Anamchara and Soulmate
Quote:
It seems to be a commom misconception that the Irish word anamchara (literally soulfriend) means soulmate (in the modern English sense of true love, perfect mate, etc.)
Anamchara traditionally means spiritual advisor/’confessor’/’spiritual mentor’, etc. I believe it has its origin in medieval times when (younger) monks sought advice from older more spiritually mature monks.
It was never used to mean soulmate in the modern English sense.
I was thinking about this question yesterday and how one would properly translate the modern English meaning of soulmate into Irish. I’ve come to the conclusion that there is no exact equivalent (there rarely is) but that there is a word/concept in Irish which is similar enough in meaning to be used as the Gaelic equivalent of soulmate :
Sonuachar
As in the blessing :
Sonuachar chugat !
which I would translate roughly as
May you find a soulmate !
Sonuachar roughly means a good spouse (sona = happy ; sonuachar = someone you’re happily married to) and would be an appropriate word to use to translate expressions like
To my soulmate = Do mo shonuachar
Youre my soulmate = Is tú mo shonuachar
And so on.
Spread the word !
Contributed by: Tadhg an Mhargaidh, Redwolf
Brotherhood
Bráithreachas = Brotherhood
/BROY-RUH-HUSS/
Contributed by: Ailill, Aisling_M
Angel.D said,
May 14, 2009 @ 3:08 pm
I remember when i was very young my grandmother used to describe our “guardian angels” or as she would say our “spirit protectors” as Anamchara. She would never refer to them as angels, so I grew up understanding anamchara as “a soul/spirit friend” and not as soulmate. So thanks for clearing that up, I was begining to think I had it wrong all along!
Izeya said,
July 19, 2009 @ 9:27 am
Please tell me the pronunciation of anamchairde (I belive it means soul friends) I wish to establish a sanctuary for abused, abandoned
and orphaned animals and children where the children heal through the animals and the animals heal through the children. Do you think
that anamchairde would be an appropriate name for the snctuary?
Princess Kessie said,
April 27, 2010 @ 1:22 am
I was brought up being told that Mo Anam Cara meant My Soul Friend(Mate). Perhaps my Irish roots were wrong all along…
Elle said,
June 7, 2010 @ 3:35 am
Hello,
Does the ‘mo’ part change depending on the gender of my shonuachar? In other words, if I want to say “Do mo shonuachar” to my husband, is it correct just the way it is?
Thank you