HI all,
Firstly, many thanks for this forum and allowing people to check tattoo translations - a fabulous service!

I have already received a translation of a quote I wish to use for a tattoo. But I want to double(triple) check before it becomes a permanent part of my body.

The quote in English is "all kinds of words changing colour"

(It is a part of this full sentence: ""He could hear, of course, all kinds of words changing colour like those crabs about Ringsend in the morning, burrowing quickly into all colours of different sorts of the same sand where they had a home somewhere beneath or seemed to.")

The translation I have received is: An uile dhath ag teacht ar an uile chineál focail

The quote is a small piece from James Joyce's Ulysses, which I bought on a recent holiday in Dublin and fell in love with. Although my research tells me Joyce didn't support the Celtic revival and wrote in English, I think he would like 'not-liking' the thought of a small piece of his work in Irish Gaelic. His work seems to me to show he enjoyed provocation. This particular phrase would be surrounded by tattoos in German from Nietzsche, Hindi from the Bhagavad Gita, a Jawanese proverb, an English quote from Emily Dickinson and a Greek word from Aristotle. So at least his words would be in good company as they 'change colour' around my arm

Many thanks for any support you can give me in confirming this translation. And if anyone has advice on a font that particularly suits Irish Gaelic please let me know.

Cheers
Justine

Don't know where you got that quote, but it doesn't work for me.

Perhaps "[Tá] Gach sórt/cineál/saghas focail ag athrú [a dhath] dath": "Every kind [three choices there for "kind" ]of word [is] changing [its color] color."

Wait for more input.

Redwolf

Redwolf

I agree with Redwolf, the phrase you have sounds a bit peculiar.

Would you not have to use the genitive, datha, after the verbal noun? ??
I’m not totally sure about athrú though.

Perhaps

…ag caitheamh dathanna
or
…ag breacadh dathanna

I’ve seen these used.

The plural, dathanna, would probably be better as a dhath can sometimes mean “anything” so it might lead to ambiguity.

Gach saghas focal ag caitheamh dathanna.

I think that may be a typo and you meant to write "as" not "ar".
as = from
ar = on

So literally - "Every kind of colour coming from every kind of word."

Although I wouldn't phrase the Irish exactly that way myself.




chuile chinéal focal ag athrú datha

Edited to go with what Redwolf and Mac Boo said about the verbal noun.

Yep. I misread the entry in FGB this morning. Should be "datha."

I would read "caitheamh" as "shedding colors," though.

Redwolf

It's more like 'wearing' colours.
Caitheamh seems to to be a verb that has almost whatever meaning you want...

It's actually in FGB under dath

Tá an fharraige ag caitheamh dathanna

Wow - many thanks for those really interesting replies so far - I can see Gaelic is a complicated language.
So, so far we have:

Gach saghas focal ag caitheamh dathanna.

or

chuile chinéal focal ag athrú datha

I really like the idea of the word that could mean both 'shredding' or 'wearing' (caitheamh) - it brings a nice extra bit of confusion to the meaning, while at the same time proving the point of the quote itself. So at this stage I'm liking the first one, but I'll wait to see if anyone has more thoughts.
The original translation I paid from from a translation service in Ireland, so sad to hear it sounds odd, so I'm very glad I checked it out on this forum first.

"Shedding," actually...not "shredding."

Redwolf

"An uile dath ag teacht ar an uile chineál focail".

I don't know if it's the best translation or not, but the structure is perfectly sound.
From 'An Foclóir Nua':
Tháinig dath eile ar an díon - The roof changed colour; Tá dath eile tagtha ar na duilleoga -The leaves have changed colour.

Thanks for that clarification Errigal.
Goes to show that there is always more than one way to skin a cat in Irish. Learned something new again.

Hope I can remember it..