree.

I agree. This is a nice alternative.


Yes, this is another valid point. The above interpretations have been descriptive "(This is) my boy (who is) my world (and) my soul" . If addressing the son as if calling to him, then a different form is used in Irish.

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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).

ar chualaidh tú féin é ó chainnteóir Ghaedhealtachta?

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

Thank you all sooo much!!

An Cionnfhaolach and Breandán, thanks for the corrections and the input!



Redwolf, this is a pretty awesome alternative! Thanks!!!



Lughaidh, it was supposed to be as if I was presenting him to others, not calling to him.

Thank you very much everybody!

Errrr.. níl 'fhios agam, b'shin an smaoineamh a bhí agam, ceapaim gur chuala mé é áit éigin, uair éigin; seans mhaith go bhfuilim mícheart! Cad a cheapann tusa?