Hi all! Long time, no see!

I'm helping someone with a song translation, and we're trying to find something suitable for the term "mother oak." The writer is thinking in terms of a tree under which knowledge is passed from generation to generation, and under whose branches she finds shelter.

She is very flexible on the translation, and it doesn't have to be literal. Fortunately, this is a song in which rhyming isn't required, and the scansion is flexible...much easier to work with than most song lyrics!

I've been kicking around coining "Máthairdhair" (jumping off from "máthairthír" -- "motherland"). Does anyone have any other suggestions? Perhaps something that might feel more natural/authentic? Does "Máthairdhair" look to be a legitimate coinage, or is it too off-track? Any input greatly appreciated!

Hope you all are doing well! It's been a while!

GRMMA!

Redwolf

I wonder how common calques like máthairthír are in native speech?

I saw in Aodh de Róiste that Dónall Bán Ó Céileachair translated "Father Tiber" (the personification of the Roman river, or the god of the river) as Tíber Athartha.

Could you have, in the vocative, a Dhair Mháthartha?

Noun-noun compounds like "máthairthír" ("motherland") are very lexicalised terms in Irish.
They can’t be composed so freely. In fact, they are quite rare.
And in case they are used they have special meanings. I’d think a "máthairdhair" would rather be a mother plant of other oaks than being a shelter for human beings.