So I am recording a song as a tribute to Scotland voting for independence this September to show my support whether they do or do not leave the UK. I started writing lyrics and want to make sure the right idea comes across. I purposely used Irish Gaelic in the second line to draw a connection between the Irish and Scottish. I understand that the fourth line is used by a political group(correct me if I am wrong or off a bit) I dont know much about and was wondering if use of such a phrase would offend or rub anybody wrong? I am open to any suggestions, criticisms, and so forth. Sláinte Mhaith


Alba gu bràth (Scotland Forever / Til Judgement)

Tiocfaidh ár lá (Our day will come)

Aonaibh ri cheile (Unite Together)

Sìol na nGàidheal (Seed of the Gaels as in Children of the Gaels)

I've indicated some corrections in your third and fourth phrases.

In the third one, the root form of the verb is aonaich, and the plural command form adds the suffix -ibh to that. In slogans, one can also often just use the singular form, possibly on the theory that the slogan is directed at one person at a time. That would give you Aonaich ri chèile, but that might sound a bit illogical, given the ri chèile ("together"), which implies that one is speaking to more than one person.

In the fourth one, you used the Irish spelling convention for the genitive plural, which I've corrected to the usual Scottish Gaelic form. I'm not very familiar with the organization you mentioned, apart from having heard of it as a nationalist organization, but I note from the Wikipedia article about it that it's considered fascist by some, and members of the Scottish Nationalist Party are forbidden to join it, so using that phrase seems likely to be controversial. If you want to use the phrase nonetheless, you might take advantage of the fact that in Scottish Gaelic the word Gaidheal can be spelled with or without an accent over the first "a". That organization uses the accent, which some might consider a bit "old-fashioned" (which may be the point, for them), so if you were to leave it off you might be creating a bit of distinction. How much, I couldn't tell you.

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I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.

Thank you for your help, Caoimhín!

My name is also Caoimhín, at least thats how I prefer to spell it and how Ive done since I was about 10 or 11!

Also I have been aiming to poetically address these ideas into Scots Gaelic. This may be a lot to ask, and I am trying to learn Gaelic myself, but it is hard as a beginner to arrange something like this.
Thank you!


Upon each highland hill, and lowland glen
Freedom was born within us... or... Freedom was our born right(or something along the lines of We were born to be free)
To live and die beneath our own skies (perhaps: to grow and wither beneath a familiar sky?)
We have a right to our own destiny

Edited in light of NiallBeag's comments below.
I'm not the best at poetic phrasing, so wait to see if others have comments on this:

Air gach beinn àrd-thìreach 's ann am gach gleann air a' Ghalltachd
On each highland hill, and in each glen in the Lowlands
Editing my old note: I've changed it to "ann am", but "am" is an older form found in poetry and songs (even though it is Irish-like), and I still maintain that it would sound good here.

Rugadh an t-saorsa annainn
Freedom was born within us

Gus am biodh beo 's gus am faigh bàs fo na speuran againn fhìn
To live and to die beneath our own skies

Tha còir againn air an dàn againn fhìn
We have a right to our own destiny

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I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.

Here are a few more lines. Thank you again for your help!


United they stood against Edwards army

700 years ago

Together they fought courageously

and declared their liberty

Edited in light of NiallBeag's comments below.

Sheas iad aoinaichte an aghaidh airm Eideaird
They stood united against Edward's army
[I disagree with Niall's comment, and think that Sheas iad aoinaichte is fine, but if you'd like "side by side", let me know.

o chionn seachd ceud bliadhna
700 years ago

shabaid iad ri chèile gu gaisgeil
they fought together courageously

’s ghairm iad an t-saorsa aca
and they proclaimed their liberty
Added note: I'm not aware of a way to say "declare[d]" in Gaelic. It's a Latinate term even in English, and not all such terms were borrowed in a parallel manner into the two languages. I chose gairm, because one of its meanings is "proclaim", so I've modified the English to indicate that.

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I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.

Thank you again!

How do I pronounce these words? Is there a key you could refer me to that would help me learn to pronounce what I read in the future? Thanks Caoimhín!

CaomhínSF,

Gallda isn't an adjective. You either need to use the adjective Gall, pop in an article or add a preposition.
Your "in" for the glen is Irish maybe, it's not valid ScG.
Why did you repeat the "gus"? agus/and/et/y... it doesn't matter what the language is, it can always rule any two constituents of the same type, including a lot of elision.

I'm not sure standing translates directly. "aoinaichte" seems strained. Try something along the lines of "side-by-side".
o chionn comes before the time it classifies
It's not "le chèile" -- you're confused by Irish. ScG makes a distinction between active and passive with -- "le" is purely passive (eg an inanimate object that you carry with you) but an active with is "ri" (I came with John -- we both walked).
The intended declaration of liberty seems a little more like a summoning.

Anyway, I don't write other people's songs for them.

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A language belongs to its native speakers, and when you speak it, you are a guest in their homes.
If you are not a good guest, you have no right to complain about receiving poor hospitality.

I've made some changes in light of Niall's comments (he knows Gaelic far better than I do), but I've indicated a few places where I don't entirely agree.

On the pronunciation issue, I'm not sure I'm the best person to help, because I'm still a learner, and (as Niall noted) I sometimes confuse things with Irish. There is a site which explains most of the sounds of Gaelic with short examples which you can listen to at this site, but it doesn't allow you to input phrases and hear them spoken (see the links at the bottom of the main page -- they open up into fairly extensive materials): http://www.akerbeltz.org/index.php?title=Fuaimean_na_G%C3%A0idhlig

There is a new site which promises to be helpful with one's own phrases, but it's still in development and I don't think that part of it is functioning yet: http://www.anseotal.org.uk/en

There are several other sites where you can hear Gaelic spoken, such as this one with various songs and readings from around Scotland:
http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk

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I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.