Gaelic tattoo question

[Arrowyn]

Oh, I LOVE it! There's an audio file too! Thank you. So pretty. I think I might cry.... LOL.

[piperdbh]

Either you have one massively large finger, or you're going to have to get this ink done in a spiral. That's a lot of letters you're tackling, and if the artist does any kind of embellishment, he/she is going to have to use up the whole finger and part of the hand.

[Katia]

Another question. How would one say, Be thou my Vision, in Scottish Gaelic? My friend, who has a couple of tattoos advised not to go with a ring tattoo as they tend to wear off after a few years. We are toying around with some different ideas. Since I love anything historic, we're thinking about a design that looks like something out of the Book of Kells. With mo leannan and be thou my vision somehow incorporated into it.

I would tend to agree with that. I believe I've heard hand and finger tattoos tend to blur a lot anyway, and it would be difficult to have an intricate design that small and have it still look nice after a few years. (I had to modify a couple of wrist tattoos I wanted after my artist pointed out to me that you can only go so small without it blurring into nothing decades down the road.)


You may also check out the Carmina Gadelica for some other lovely prayers and songs.
This one is my favorite of those I've read:

God, bless to me this day,
God, bless to me this night ;
Bless, O bless. Thou God of grace,
Each day and hour of my life ;
Bless, O bless. Thou God of grace.
Each day and hour of my life.

God, bless the pathway on which I go,
God, bless the earth that is beneath my sole ;
Bless, O God, and give to me Thy love,
O God of gods, bless my rest and my repose ;
Bless, O God, and give to me Thy love,
And bless, O God of gods, my repose.


(If I can ever find it in Gaelic, I'll set it to music.)

[neloon]

What a beautiful prayer, Katia!
I will see if there is a Gaelic version or if one could be made. If not, it would be lovely to have the English version set to music. Hint, hint.

[Arrowyn]

LOL. Um... yeah, the finger is out. My friend talked me out of it anyway. And I only want the words Be thou my vision, and maybe Mo Leannan somewhere, not the whole song or anything like that.

[piperdbh]

...it would be lovely to have the English version set to music. Hint, hint.

I'll take your hint, and work on it tomorrow. Maybe several of us could come up with our own settings, then post them in a thread and see what we like about each one.

[Arrowyn]

Can't wait to see what you guys come up with!

[neloon]

Katia,
Here is the Gaelic from which Carmichael did the English translation.


GUIDHE TURAIS (JOURNEY PRAYER)


The reciter, Dugall MacAulay, said that he always crooned this little
hymn to himself when leaving his house upon an errand of whatever
kind, and that he always derived comfort from it. He learned it from
his mother and from her sister, who lived with his mother. These two
old women had innumerable hymns, songs, stories and fables, sayings and
proverbs, full of wisdom and beauty, almost all of which died with them.


DHE, beannaich dhomh an latha 'n diugh,

Dhe, beannaich dhomh an oidhche nochd ;
Beannaich fein, a Dhe nan gràs,

Gach la agus gach tràth dha m' thort ;
Beannaich fein, a Dhe nan gràs,

Gach la agus gach tràth dha m' thort.

Dhe, beannaich dh'an cheum a bheil mi dol,
Dhe, beannaich dh'an che atà fo m' chois ;

Beannaich, a Dhe, 's thoir dhomh do ghràdh,
A Dhe nan de, beannaich mo thàmh 's mo chlos ;

Beannaich, a Dhe, 's thoir dhomh do ghràdh,
'S a Dhe nan de, beannaich dha m' chlos.

Over to you.
Alan

[Katia]

Thanks! I've found Gaelic versions of the Carmina Gadelica, but nothing to tell exactly which prayer it was without actually knowing Gaelic, so I was lost to find the correct one!

Katia,
Here is the Gaelic from which Carmichael did the English translation.


GUIDHE TURAIS (JOURNEY PRAYER)


The reciter, Dugall MacAulay, said that he always crooned this little
hymn to himself when leaving his house upon an errand of whatever
kind, and that he always derived comfort from it. He learned it from
his mother and from her sister, who lived with his mother. These two
old women had innumerable hymns, songs, stories and fables, sayings and
proverbs, full of wisdom and beauty, almost all of which died with them.


DHE, beannaich dhomh an latha 'n diugh,

Dhe, beannaich dhomh an oidhche nochd ;
Beannaich fein, a Dhe nan gràs,

Gach la agus gach tràth dha m' thort ;
Beannaich fein, a Dhe nan gràs,

Gach la agus gach tràth dha m' thort.

Dhe, beannaich dh'an cheum a bheil mi dol,
Dhe, beannaich dh'an che atà fo m' chois ;

Beannaich, a Dhe, 's thoir dhomh do ghràdh,
A Dhe nan de, beannaich mo thàmh 's mo chlos ;

Beannaich, a Dhe, 's thoir dhomh do ghràdh,
'S a Dhe nan de, beannaich dha m' chlos.

Over to you.
Alan

[masiaka]

Have you looked into an Ogham tattoo? It's a unique way to tie history and Celtic pride together in a tattoo, if you like the way the letters look. I have a prayer tattooed on my arm in woad colored Ogham.