Hello,

So for a few years i have tried getting a few phrases translated for a tattoo idea. But to not much avail.

I want to have some phrases translated, then done in Ogham, which i understand requires a Old Irish/Early Irish translation, which is difficult to come by because scholars on the topic are difficult to locate.

Doing a bit of research, i found that there is "orthodox" and "scholastic" Ogham, and I wonder if the expansion on the alphabet might make the translation easier. I still want it to be as authentic as possible, so if scholars on the topic made up the rest of the alphabet just for fun, maybe i should stay away from it.

The phrases I'm looking for are "Embracing Life" and "Decaying in Death". Also 2 of the mottos of the Fianna "Neart ar ngeag", "Beart de reir ar mbriathar". (strength of our limbs, and action to make our words, respectively).

I know language is a difficult thing, but i do want to try and stay as close to those particular wordings as possible.

After settling on a translation, i would also very much appreciate some help making sure i get the Ogham written out correctly.

If anyone knows any scholars on the topic i can be put into contact with, that would be very appreciated too.

Thank you all so much for your time. I really appreciate this forum being here.

I don't know anything about ogham.

The translations:
"Embracing Life" "Ag gabháil leis an saol" - Going with life.
I'm sure there will be much better suggestions.

"Decaying in Death"
Ag lobh leis an mbás

"Neart ár ngéag"
"Beart de réir ár mbriathar" - missing accents, although I don't think it will make a difference with ogham.

maybe it should be spelt "Ag lobhadh leis an mbás"

At the time ogham was used, there were no síntí fada in Irish, they appeared later

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

Wouldn't you run into the same problem with mbas. Otherwise it's just "fish" right?

Yes, without the fada it can mean "bass" (the fish), and also boss, but I think both are modern borrowings from English. In fact, in Old Irish I think it could, depending on context, also mean the palm of the hand, a spoke in a wheel, or a concave part of a club (probably by analogy to the palm of a hand).

The problem you need to face with Ogham is that, so far as is known, it was not used for writing ordinary expressions, and was mostly used for inscriptions involving names, so an accent (fada) or other feature like lenition was not so important to indicate, because the sounds were either self-evident in the context of names or did not yet exist in Irish/Gaelic. There are theories about the Druids using it for other things, but they remain theories.

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

That's why I figured scholarly ogham was created. To fill those gaps. But I don't really know. I do appreciate your help.