50 Most Beautiful Words in The Irish Language

THE 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE
Aimsir BeathaFadSpleo
Plarca Gael Measire
SlnTaisceUisce Plms
Comhluadar Sona Ceol
Dchas Misneach Baile
Inis Draocht B CaraLea
The 50 Most Beautiful Words
in the Irish Language
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A Curated
Selection of Inspired Terminology
1
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Words, the Irish Language, Translation

and Why We Should Care
Words are so much more than a mere compilation of letters or
characters. Each word is a reflection of the people who created it,
the community or culture from which it came, and in its purest form,
a message that someone wanted to share with another person.
Thats why translating words from one language into another is so
challenging. Transferring the essence of word from one culture to
another is very difficult. Translators use various techniques to get
the meaning across by focusing on the message, not the words.
To celebrate the beauty and complexity of words, and to highlight
the importance of translation, Smartling is proud to present 50 of
the most beautiful words in the Irish language.
Irish (also known to people outside of Ireland as Gaelic or Irish
Gaelic) is spoken by about 1.6 million people with varying degrees
of fluency. Usage of the language has been in decline, but Irish was
spoken quite widely in fairly recent memory. For example, there
were nearly half a million people speaking Irish in the United States
in the 1890s. About 36 million Americans have Irish ancestry, and
many of their grandparents and great-grandparents spoke Irish.
Today, you can use Facebook in Irish and can even watch a soap
opera in Irish (with English subtitles if you dont speak it).
Technology is breathing new life into languages that might have
otherwise had less chance of survival.
Ireland has always been an important country for language, and
today, its one of the most important hubs in the world for
translation and localization.
All of us here at Smartling hope youll enjoy this collection
of Irish language terms, selected for you with care by
Eoghan Raghallaigh, an Irish translator who lives
in
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Dublin,
Ireland.
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A im sir
(AM-shir)
Weather, time, season

THE ELEMENTS THAT SURROUND US
This is the Irish word for an ever-popular topic with

which to make small talk in Ireland. Its earlier meaning,
time, occurs in a proverb which translates as time is a
good storyteller.
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Ai sli n g
(ASH-ling)
Vision, dream, apparition

OUR DESIRE AS IMAGE
This word is used of a popular eighteenth-century

poetic genre in which Ireland appears to the poet in a
vision in the form of a woman who speaks to him of the
current state of the nation. The word is now popular as a
personal name.
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Aoi b h n e a s
(EEV-nass)
Bliss, delight
FILLING OUR SENSES
This word generally refers to the joy we feel from

external things such as music, song, scenery and good
weather, and may be contrasted with thas (AW-hass),
which is joy arising from internal considerations.
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B a il e
(BAL-yeh)
Place, home, homestead, farmstead, village, town

WHERE WE COME HOME
This Irish word is probably the most commonly

occurring term in Irish placenames and is usually
anglicized as Bally.
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B ea n a n t
(BAN-a-TEE)
The woman of the house

SHE WHO CARES FOR EVERYTHING
Schoolchildren who lodge with families in Irish-speaking

parts of Ireland quickly learn the centrality of this person
in their life. Her counterpart, fear an t (FAR-a-TEE) the
man of the house, may also be encountered. Both
terms can also be used to denote the master of
ceremonies at an event.
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B e a th a
(BA-ha)
Life, livelihood, food, sustenance

THAT WHICH SUSTAINS US
One of the uses made of this Irish word is in

salutations, such as your life and your health to you.
It also occurs in a surname meaning a son of life, one
variant of which has given us the anglicized form
Macbeth, as found in Shakespeare.
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Blas
(Bloss)
Taste, flavour, accent

BEAUTY THROUGH TASTE
This Irish word is used in a proverb that translates as a

small amount is tasty, a notion perhaps better suited
to a country like Ireland than the concept that bigger is
better. The word can also be used of speech one says
in Irish that there is a lovely flavour on a persons speech
if their accent is good.
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B
(Boe)
Cow
PARTNERSHIP IN NATURE
The cow has been central to Irish rural life for many
centuries and the Irish word for it occurs as an element
in many place and river names. Looking up at the stars,
the Milky Way is called The Way of the White Cow in
Irish.
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Bua
(BOO-a)
Victory, talent, virtue

CARRYING THE DAY
One of the sayings in which this Irish word is used may

be translated as Bring victory and a blessing!, in other
words, Best wishes!
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C a ra
(KA-ra)
Friend
OUR CONNECTION TO ONE ANOTHER
This Irish word occurs in the quintessential way of

addressing someone at the beginning of a letter the
formula may be simply translated as O friend!
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Ce o l
(Kyol)
Music, song, vigour

THE RHYTHM WITHIN US
This word conjures not only music but the conviviality

that is a central element to Irish life. The idiom you are
my music essentially means Bravo!
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C o m h a lt a s
(COAL-tas)
Co-fosterage, friendship, membership

LEARNING TOGETHER
This word is used in the title of the Irish traditional

musicians organization Comhaltas Ceoltir ireann
(COAL-tas KYOAL-tory AY-ran) Association of Musicians
of Ireland, which is very often referred to, by way of a
blend of the first two words, as Ceoltas (KYOAL-tas).
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C om h a r
(Core)
Combined work, mutual assistance, partnership

THE POWER OF WORKING TOGETHER
Originally meaning co-operative ploughing between

neighbours, this Irish word now evokes the general
notion of co-operation and shared work.
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Comhluadar
(CO-loo-der)
Company, family
THE HARMONY OF BEING TOGETHER
This Irish word primarily describes convivial company,

namely people conversing pleasantly together, but may
also refer to family.
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Craic
(Crack)
Entertaining conversation, high-spirited fun

THE SERIOUS WORK OF PLAY
Although originally a borrowing from Middle English,

this word has been borrowed back into the English of
Ireland in its Irish-language spelling, and is felt to
denote a uniquely Irish variety of boisterous fun.
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Dil
(DAW-ill)
A coming together, a consultative gathering

A MEETING OF MINDS
This word can denote a tryst or a meeting of various

sorts but is best known now as the title of the principal
chamber of the national parliament, Dil ireann (the
Assembly of Ireland) or simply the Dil.
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Dathil
(DA-hoo-il)
Good-looking
A PLEASURE TO THE EYES
This Irish word literally means coloured or colourful, and is used to describe beauty and comeliness of
appearance.
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Dchas
(DOE-hass)
Hope
BRINGING FAITH TO THE FUTURE
This Irish word conjures a sense of trust, belief,

confidence and optimism, and is used in the title of a
number of Irish organizations and institutions.
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Draocht
(DREE-oct)
Magic, enchantment
THAT WHICH IS UNSEEN
This Irish word for magic once specifically denoted the

secret lore and arts of the druids of pre-Christian Ireland
and Celtic society.
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Dchas
(DOO-hass)
Birthright, heritage, native place, innate quality

THE DRIVE WITHIN
This Irish word sums up what we are born with. One of

the many proverbs in which it occurs translates as
instinct is stronger than upbringing.
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ire
(AY-ra)
Ireland
OUR ISLAND HOME
The name of the country. The English form Ireland

derives from it and the poetic form Erin is based on
its dative and genitive forms irinn and ireann. The
land-goddess of the country had ire as one of her
names in medieval tradition, and writers represented ire
as one of three sisters, the others being Banbha (BAN-va)
and Fdla (FOE-la), who also appear as personifications
of the country, and are occasionally encountered in
Modern Ireland in titles etc.
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Fad
(Fodd-Oh)
Long ago
WHAT CAME BEFORE
This Irish word is used in a variety of phrases that can be

used to begin a folktale, and corresponds to the English
Once upon a time.
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Feis
(Fesh)
Feast, celebration
REJOICING TOGETHER
Etymologically, this denotes the act of spending the

night, especially with another person, hence espousal,
and by extension was used of a festival held in honour
of the marriage of a king, including symbolic marriage
to the sovereignty goddess. The most famous of these
in early Ireland was the feast of Tara. The word is now
generally used with reference to festivals or
competitions of music or dance.
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Fios
(Fiss)
Knowledge
KNOWING AND UNDERSTANDING
If you want to say you know something in Irish you say

you have its knowledge, namely knowledge of it. If you
leave out the its, the sense is prophetic knowledge.
The word is used in the title of Geoffrey Keatings
monumental history of Ireland (1634), which translates as
A foundation of knowledge about Ireland.
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Flaithiil or
Flaithilach
(Fla-hool, Fla-hool-ock)
Generous, princely
THE GIFT OF GIVING
This word, which is still often used in the English of

Ireland, contains the element flaith lord, who in
medieval times was expected to be munificent.
Nowadays, generosity is not confined to the upper
echelons, and it may be noted that Ireland was ranked
the most generous country in Europe and fifth most
generous in the world in the World Giving Index 2013.
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Foinse
(Fwin-sha)
Fountain, spring, source

AT THE BEGINNING
This evocative word was used as the title of an Irishlanguage newspaper, which is currently only available
online.
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Gael
(Gale)
An Irish person, a Scottish highlander

THE ESSENCE OF IDENTITY
This word speaks to the shared heritage of Ireland and

Scotland and indeed to our more distant Celtic
cousins, the Welsh, as the word itself is thought to
derive from the Welsh word gwyddel raider, a sense
which resonates with the fact that our patron saint,
Patrick, was abducted as a slave from Britain in the fifth
century.
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Gaisce
(GOSH-ka)
Weapons, feat (of arms), bravado

AT OUR BEST
This word is used as the title of the Presidents Award,

Irelands national challenge award earned by young
people between 15 and 25 for participating in several
activities, in which context it is best translated as great
achievement.
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Inis
(IN-ish)
Island
THE LAND SURROUNDED BY WATER
No longer the common Irish word for island, this word

survives mostly in names, such as Inis Fraoigh (Heathery
Isle, anglicized Inishfree), County Sligo, made famous
by the poem Lake Isle of Innisfree by William Butler
Yeats. The word occurs also in the old appellation Inis
Fil, a poetic name for Ireland, a term that was used in a
speech by US President Bill Clinton in Dublin in 1995.
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Filte
(FALL-tcha)
Welcome
OPENING UP WITH ENTHUSIASM TO THOSE WHO APPROACH
This Irish word, originally meaning joy, bliss, happiness,

occurs in a traditional salutation which translates as a
hundred thousand welcomes.
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Leannn
(LAN-awn)
Lover
PERFECTION IN OUR HEARTS
To say that love is blind in Irish, one says a lover sees no

fault. This was one of the words used by the professional
poetic class in medieval times to metaphorically describe
their noble patrons.
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Meitheal
(MEH-hull)
Working party
JOINING OUR EFFORTS TOWARD A SHARED GOAL
This Irish word refers to the tradition of a group of

neighbouring farmers coming together for a number of
days to reap corn, pick potatoes, etc. No pay was
involved but the recipient of the help was expected to
provide hospitality.
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Meas
(Mass)
Estimation, opinion, esteem, respect

A SENSE OF GRAVITAS
This Irish word is still encountered in the English of

Ireland. They have great meas on him, for instance,
means they have great regard for him. It is also used in
a formula for signing off a letter, namely Is mise le meas
(ISS-MISHa-leh-MASS), which translates as It is I, with
respect, and which may be seen occasionally in the
letters pages of English language newspapers in
Ireland.
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Misneach
(MISH-nock)
Courage, spirit, hopefulness

PUSHING FORWARD THROUGH UNCERTAINTY
This popular word occurs in a proverb meaning The

man of courage has never lost, in other words, fortune
favours the brave. The word itself seems to have the
effect of adding encouragement to a conversation when
introduced.
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Muiceanach
idir Dh Shile
(MWICK-in-ock-idder-gaw-haw-lya)
A hog-backed hill between two arms of the sea

IDENTITY IN A NAME
This west of Ireland placename is impressive in both its

original Irish form and in its anglicized dress,
Muckanaghederdauhaulia, a form which appears in
Georges Perecs 1978 novel, La Vie mode demploi (the
English translation is entitled Life, A Users Manual),
where it is visited and painted by the hero, who believes
it to be the longest port name in the world.
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Plarca
(PLAY-raw-ka)
Revelry, boisterous merrymaking

A PARTY YOU DONT WANT TO MISS
This word speaks to an element of Irish culture that goes

back a long time. It occurs in the title of an
eighteenth-century poem which was set to music by the
famous harper Turlough OCarolan and translated by
Jonathon Swift as ORourkes Feast. It begins:
ORourkes noble fare / Will neer be forgot / By those
who were there / And those who were not.
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Plms
(Plaw-mawss)
Flattery, soft talk, cajolery

A FEW SWEET NOTHINGS
This is the art of flattery, Irish style. It may sometimes

involve empty praise but its still nice to be on the
receiving end of it.
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Saoi
(SEE)
Wise and learned person

WISDOM THROUGH INSIGHT
Though this word is rightly reserved for the more

eminent among us, a proverb reminds us that a saoi is
not wont to be without fault, or, to put it another way,
Homer sometimes nods.
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Saoirse
(SEER-sha)
Freedom, liberty
BEING WHO YOU ARE
This word, which expresses a noble idea, originally

referred to the privileges enjoyed by the nobility.
Nowadays, it is an ideal sought after and expected by
everyone and has become popular as a first name.
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Scal
(Shkayle)
Story, account, narrative, tale, piece of news,

state of affairs
TELLING THE TALE
Storytelling scalaocht (SHKAYLE-ee-ockt) is an art

that has always been appreciated in Ireland.
Long-windedness, however, is not, and there are several
intriguing ways that describe narratives that suffer from
this ailment, one example being the story of the
eight-legged dog.
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Sceitimn
(SKETCH-a-meeny)
Excited feelings, fits of rapturous excitement

BUBBLING JOY
If you are really excited in Irish, you say that these are
on you!
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Slinte
(SLAWN-tcha)
Health, soundness, completeness

MAY YOU BE WELL
This Irish word can be used in various ways when making

a toast, one of which is simply to exclaim Slinte!
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Sln
(SLAWN)
Health, soundness; healthy, safe

GO IN SAFETY
This Irish word can be used in various ways when saying

goodbye to someone. One may simply exclaim Sln!,
or Sln agus beannacht! (Slawn OGG-uss BAN-ockt),
which means farewell and a blessing.
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Sona
(SUN-a)
Happy, lucky, fortunate

MAY FORTUNE SMILE
The primary sense of this word is happy and may be

used, for instance, in wishing someone a happy
birthday. Its less dominant sense is found in a proverb
indicating that luck is largely a matter of opportunity
and may be translated as the lucky man waits for the
lucky moment.
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Spleodar
(SPLYO-dar)
Glee, joy, vivacity, exuberance

PLAYFULNESS
One of the many Irish words for fun, this one seems
to exude its sense and has been used for the title of a
number of organizations and events.
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Suaimhneas
(SOO-iv-nass)
Peace, tranquillity, quietness, rest

CALM COMFORT
This popular Irish word encapsulates the sense of

serenity that is much striven for in modern life.
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Taisce
(TASH-ka)
Store, treasure, hoard

THAT WHICH WE VALUE
This Irish word can be used as a term of endearment,

as in A thaisce! (a-HASH-ka), meaning My darling!. It is
also used with the definite article, i.e. An Taisce
(un-TASH-ka), as the title for the National Trust for
Ireland, an NGO with a public interest mandate relating
to the environment.
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Taoiseach
(TEE-shock)
Leader, chief, ruler, prime minister

FIRST AMONG US
In origin, an adjective meaning first, it came to denote

a chieftain in medieval times. Nowadays, it is used
exclusively as the title of the Irish prime minister.
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Uachtarn
(OOK-ter-awn)
President
ONE WHO RISES THROUGH EXCELLENCE
This word contains the element meaning cream, that

which rises to the top.
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Uisce
(ISH-ka)
Water
THE SOURCE OF LIFE
Something which seems to fall from the sky endlessly in

Ireland. Naturally, it has captured the Irish imagination.
Its flowing underground has given rise to a metaphorical
term for intrigue. Uisce beatha, the water of life, was
originally anglicized to usquebaugh and variants
thereof, and later shortened to whiskey.
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THE 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE

THE 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE

Words, the Irish Language, Translation

THE 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE

Weather, time, season

This is the Irish word for an ever-popular topic with

THE 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE

Vision, dream, apparition

This word is used of a popular eighteenth-century

THE 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE

This word generally refers to the joy we feel from

THE 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE

Place, home, homestead, farmstead, village, town

This Irish word is probably the most commonly

THE 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE

The woman of the house

Schoolchildren who lodge with families in Irish-speaking

THE 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE

Life, livelihood, food, sustenance

One of the uses made of this Irish word is in

THE 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE

Taste, flavour, accent

This Irish word is used in a proverb that translates as a

THE 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE

THE 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE

Victory, talent, virtue

One of the sayings in which this Irish word is used may

THE 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE

This Irish word occurs in the quintessential way of

THE 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE

Music, song, vigour

This word conjures not only music but the conviviality

THE 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE

Co-fosterage, friendship, membership

This word is used in the title of the Irish traditional

THE 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE

Combined work, mutual assistance, partnership

Originally meaning co-operative ploughing between

THE 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE

This Irish word primarily describes convivial company,

THE 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE

Entertaining conversation, high-spirited fun

Although originally a borrowing from Middle English,

THE 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE

A coming together, a consultative gathering

This word can denote a tryst or a meeting of various

THE 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE

THE 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE

This Irish word conjures a sense of trust, belief,

THE 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE

This Irish word for magic once specifically denoted the

THE 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE

Birthright, heritage, native place, innate quality

This Irish word sums up what we are born with. One of

THE 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE

The name of the country. The English form Ireland

THE 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE

This Irish word is used in a variety of phrases that can be

THE 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE

Etymologically, this denotes the act of spending the

THE 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE

If you want to say you know something in Irish you say

THE 50 MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE IRISH LANGUAGE