Scottish Gaelic: Mighty In Battle

[Falkirk_guy]

Hello, thanks for taking the time to read this. I really hope sombody can help me.

I have been trying for several months now to get a translation from Engligh to Scottish Gaelic. The sentance I want translated is "Mighty In Battle"

I have tried a bunch of the online translation sites but always get different responses and I am hoping a 'real person' can help.

I would be extremely grateful.

Thanks

 

[RoryLaurie]

My suggestion would be: treun ann an cath (pronounce like treean ouñ un ka -- roll the r in "treun", and nn in Gaelic is pronounced like a Spanish ñ, so "ann" sounds like you're saying "owl" but with a ñ instead of a l at the end. Also, if a native Gaelic speaker said this, they'd properly shorten "an" to just an "a" to make it flow better.)

To be more emphatic, you could say, treun anns a' chath = Mighty in the battle (just pronounce "anns a'" like ouñ sa and make the ch in "chath like the Scottish ch in "loch"). This strikes me as more like "real" Gaelic.

In Gaelic, there's different ways to translate the English word "battle." There's "batail" which is from the English word, and is generally used as the English word. But there's also a laundry list of words that more or less mean a struggle of some kind that could be translated as "battle" in English. But "cath" is a more traditional word that means "war" or "battle," usually in the more physical sense, but in more abstract ways too, metaphorically. For example the traditional phrase "cath-dath," which literally means "war color," refers to a colors of one's tartan, your "uniform" both on the battlefield and in culture and society.

"Treun" is the best word for "mighty," I think, as it covers an general range of meaning from being heroic and valiant to brave and strong. For example, "fear treun" or "treun-fhear" means a brave, stout-hearted man, someone who steps up to adversity, and a "treun-oran" or "treun-dhàn" is a song or poem that memorializes a hero.

 

[L'irlandais]

This strikes me as more like "real" Gaelic..

RoryLaurie, I am a little puzzled as what you mean by "real" Gaelic.
The word ann means there where I come from, not sure if it's the really useful in this context.

Hi Falkirk guy,
Welcome to the forums.

I only speak a little Irish, and no Scottish at all, so that's not much help to you. However in the absence of a native Scottish speaker I'll give you my thoughts on translating "Mighty in Battle"

In Irish tréan simply means strong
There are plenty of other war-like adjectives available in Irish :
To my mind, neartmhar fits the bill as it translates as mighty.
Laochta = heroic
curata = valiant
crógach = brave

Cathasach is an Irish name ( for Casey) meaning vigilant in battle. I mention this as an example of a usual way of expressing this kind of term in Gaelic ; so in this vein Cath Cróga would be Brave in Battle.

Crogà is however a poor example as it's an invariable adjective. While neartmhar (nominative) probaly isn't. In you case, Genative singular Masculine, I belive it must change to neartmhair.
(Assuming, that is, you are refering to yourself. On the other hand, if refering to your family, it'd be neartmhara (plural form - 1st Declension/1ú Díochlaonadh) This bit of context depends on you.
Cath neartmhair, then is my best shot at it. While a literal translation might be something along the lines of neartmhair i gcath ; I do honestly feel thet el-irlandes thoughts here are worth considering.
In so far that my suggestion might well be utterly laughable to the eyes of a native Scottish speaker.

 

[RoryLaurie]

RoryLaurie, I am a little puzzled as what you mean by "real" Gaelic.
The word ann means there where I come from, not sure if it's the really useful in this context.

By "real" Gaelic, I mean what native speakers often refer to as "real" Gaelic, or good Gaelic by their personal standard. It refers to a more idiomatic sense of how the language is used that may or may not be conveyed in grammar books. Keep in mind that Scottish Gaelic is not as standardized as other languages, and native speakers will fiercely hold on to their way of speaking, regardless to what any textbook will say. And yes, they will correct you at times, if they don't care for how your Gaelic sounds to them. It's their language after all.

For example, native speakers would more likely say Tha a' Ghaidhlig air (He has/ speaks the Gaelic) rather than what you find in most Gaelic language textbook: Tha Gaidhlig air (He has/speaks Gaelic). Scottish Gaelic is very fond of empathic usage, hence the many emphatic endings for pronouns and a few other words (mi=mise, thu=thusa, a-nis=a-nise) and the empathic use of the definite article. However, as I said above, though these usages are commonplace, they aren't always discussed in more straight forward grammar overviews.

"Ann" in Scottish Gaelic has a number of uses. In some contexts, it does translate to English as "there," as in Tha cù ann (There is a dog/A dog is there). But it meaning carries over from simply "being there" to "being (there) in something." So it can also covey a sense of something being within something else, within that context or locale, sort of like the English "in," although grammatically, it's not as simple.

To say where I am presently, for example, I would say Tha mi ann an America (I am in America) or Tha mi ann an taigh (I am in a house). "An" in this phrase is a sort of helping word here that doesn't really translate into English. But to say I am in the house, you change it to "anns def art. X" = Tha mi anns an taigh. "Taigh" is masculine, so its def. art. is "an." But you would know I mean "the house" and not "a house" because I used "anns" rather than "ann." In speech, the difference is empathized by tagging the "s" to the start of following def. art. when you can. So anns an taigh sounds rather like ann san taigh.

I don't how how it goes for Irish, but that's how it is with Scottish Gaelic.

Naturally, Scottish Gaelic and Irish have words in common, but like words shared between French and English, these common words can take on different meanings and nuances in each language. I listed examples of "treun" to show how it has been used within Scottish Gaelic.