I'm trying to translate some sentences, but am having difficulty as the language is poetic... The first sentence is:

"Alone, awesome, complete within Herself, the Goddess, She whose name cannot be spoken, floated in the abyss of the outer darkness, before the beginning of all things."

I have (please correct):

"Aonaránach, creathnach, ina iomlán istigh, an Bhandia, lena ainm neamhráite, ar foluain sa duibheagán den dhorchacht is faide amach, roimh an dtosach de gach uile ní."

I would really appreciate any help!!

Táim ag tnúth le freagra uaibh,

Dáithí :)

A few points off the top of my head.

1. Can aonaránach be used as an adjective? I thought it was a noun meaning "recluse". I would've said ina haonár.

2. As that expression suggests, the feminine possessive pronoun a prefixes h to vowels, i.e. a hainm "her name".

3. neamhráite looks to be like "unspoken" rather than "unspeakable". I would've expected doráite.

4. ar foluain simply means "floating". If you want to say "floated", you need a verb of some kind, e.g. bhíodh ("used to be").

5. Your use of de rather than the genitive looks very Englishy. Why not i nduibheagán na dorchachta?

6. is faide amach would be "that is furthest out" rather than "outer"; for that I'd expect lasmuigh.

I'm using de bhaldraithe as my source for aonaránach and he has it listed as an adjective.

Thanks for number 2, I'm still struggling to remember my grammar from school (I think studying it in school for 2 hours a day put a mental block in place) :)

I'm not really going for a direct translation tbh, just thought ar foluain sounded nice :)

Thanks :)

The rest of my passage is:

Agus a raibh sí ag féachaint isteach sa scáthán cuartha spáis dhuibh, chonaic sí ina solas aisti féin a scáil dhealraitheach, agus thit sí i ngrá léi. Dhruid sí chúithi í leis an neart a raibh inti agus dhein sí suirí léi féin, agus d’aimnigh sí í “Danú, an Éachtach.”

which is supposed to say:

And as She looked into the curved mirror of black space, She saw by her own light her radiant reflection, and fell in love with it.She drew it forth by the power that was in Her and made love to herself, and called Her “Danú, the Wonderful.”

Thanks again :)

ina solas aisti féin

Hmm...don't you think this sounds a bit awkward? I would either say "by her light" or "by the light from out of herself" (leis an tsolas aisti féin).

With regard to translating poetry:

When I think about translating something, I take the original thing that was said, and then I take that thought and try to express it in the other language.

That's easy with things like "I'm hungry" or "the door's open", but when it comes to poetry it's a different deal altogether. You're basically asking someone to write a new poem based on the original one.

I have more if ye could help again :)

Their ecstacy burst forth in the single song of all that is, was, or ever shall be, and with the song came motion, waves that poured outward and became all the spheres and circles of the worlds.


D’oscail a n-eacstais amach leis an gcanadh aonarach de gach uile ní atá ann, a raibh ann, ‘s uaidh sin amach. Tháinig gluaiseacht leis an amhránaíocht, na tonnta ag cur amach ‘s ag éirí na gcomhchruinneán agus na bhfáinne desna domhain ar fad.

Go raibh maith agaibh :)

I'm afraid I'm not too great at translating poetry. I usually have to start off in the language I want it to be in rather than trans late it, but I think the poem stanzas are very nice. :)

Obair mhaith!