# Gaelic translation, please (need answer fast-ish) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 21, 2016, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaelic-translation-please-need-answer-fast-ish/749781 "2016-03-21T17:16:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaelic-translation-please-need-answer-fast-ish/749781/1 "2016-03-21T17:16:07Z")
I’m doing a newsletter and noting the death of an Irish priest. This Gaelic sentence was included in his obituary on the website of the funeral home. Ar deis Dê go raib a anam dílis. Can someone translate this for me? I want to quote it, but I want to make sure I understand exactly what it says. (Also, my client is likely to ask me.) Google translate says: “On the possibility of a faithful soul rape” \*\*That \*\*doesn’t sound quite right… ETA: Okay, I found this: “May his/her soul be on God’s right hand - Ar dheas Dé go raibh a anam.” Also, what about the his/her? ---
**Author:** ![donkeyoatey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@donkeyoatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/donkeyoatey)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaelic-translation-please-need-answer-fast-ish/749781/2 "2016-03-21T17:56:42Z")
Googling the whole phrase has this in the first hit > [@](#): > > … if the loved one was a man or boy: > Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis > > although the dílis could be omitted. > > Note that the d in Dé is upper case (“God with a capital G”) and the next word is go NOT do. > > If the loved one was woman or girl: > > Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam dílis > > It is in some ways equivalent to “May he/she rest in peace” ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaelic-translation-please-need-answer-fast-ish/749781/3 "2016-03-21T18:07:58Z")
I found a thread on a message board: [http://www.irishgaelictranslator.com/translation/topic65565.html](http://www.irishgaelictranslator.com/translation/topic65565.html) Somebody inquired about almost the same quote, albeit referring to a deceased woman. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaelic-translation-please-need-answer-fast-ish/749781/4 "2016-03-21T18:09:58Z")
It means “May his faithful soul be at God’s right side”. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaelic-translation-please-need-answer-fast-ish/749781/5 "2016-03-21T18:38:32Z")
Thanks, all. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaelic-translation-please-need-answer-fast-ish/749781/6 "2016-03-21T19:19:33Z")
Can I just make a minor correction to the text in the OP: should be Dé, not Dê, and it should either be “go raibh” or, if you’re going to use “go raib,” you need a punctum delens over the b. That also goes for the first d in “ar deis”: ar dheis in modern orthography, ar ḋeis in cló gaelach. **donkeyoatey** ’s spelling is correct for Roman type. ([http://nualeargais.ie/gnag/ortho\_files/leni.jpg](http://nualeargais.ie/gnag/ortho_files/leni.jpg); [http://historicgraves.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/full\_grave/graves-photos/53111/co-sbst-0009/CO-SBST-0009.jpg](http://historicgraves.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/full_grave/graves-photos/53111/co-sbst-0009/CO-SBST-0009.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaelic-translation-please-need-answer-fast-ish/749781/7 "2016-03-21T20:24:16Z")
Okay, I read the title as “garlic translation”. I think I spend too much time in Cafe Society. For what it’s worth, though: Portuguese: alho Spanish: ajo French: ail Italian: aglio 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaelic-translation-please-need-answer-fast-ish/749781/8 "2016-03-21T22:40:43Z")
Irish: cneamh, gáirleóg Scottish Gaelic: creamh, gairleag Wesh: craf, garlleg Breton: kignen (the C- words are more usually wild garlic, i.e. ramson) ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaelic-translation-please-need-answer-fast-ish/749781/9 "2016-03-21T23:48:11Z")
Japanese: ニンニク (ninniku) ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaelic-translation-please-need-answer-fast-ish/749781/10 "2016-03-22T06:31:50Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I’m doing a newsletter and noting the death of an Irish priest. This Gaelic sentence was included in his obituary on the website of the funeral home. > > Ar deis Dê go raib a anam dílis. > > Can someone translate this for me? Can’t it be done word for word ? It is indo-european… De cognate Deity … deis, right hand , cognate “dextra” ? “dilis” faithful, cognate diligent ? hanam . heart ? Or man ? There was a reason latin was popular as a common language. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaelic-translation-please-need-answer-fast-ish/749781/11 "2016-03-22T07:02:03Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > Can’t it be done word for word ? It is indo-european… > > De cognate Deity … Yup. From Latin, _Deus_. > [@Isilder](#): > > deis, right hand , cognate “dextra” ? Again, yup, though this time it’s not from Latin. Rather, both the Latin and the Irish are from a common Indo-European root. Curiously, the Irish and Latin works for “left hand” are unrelated. > [@Isilder](#): > > “dilis” faithful, cognate diligent ? Diligent is cognate, but distantly. _Dílis_ doesn’t suggest faithful in the sense of dutiful, assiduous, which is what _diligent_ suggests to me. Rather it suggests faithful in the sense of loving, rejoicing in, taking constant delight in. > [@Isilder](#): > > hanam . heart ? Or man ? Neither. Cognate with Latin _animus_, soul or spirit. _Dé_ and _anam_ probably come straight from Latin, and arrive with Christianity. _Dílis_ and _deis_ are older. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaelic-translation-please-need-answer-fast-ish/749781/12 "2016-03-22T13:56:55Z")
Speaking of Latin, my client decided to go with Latin: \*Requiescat in pace. \* ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaelic-translation-please-need-answer-fast-ish/749781/13 "2016-03-22T15:20:19Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > Diligent is cognate, but distantly. _Dílis_ doesn’t suggest faithful in the sense of dutiful, assiduous, which is what _diligent_ suggests to me. Rather it suggests faithful in the sense of loving, rejoicing in, taking constant delight in That is a very Irish word. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaelic-translation-please-need-answer-fast-ish/749781/14 "2016-03-22T16:48:03Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > Yup. From Latin, _Deus_. No: cognate. They had gods before the Christians found them, you know. In Old Irish nominative, dative, and accusative are all _día_, genitive and vocative _dé_. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaelic-translation-please-need-answer-fast-ish/749781/15 "2016-03-23T13:48:33Z")
What surprises me is that the Irish words for “man” and “woman” are very obviously related to the Latin ones. They’re _not_ particularly similar to the Germanic roots, which argues against it being a general Indo-European thing… but on the other hand, “man” and “woman” are quite fundamental concepts, not the sort of thing you’d expect to be loanwords. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaelic-translation-please-need-answer-fast-ish/749781/16 "2016-03-23T16:52:15Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > What surprises me is that the Irish words for “man” and “woman” are very obviously related to the Latin ones. They’re _not_ particularly similar to the Germanic roots, which argues against it being a general Indo-European thing… but on the other hand, “man” and “woman” are quite fundamental concepts, not the sort of thing you’d expect to be loanwords. fear (OI fer, gen. fir) is cognate with vir, yes; what are the “woman” words you are calling obvious? Bean (OI ben) is cognate with Greek γυνή (as in gyno- / gyne-) but I’m not aware of a Latin cognate. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaelic-translation-please-need-answer-fast-ish/749781/17 "2016-03-23T18:11:38Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > What surprises me is that the Irish words for “man” and “woman” are very obviously related to the Latin ones. They’re _not_ particularly similar to the Germanic roots, which argues against it being a general Indo-European thing… but on the other hand, “man” and “woman” are quite fundamental concepts, not the sort of thing you’d expect to be loanwords. Irish _fear_ is cognate with Germanic _wer_ as in werewolf and wereld (world). Irish _bean_ is cognate with Germanic _queen_. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaelic-translation-please-need-answer-fast-ish/749781/18 "2016-03-23T19:19:44Z")
Right. “Man” is the odd one, where English lost the word for “male person” and replaced it with the word for “person”. Old English wer meant a male, so you have werwolf, man-wolf, or wergild, man-price. So we have wo-man meaning a female person, but we lost wer-man, meaning a male person, instead we have man, originally meaning a person but now only meaning a male person. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaelic-translation-please-need-answer-fast-ish/749781/19 "2016-03-23T19:47:51Z")
I’m certain I remember some Irish word that looked a lot like “mulier” (one of the Latin words for “woman”), but without actually knowing Irish, it’s tough to track down what it was. The context was a pair of signs on restroom doors. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaelic-translation-please-need-answer-fast-ish/749781/20 "2016-03-23T20:08:00Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’m certain I remember some Irish word that looked a lot like “mulier” (one of the Latin words for “woman”), but without actually knowing Irish, it’s tough to track down what it was. The context was a pair of signs on restroom doors. Usually _fir_ (men) and _mná_ (women), but you may have seen some other combination. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaelic-translation-please-need-answer-fast-ish/749781.md?page=2)