Thursday, January 12, 2012

The Our Father in Irish-Gaelic

The "Our Father" in Irish-Gaelic

Ár n-Athair atá ar neamh,
Go naofar d'ainim,
Go dtagfadh do ríocht,
Go ndéantar do thoil ar an talamh mar a dhéantar ar neamh.
Ár n-arán laethúil tabhair dúinn inniu,
agus maith dúinn ár bhfiacha
mar a mhaithimidne dár bhféichiúna féin
Ach ná lig sinn i gcathú,
ach saor sinn ó olc,
Amen.

Approximate pronunciation:


AR NATH-her ah-TAH er NAHV
Guh NAY-her DAHN-um
Guh DAHG-huh duh REE-ukht
Guh NANE-ter duh HULL er un TAHL-uv mar a YANE-ter er NAHV
AR nuh-RAHN lay-HOOL TAUR DOO-un in-YOU
ah-gus MAH DOO-in ar VEE-uh-kha
MAR uh WAH-him-MIDGE-nuh DAR VEKH-yoon-uh FANE
AKH NAU LIG SHIN ih GAH-HOO
AKH SEER SHIN OH UH-luck.

[The syllables capitalized above receive more stress; the “kh” is used to represent a sound similar to the “ch” in the Scottish word loch or the “ch” in the German word Nacht. A more precise pronunciation transcription would need something like the International Phonetic Alphabet. Irish has many alternative pronunciations and regional variants, so what I have above would not be accurate for all dialects.]

At some point I will add audio or video to help clarify the pronunciation of the prayer.

 
 

4 comments:

Unknown said...

What is the Connacht pronunciation?

Unknown said...

Its Gaeilge or Irish not Gaelic or Irish Gaelic

View from the North Coast said...

Sorry, I don't know. I'm amazed how Irish varies dialect to dialect.

View from the North Coast said...

Right. But Americans don't know this.