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How do I say

Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 2:42 am
by mini
Could someones please let me know how to say
"with my whole heart"
or
"with my whole heart forever"

thank you
(go raibh mile maith agat)

Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 2:53 pm
by horogheallaidh
what about ;

'le mo chridhe slan'

:)

Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 10:35 pm
by Seonaidh
Are you sure you're on the rite sight Mini?

I'm not up on the Irish, but I think "go raibh mile maith agat" is Irish, rather than Gaelic (as in Scottish Gaelic). Google tr*nsl*t* (Irish to English) gies it as "Thank you very much" - which is more likely to be something like "mòran taing" in S. Gaelic. I'm guessing "mile maith agat" actually means something like "a thousand good things at thee", and maybe "go raibh" is something like "very".

"Gyda'm holl galon am byth" - if you want it in Welsh...

Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 3:39 am
by AlasdairBochd
Tha "go raibh mile maith agat" Gàidhlig na h-Èirinn gu dearbh. Canaidh iad "gu robh math agad" ann an Ìle cuideachd. Tha mi a smaoineachadh gu bheil e a ciallachadh, anns a Bheurla, "Good was at you" = Thank you.

I think "go" and "gu" are intensifiers as in " gu dè thachair an seo ! " "What happened here !"

Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 7:41 pm
by Seonaidh
Aidh AB. If "gu" and "go" are intensifiers, it's interesting that they seem to have been borrowed into Australian English, as in "G'day" etc...

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 3:07 am
by AlasdairBochd
Rather than an intensifier, that is just our habit of not pronouncing unnecessary letters, and running words together to save time (time better spent at the pub).
Mar eisimpleir :-
G'day - Good day
Djavagoodweegend - Did you have a good weekend
and of course
Carn the pies - Good luck Collingwood in the (Aussie Rules) football.

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 10:41 am
by Níall Beag
AlasdairBochd wrote:Tha "go raibh mile maith agat" Gàidhlig na h-Èirinn gu dearbh. Canaidh iad "gu robh math agad" ann an Ìle cuideachd. Tha mi a smaoineachadh gu bheil e a ciallachadh, anns a Bheurla, "Good was at you" = Thank you.

I think "go" and "gu" are intensifiers as in " gu dè thachair an seo ! " "What happened here !"
I don't think that's the case here.

I think we're looking at "gun" here -- note the dependent form "robh" -- and what we're left with is half a sentence, with the missing half taken for granted.

You can compare it with Latin derived Church English:
eg "Blesséd be the name of the Lord" doesn't mean simply "the name of the Lord is blessed", but rather "let the people bless the name of the Lord", and hence uses the (now archaic) subjunctive.

There's a similar form in Spanish:
eg. "que descanses" -- that you sleep well. (Sleep well/relax/de-tire here is in the subjunctive) What's missing is the "I hope" or "I wish".

Going back to English, you may be familiar with forms like:
"may you live in interesting times" "may the best man win". These are a more modern (but still now archaic) way of tr*nsl*t*ng foreign subjunctives or similar into English. Again, we can leave out the "I hope/wish/pray that" because the almost-subjunctive "may" tells us this is a that sort of thing.

So "gun robh mile math agad" means "may a thousand goodness/good-things be yours" or "I hope that you have[get] a thousand good things". Or possibly "that a thousand goodnesses/good-things were yours" or maybe even "you should have had a thousand good things cos you're such a nice person".

(tr*nsl*t**n was never an exact science.)

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 10:02 pm
by Seonaidh
Cuairt iongantach, ach tadhal ceart. "Tha mi 'n dòchas gun robh mìle math agad" - às aonais "Tha mi 'n dòchas".

Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 12:03 am
by Stìophan
Air ais dhan cheist .... (back to the question!)

The direct tr*nsl*t**n would be:

le mo chridhe air fad

However this probably wouldnt convey the meaning needed here.

as horogheallaidh says le mo chridhe slàn would suffice, alternitively le mo chridhe gu lèir.

Any advance on this?

Le dùrachd

Stìophan

Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 8:47 pm
by mini
see this is what I get when I listen to my friends (who told me how to say thank you.)

Any way, back to my question, thank you to those who were able to tr*nsl*t* it for me. It is very much apprichiated.

Stìophan mentions that the direct translatuion may not convey the meaning behind what is being said but that one of these may:

le mo chridhe slàn
le mo chridhe gu lèir.
What would the meaning be from the gaelic to the english?
This is for my husband and I dont want to ask him for any help with this and I want it to be perfect for our wedding.

Also does this mean i love you
Tha gaol agam ort

thanks so much for all your help.

Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 10:00 pm
by Níall Beag
And therein lies the danger in amateur translations.

None of us thought deep enough to realise that "with all my heart" was untranslatable not simply in itself, but with regards to what it was intended to qualify.

"I love you with all my heart" works in English because "with all my heart" functions as an adverbial and qualifies the verb "love". However, the Gaelic "tha gaol agam ort" only has "is" as a verb. In English, I'm responsible for loving you and I've put my whole heart into it, but in Gaelic, the love's responsible for itself. As I'm not responsible for it, I obviously can't put my heart into.

There may well be an equivalent native saying, but a tr*nsl*t**n of the English doesn't really work....

Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 10:48 pm
by horogheallaidh
och niall i didnt know you cared.... :naire: :naire:

I take on board what you are saying about tr*nsl*t*ng english phrases not being worthwhile as they make more sense in english but some can be translated nevertheless and we might as well make a stab at it :)

Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 11:26 pm
by Seonaidh
Maybe something like "I love you with all my kidneys" would work better in Gaelic...

"Love is at me on thee" (Tha gaol agam ort): now, how would you fit something like "with all my heart" into that? You could always try something completely different, like "Is mo chridhe a th' annadsa [ortsa] m' eudail".

But perhaps the best way to show this feeling is actually to learn Gaelic.

Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 10:55 am
by Níall Beag
I think I've heard something along the lines of "my heart is full of love" or "I have a love-filled heart" or something like that in some song or other, but I can't remember exactly.

Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 2:37 pm
by faoileag
What about:

a ghraidh mo chridhe!

O love of my heart! (address form)

It's also used in songs, can't recall which.