Judging from lines in songs like "Muise, Tim a mhuirnín, why'd you die?", I'd venture "Come here, a shearraigh!" would be more natural.

Also Goile, a shearraigh ! or Goitse, a shearraigh ! (goile and goitse both mean "come here".)

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

thanks really appreciate your input!

Just to add to this, which your character uses will depend, to some extent, on where he's from. You're more likely to hear "goile" in Connacht and "goitse" in Ulster

("Goitse," by the way, is the command I use to call my dog. Once my husband was playing with him and wanted to tell him his ball had rolled into the kitchen. Tony said "kitchen," but Wiley heard "goitse" (his ears don't handle subtleties well!), so he ran straight to Tony and did a perfect sit front! )

Redwolf

Very good point
This particular character is from Munster, I think I'm correct in saying that the 3 recognised dialects are (for arguments sake) Ultster, Connacht and Munster?
Do you know of a Munster variation for this particular phrase?

You're right about the dialects: Ulster in the north, Connacht in the west, Munster in the south (there also used to be Leinster dialect, but it's died out, alas!). There are also sub-dialects within each main dialect, as well as some crossover (the Irish of Mayo, for example, has elements of both Ulster and Connacht Irish). Not sure what they say in Munster, but someone will be able to tell you.

Redwolf

Ulster and Connacht use gabh as the verbs "come" or "go" (the literal meaning of gabh is closer to "get"). Goile (GC) probably comes from Gabh i leith and Goitse (GU) from Gabh anseo.

Although I speak Conamara Irish, I use Goitse with the kids because it sounds like kotchi in Japanese†, which also means "(come) here". (†Japanese is the first language in our home.)

Munster uses tar and I don't think there is a particular contraction of Tar anseo "Come here". If there is, perhaps someone with Munster Irish can fill us in on it?

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

On a dog training/kitchen/goitse tangent: We were trying to get Wiley to sit this evening so we could put some medicine in his eye. I kept saying "Suigh síos! Suigh síos!" and my husband kept echoing "Sous chef! Sous chef!" I think we watch too many cooking programs!

Redwolf

No source, just an error! I've corrected it above.

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I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.

1. A Dhuibheasa, never heard of that. I have to agree with Mick, it sounds more like 'Blackie' to me, rather than a term of endearment. 'My dark beauty', does 'dark' here refer to the colour of her hair?
2. I think Redwolf's suggestion of Tá blas milis ort is the best so far.
3/4. I think the lads are right when they suggest that a term of endearment, e.g. a stóirín, a rún, a chroí etc... would be better suited here.
5. A Dhia works grand, but a Thiarna or a Thiarcais is much more common in Munster.
6. Caoimhín's suggestion of An dtuigeann tú?, or less commonly an dtuigir?, works perfectly; its a standard 'filler' phrase in the Kerry Gaeltacht.



7. for Caoimhín's suggestions of a shearraigh, a mhuca.

In Munster Irish 'igh' is pronounced as 'ig'. Also, when pronouncing words generally in Munster Irish, the stress tends to fall on the second syllable, e.g. a shearraigh 'a har-IG'.

'aich' was traditionally used as an alternative spelling to 'aigh'. However, nowadays, in Munster anyhow, 'aigh' tends to be pronoounced as 'ig', while 'aich', is difficult to describe, sounds like 'ugh', e.g. amuigh/ amuich is 'amugh' in Munster not 'amuig'.



When calling a horse over or talking to a horse, you'd say Preabaí, Preabaí.

When calling a pig, you'd say deoch, deoch, deoch.

'Come here (to me)' in Munster Irish is Tar anso (chugham)

A shearraigh, tar anso (chugham) ! Foal, come here (to me)!

'Come here to me', may sound odd in English, but it is a very common Hiberno-English phrase.

Téanam ort 'come on let you' 'let's go', also similar to vamos in Spanish.

8. Go bhfóire Dia orm

9. a Thiarna tabhair neart dom. In Munster Irish, the prepositional pronoun is added to the end. Though Caoimhín version is good too. Go dtuga(idh) Dia neart dom 'May God give me strength'.

10. It sounds odd to have both 'Lord' and 'God' together in Irish. a Thiarna, a Thiarcais or a Dhia, work perfectly well on their own here.

11. In which context is this phrase being used?

For instance, is this phrase being used as an interjection, to express dismay, surprise or frustration?

e.g.

Ah sweet Jesus!
Ah fuck it!
Ah Bollox/ Bollix!

If so, something similar to a mhuise, ambaist(e) (Kerry), amaite (fhéinig), do m'aite (fhéinig), Balachs, by dad, ochón may be more natural- depending on the emotion you want to express.

Or, are you describing God as sweet, as in being nice?

In either case, directly translating 'Sweet God' into Irish doesn't make sense.

Cian

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Please wait for corrections/ more input from other forum members before acting on advice

I don't know if these are used as much in Munster, but a couple you'll hear in Donegal are "Dia sabháil" or "Dia mo shábháil." Also "As ucht Dé!" and "A Mhaighdean!"

Redwolf