Hi all

I'm looking for a translation of the inspiration for my soul for a tattoo idea I have (it's a line from my wedding vows). I'm interesting in standard Irish, old spelling, and Scots Gaelic if possible.

Having a nose around, I think it's along the vein of an inspioráid do mo anam for standard, and brosnachadh do m'anam for Scots, but I'm don't know anything about the correct grammar/tense/etc. If it helps, my wife's the "inspiration" so I guess it should be feminine?

Thanks
Rory

I've made a copy of this thread for the Scottish part of the request.

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[hr]Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher[/hr]
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).

I think am brosnachadh do m'anam should work. The definite article an becomes am before words starting with a "b" (and some other letters).

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

Thanks for that. That translation seems to be the consensus coming through from the various places I'ce posted this question. Unfortunately, there;s little way to modify brosnachadh from the masculine in this context, but I think it;ll do.

Hi, Rory. The "masculine" and "feminine" terms used in relation to these nouns refer merely to the way the noun is handled grammatically and is not really connected directly to the biological gender of the subject (your wife).

Your wife's gender will affect the choice of pronoun (in Irish, it would be sí/í, etc.), and there may be some separate male and female versions for occupations, etc., (just as English has actor and actress), but it is perfectly okay to equate her to an abstract "masculine" noun in Gaelic because separate masculine and feminine forms don't exist for them.

That isn't necessarily the case for all languages but rest assured it is okay for Irish and Scottish Gaelic.

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[hr]Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher[/hr]
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).

Yes, the grammatical gender of a noun has absolutely nothing to do with the sex of the person (or thing) being described. Instead of masculine/feminine you could just as easily call them bright/dark, high/low, red/blue, class a/class b.

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Táim ag foghlaim fós. Fáilte roimh gach aon cheartúchán.