Greetings everyone!

I'm new to this forum. I'm a French Canadian who has an Irish heritage and loves Ireland.

I visited Ireland almost exactly 2 years ago with my best friend. We had such a great trip, my heart is definitely in Ireland!
Recently, my friend passed away and I'm having a hard time dealing with his sudden death. He was like a brother to me, we had known eachother for almost a decade now. This trip to Ireland together is one of the best memory we have and I'll continue to cherish it. In his honor and to help my grief, I would like to get a tattoo that will remind me of him.

What would be the most accurate translation for "Cheers, brother!"? I know it's not that big of a sentence, but it reminds me of him and it makes me smile. If you have any other tattoo ideas (sentence / sayings), I'm open to suggestions also! I haven't made up my mind yet!

Thank you for your input!
Cassandre

It would depend on what you mean by "cheers".

If you mean the word as it is used in a drinking toast, then: Sláinte, a bhráthair! would work. In case you look in the dictionary, you'll see that there's another word which one uses for a "brother" who is an actual sibling, but for your purposes the older word for brother which I've shown seems better, since it is used in expressions like "brothers in arms".

If you mean it as "thanks", in the way that the British and some others use it, then in modern Irish one generally uses the expression "go raibh maith agat" for "thank you". However, there's also a shorter, though perhaps less common expression, "sonas ort", which is used for "thank you", but literally means something more like "good luck to you" or "happiness to you", and thus may convey the same sort of semi-toasting meaning as that British use of "cheers" as a quick, friendly "thank you".

So, you could choose either:
Go raibh maith agat, a bhráthair!
or
Sonas ort, a bhráthair!

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

Hi, welcome to the forum .

I'm sorry to hear of your loss.

What do you mean by 'Cheers', exactly?

'Cheers' is used in English to say 'thank you', or else as a blessing before drinking alcohol with friends.

The translation in Irish will depend on what you take 'cheers' as meaning in this sentence.

To get the ball rolling:

Taking 'brother' as a term of endearment meaning 'good friend', and assuming that it is 'cheers' as said over drinks that you are looking for:

Sláinte, a mhic, literally translated it means 'good health, boy/son', but semantically it carries the same meaning as 'cheers brother/ buddy', when said over drinks in English.

sláinte a bhráthair, 'cheers brother' can also be used, but a mhic would be more common.*

'Buddy', can be a mhic/ a mhac depending on dialect.

Wait for more suggestions!

Cian

PS, crossed with Caoimhín.

_________________

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

Yes, that's a better choice, if you mean it in the toasting sense, and might also work if you mean it in the British "thank you" sense.

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

Thank you for your rapid input!

By "Cheers", I mean a "toast". When we went to Ireland, we learned that it was your way of toasting. And God know we've been tasting your every beer, so we used "Cheers!" a whole lot! It reminds me of him and the good times we had over there.

Also, by "brother", I mean as if he was a sibling. His mom always considered me part of the family.

Do these informations change the translation you guys have given me?

Thank you again!

Also, I was wondering if I want to say "Cheers, my brother" what's The Irish translation of that variant? When I looked it up online (let's say dictionnaries, translator tools) they had another word for brother which was "dearthair". What's the difference? When I looked it up, they said one was the religious member and the other the sibbling meaning... I was a little confused!

Thank you for your help, once again!
Cassandre

Yes,

The two are differentiated in Irish:

Bráthair is usually used in the 'religious' sense, e.g. monks would refer to each other as 'brother'. But it can also be used to refer to a 'friend', or 'comrade': http://www.teanglann.ie/en/fgb/br%C3%A1thair

Dearthair on the other hand, comes from dear 'blood' + bráthair 'brother' = dearbhráthair (>dearthair) 'blood brother', 'sibling': http://www.teanglann.ie/en/fgb/dearth%C3%A1ir

However, dearthair is not used to refer to a 'really good friend'.

As we were saying the usual way to refer directly to a really good friend in Irish is a mhic, a mhac 'son', 'boy'.

This has manifested itself in Hiberno-English (The dialect of English as it is spoken in Ireland), where 'kid' or 'lad' are used, particularly among boys, to refer to each other.

Cian

Cian

_________________

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

When speaking about a non-sibling "brother", you say "mo bhráthair" for "my brother".
When speaking to a non-sibling "brother", you say "a bhráthair" for "my brother".
The particle/word "a" has many functions in Irish, and in the latter case above it is the vocative particle, introducing the vocative form of the noun, and it must be used when addressing someone. In this situation, the word "my" is understood. We have only remnants of the vocative case in English, such as when we say "O God" or even something like "O[h] John, will you help me?"

So, you have several possibilities:
Sláinte, a mhic! "Cheers, lad/boyo/buddy/brother ...!" [said to him]
Sláinte, a mhac! "Cheers, lad/boyo/buddy/brother ...!" [said to him, just a variant form]
Sláinte, a bhráthair! "Cheers, my brother!" [said to him, if you really want to emphasize brotherhood, in the non-sibling sense]
Sláinte! Do mo bhráthair! "Cheers! [Here's] to my brother!" [said to someone else, speaking about him]

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

CB MJ - This is the best dictionary to use.
As you can see "Bráthair" has two meanings, the friendship and the religious meaning.
http://www.teanglann.ie/ga/fgb/bráthair

According to this you can also use "deartháir" as friendship.
"my dear friend"
http://www.teanglann.ie/ga/fgb/deartháir


So if you feel that close that he's like a real brother to you I don't see why you can't use "deartháir".

Sláinte a dheartháir !

Thank you for all these precisions! I really appreciate!

I just want to be sure of something, "bhráthair" can either mean friend/brother OR brother as in the religious community. But it doesn't automatically mean the religious member, right? 'Cause it wouldn't fit... I'm guessing it's like in the English language and that brother can mean either one?

And for any of you guys who has a brother (sibling), which word between "bhráthair" and "dheartháir" would you rather choose/prefer when refering to him?

I'll never thank all of you enough
And I'll send a picture of the tattoo when it'll be done if you want to have a look!

Cassandre