Hey everyone, I am still in the process of learning the Irish language. I love it. My family's past is something I find intriguing. I have never really been a huge fan of tattoos, at least not initially. Anyway I feel like an Irish tattoo would remind me of the connections I have to my family, and my love for helping others. but I want it to be individual.

That being said, although there may not be a direct translation, but I was thinking of a few different things;

"My family is my strength"
"United in strength"
"Serve God by serving others"

or a combination of any. Basically looking for something related to family, service, strength and God. And any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Hi Kathleen, welcome to the forum.

Just an idea: since you are a learner of Irish yourself why don't you try to have a stab at it first and post your efforts here. We can then have a look to see how your getting on, you might learn something as well, and therefore we may be able to help you with your Irish too. That way you'll have important input into wording your own tatoo.

Cian

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

That is a great idea, Thank you for the advice.

family =faimilí (the other words don't match the Anglo-Saxon nuclear household)
strength = neart
united =aonthaithe
serve God =umhal do Dhia (humble to God)
serving =ag freastal
other =daoine eile


Have a go at these

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

Thank you so much! That's very helpful

I would use "teaghlach" for the nuclear family. Granted that, originally, it would have referred to all the people who lived under one roof (related or not), in modern society that's generally going to be what we would consider the "nuclear family"...or close enough.

And, to be honest, how many people in a modern "nuclear family" are that closely related to one another?

My usual approach is to use "teaghlach" for what we tend to think of as the immediate family (mom/dad/husband/wife/partner/best friend crashing on the sofa/kids/sibs), "muintir" for the extended family (grandparents/cousins/aunts/uncles/really good friends and neighbors/that idiot who's still crashing on the sofa, etc.), "gaolta" for generic "relatives," and "clann" for siblings or the children of a family.

Redwolf

Okay so if I wanted "loyalty to God and family"
Would that be something like "Dílseacht a Dhia an teaghlach". The structure is probably really off. And I'm not 100 percent sure that "dílseacht" means loyalty or if the actual phrasing is different in Irish

Thanks!

Also, are there any symbols that stand for loyalty other than the claddiagh?

You asked that here:

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=2836

Please keep any questions regarding that translation on that thread.

As far as symbols go, Irish isn't written using glyphs or symbols, so in short: no. There is no symbol that "stands for" loyalty in Irish.

Redwolf