My husband and his brothers are getting tattoos of the phrase "Ni Bona Na Croin" (translation: neither collar nor crown) together. I'm trying to do a little research before my husband gets his first tattoo.

So far we know that it is the name of a poem written by Padraig O'Laoire (Patrick O'Leary, also known as Pagan O'Leary). There seems to be different versions of the phrase. The title of the poem is Bona Na Croin, which would translate to "Collar Nor Crown." "Ni" can be put before it to make it "Niether Collar Nor Crown", but then there is also "Ni Bona Na Coroin", adding an extra "O".

I'm hoping maybe someone here can clarify it somewhat for me, and also possibly provide a pronunciation. I've scoured the internet no to avail. I love my brothers-in-law dearly, but do not trust them to do their research!

I can't find any reliable source for "croin" online. Seems to be just a bunch of people from different places parroting the same line. It's possible that it's a dialectal variant, but I doubt it.

So what you're looking for is "coróin". And definitely the correct accents.

ní bóna ná coróin

Also, can you quote the English phrase exactly how you want it represented (as in, which English words do you want capitalised), because we'll adjust the capitalisation appropriately for you then. Likely you want "Neither Collar nor Crown" which would be represented as Ní Bóna ná Coróin in Irish.

Wait for more input.

I'm guessing that cróin, written as it is, would reflect the way it's pronounced in Munster, though of course coróin is the correct spelling. You can listen to how he pronounces Coróin Mhuire in the Munster dialect on Teanglann.ie.

I second this.

Redwolf

Ní Bóna ná Coróin - is the standard spelling, so go with that.


The money coin is pronounced "crúinn" in Conamara, but I'm not sure of the crown on head, I think that may be influenced by other dialects sometimes, and especially Mass.