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The Daltaí Boards » Archive: 2005- » 2005 (March-April) » Archive through April 03, 2005 » An Irish Prayer Translation « Previous Next »

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Kevin J
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Posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - 11:46 am:   Edit Post Print Post

Hi

I'm currently doing a web page for a song called "An Irish Blessing"

I was wondering if anyone could possibly translate it into it's traditional form?

The lyrics from the song are:

May the blessing of light be upon you
Light on the outside, Light on the inside


With God's sunlight shining on you
May your heart glow with warmth like a turf fire
that welcomes friends and strangers alike


May the light of the Lord shine from your eyes
Like a candle in the window
Welcoming the weary traveler


May the blessing of God's soft rain be on you
Falling gently on your head, refreshing your soul
With the sweetness of little flowers newly blooming


May the strength of the winds of Heaven bless you
Carrying the rain to wash your spirit clean
Sparkling after in the sunlight


May the blessing of God's earth be on you
And as you walk the roads
May you always have a kind word for those you meet


May you understand the strength and power of God
In a thunderstorm in winter
And the quiet beauty of creation
In the calm of a Summer sunset


And may you come to realize that
insignificant as you may seem in this great Universe
You are an important part of God's plan


May he watch over you
and keep you safe from harm

The place I got the lyrics from said it's done in the original Irish language, so, hoping they're right

Any help would be appreciated as I can't find it anywhere on the net Thanks.

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Aonghus
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Username: Aonghus

Post Number: 1201
Registered: 08-2004


Posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - 02:49 pm:   Edit Post Print Post

It looks like a composite of some Irish poetry with a certain amount of new age addition.
It would take some time (more than I have just now, sorry) to translate back into something worthwhile.



May the blessing of light be upon you
Light on the outside, Light on the inside

Beannacht an tsolais ort,
Solas amuigh, solas istigh

With God's sunlight shining on you
May your heart glow with warmth like a turf fire
that welcomes friends and strangers alike

Le grian Dé ag taitneamh ort,
go raibh teas i do chroí mar atá i tine móna,
a fhailtíonn roimh cairde agus coimhthigh araon.

May the light of the Lord shine from your eyes
Like a candle in the window
Welcoming the weary traveler

Go raibh solas an Tiarna ag lonradh i do shúile
mar a bheadh coinneal i bhfuinneog
ag failtiú roimh an taistealaí traochta

Errors and Omissions excepted. To be continued (perhaps)

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Larry
Member
Username: Larry

Post Number: 42
Registered: 08-2004
Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 06:32 am:   Edit Post Print Post

As far as I'm aware the words were modified by Phil Coulter, but I could be way out on that.

A Aonghuis, I have the greatest respect for your superior Irish but wouldn't "go mbeannaí..." be a closer translation than "beannacht"?

Le meas,

Larry Ackerman

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Aonghus
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Username: Aonghus

Post Number: 1203
Registered: 08-2004


Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 06:59 am:   Edit Post Print Post

I don't think so.
It really depends on what "The blessing of light" means.

Go mbeannaí an tsolas duit - may the light bless you
Beannacht an tsolais ort: the blessing of light on you (a type of blessing)

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Larry
Member
Username: Larry

Post Number: 43
Registered: 08-2004
Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 07:01 am:   Edit Post Print Post

Ceart go leor a chara. Go raibh míle maith agat.

Larry Ackerman

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Aonghus
Member
Username: Aonghus

Post Number: 1204
Registered: 08-2004


Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 07:11 am:   Edit Post Print Post

Fáilte romhat.

By the way, google would tend to back your claim about Phil Coulter, although the Lyrics seem to be by someone called Roma Downey.

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-41,G GLD:en&q=phil+coulter+blessing+of+light

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Odriscoll
Member
Username: Odriscoll

Post Number: 17
Registered: 01-2005
Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 07:34 am:   Edit Post Print Post

Roma Downey - as in one of the stars of the television show "Touched by an Angel" ??

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Breacban
Member
Username: Breacban

Post Number: 77
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 07:45 am:   Edit Post Print Post

oh dear god. how do you translate that.

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Aonghus
Member
Username: Aonghus

Post Number: 1205
Registered: 08-2004


Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 08:05 am:   Edit Post Print Post

An ceist é sin, a Bhric Báin?

Oh Dear God? -> "Dia linn is uile" a bheadh agamsa!

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Aonghus
Member
Username: Aonghus

Post Number: 1206
Registered: 08-2004


Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 08:08 am:   Edit Post Print Post

May the blessing of God's soft rain be on you
Falling gently on your head, refreshing your soul
With the sweetness of little flowers newly blooming

Beannacht fearthainn bhog Dé ort,
ag titim go séimh ar do cheann, ag cothú d'anam
le milseacht bhláthanna bheaga nua oscailte



The more I look at this, the more I think there is no underlying Irish poem. I think it would be more accurate to say "Influenced by Irish nature poetry".

It is too whimsical to be genuine...

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Larry
Member
Username: Larry

Post Number: 46
Registered: 08-2004
Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 08:52 am:   Edit Post Print Post

Indeed! The penultimate line has echoes of Desiderata.

Larry Ackerman

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Larry
Member
Username: Larry

Post Number: 47
Registered: 08-2004
Posted on Friday, April 01, 2005 - 07:30 am:   Edit Post Print Post

The refrain in "An Irish Blessing" - A Thiarna, déan trócaire orainn, a Chríost, déan trócaire orainn Lord, have mercy on us, Christ, have mercy on us - translated, I believe, from the Kyrie, is perhaps the reason behind the claim that it was originally written in Irish.

Larry Ackerman

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Aonghus
Member
Username: Aonghus

Post Number: 1223
Registered: 08-2004


Posted on Friday, April 01, 2005 - 08:38 am:   Edit Post Print Post

So it's Greek? ()

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Larry
Member
Username: Larry

Post Number: 48
Registered: 08-2004
Posted on Friday, April 01, 2005 - 10:36 am:   Edit Post Print Post

It's all Greek to me, a chara

Larry Ackerman

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Pádraig
Member
Username: Pádraig

Post Number: 136
Registered: 09-2004
Posted on Friday, April 01, 2005 - 10:46 am:   Edit Post Print Post

If I remember correctly, awhile back I asked for a translation of what appears to be the same piece, and Aonghus and Shoe-man obliged with slightly differing renditions. I took what I liked of each and combined them as follows.

By the way the English was taken from:

"An Irish Blessing: a Photographic Interpretation" by Cyril A Reilly and Renée Travis Reilly (Minneapolis: Winston Press, 1977.)



Beannacht Éireannach

Go raibh beannacht solais agat --
solas amuigh agus solas istigh.
Go dtaitní solas na gréine ort agus go rachfadh sé ido chroí
go dti luisnionn sé mar thine mhóna mhór
chun go thiocfadh an strainséir chun é fhéin a théamh aige.
Go dtaitní solas beannaithe as do dhá shúile
cosúil le coinneal in dhá fhuinneoga ti,
ag agairar an seachránaí a teacht as an stoirm.
Go dtuga tú go síoraí beannú cineálta doibh siúd\a gabhanN tú tharstu ar na boithre.
Beannacht na báisti -- an báisteach mhilis bhog
chun go d'éirigh bláthanna bheaga go tobann, a go silfidh
siad a milseacht san aer.
Go raibh beannachtaí yalún ort -- an talmh mhaith mhéith.
Go raibh an talamh bog fút nuair suíonn tú air,
agus tú tuirseach ag deire an lae.
Go luífidh an chre0233 go caoin tharat nuair lúionn tú faoi i ndeireadh na dála.
Go luífidh an chré chomh headrom ort i dtreo is go mbeidh d'anam as faoi go mear,
agus thuas, amuigh, ar a shlí go Dia.


P.S. Regarding beannacht vs. Go mbeannaí, the English version I have reads "May the blessing of light be with you" not "May light bless you." The former which uses blessing as a noun is the subject of the verb to be: "Go raibh" followed by the subject "beannacht." I go with Aonghus' version because it matches the English cited above.

(Message edited by pádraig on April 01, 2005)

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Aonghus
Member
Username: Aonghus

Post Number: 1225
Registered: 08-2004


Posted on Friday, April 01, 2005 - 11:13 am:   Edit Post Print Post

Something odd seems to have happened to what you posted Pádraig - there are a number of typos in it.

It looks familiar though.

Níl faic nua faoin ngrian....

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Pádraig
Member
Username: Pádraig

Post Number: 137
Registered: 09-2004
Posted on Friday, April 01, 2005 - 11:47 am:   Edit Post Print Post

I fired it off more quickly than my Irish can tolerate. Are they spelling errors or
flagrant grammatical blunders?

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Aonghus
Member
Username: Aonghus

Post Number: 1226
Registered: 08-2004


Posted on Sunday, April 03, 2005 - 01:37 pm:   Edit Post Print Post

mostly spelling or spacing (words run together)



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