Irish Translation Forum

Breandán wrote:To answer a question with a question: how would you translate "may the road rise with you" into English?

It's already in English. That's not what I asked though. I don't want to annoy you but I would ask, what you would consider the best way to translate this phrase, (that seems to cause some people trouble for some unearthly reason), to be.

to rise...éirigh...the subjunctive go n-éirí
to succeed/ get on...éirigh le...which also means "to rise with"...there are two separate meanings in English but only one expression in Irish which comprises both meanings. Can you disagree with any of this thus far?

may the road rise with you/ may you succeed are both translated "go n-éirí an bóthar leat". Is it beyond the realm of human reason that this phrase means both things and that these two things actually mean the same thing. Where did this nonsensical debate begin? These are idioms I have used in both languages all my life. I simply do not understand the confusion and do not understand why people say that this phrase is mistranslated. That statement is incorrect and invalid.


go n-éirí an bóthar leat...may the road rise with you
go n-éirí an bóthar leat...may you succeed. Perhaps these are not native ideas in other countries, but in Ireland they are as natural as rain.

If I wanted to hope that a road would literally rise with someone, I wouldn't use the idiom, because they'd assume that I was just wishing them success. I'd find some other way to say it.

Similarly, if I wanted to inform someone of an unusual meteorological event involving actual canines and felines descending rapidly from the sky, I wouldn't say "it's raining cats and dogs", because the listener would assume that an umbrella would provide adequate protection.

What did you believe this phrase to mean before this other person chastised you Breandán? Was it what I am saying? If it was then you were originally correct.
Where have i said that " May the road rise to meet you" is a valid translation?
How would you translate " May the road rise with you.." in Irish. It is a simple request. If you don't want to do it, then fine. But why would you not? Is there a sense in your head that this phrase is absolutely fine and it is just something you have accepted for no apparent reason? Jesus, we all make mistakes, it is not the end of the world, but it is a bit strange formulating complex defences for very simple and obvious things. "logical" "poetic" "unlawful combatant"! I mean it is a very simple phrase that some people on this site have chosen to believe that it doesn't mean a certain thing. This belief is wrong.

This is not a debate. We can debate about opinion. Whether you are happy to accept one or the other in this instance is not relevant because they are both correct. And I think you know that, with the level of erudition and knowledge that you exhibit here, but there are some strange ideas on this forum that have come to have being accepted for no other reason except through force of will without rigour of inspection. You know exactly what the Irish for

"may the road rise with you.." is and you also know it has nothing got to do with any argument device..poetic, logical etc. Stop digging

mhwombat wrote:If I wanted to hope that a road would literally rise with someone, I wouldn't use the idiom, because they'd assume that I was just wishing them success. I'd find some other way to say it.

Similarly, if I wanted to inform someone of an unusual meteorological event involving actual canines and felines descending rapidly from the sky, I wouldn't say "it's raining cats and dogs", because the listener would assume that an umbrella would provide adequate protection.

go n-éirí leat ó thalamh go crann
agus go n-éirí leat seacláid a fháilt ann

rossai wrote:These are idioms I have used in both languages all my life.

Ah, I see where you're coming from. I have never heard anyone say "may the road rise with you" except as a "translation" of that phrase, so to me, go n-éirí an bóthar leat is an idiom that shouldn't be translated literally, just like "Bhuail mé le Seán inné" shouldn't be translated as "I hit with Seán yesterday".

But if you do hear people say, in English, "may the road rise with you", then you see it as an idiom shared by both languages, so it's OK to translate it literally. There are other cases of idioms shared by the two languages. For example, "cuir as" and "put out" (bother, cause inconvenience for).