# Irish Gaelic: go n-éirí an bóthar leat



## uchi.m

Hello

What does *Go n-éirí an bóthar leat *mean in Irish? It's part of a prayer.

Thank you


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## L'irlandais

Hello uchi.m,
Welcome to "other languages".  I was surprised we hadn't touched on this before in this forum.

It's part of an Irish blessing (Beannacht Ghaelach) :


> *Go n-éirí *an bóthar leat
> Go raibh an ghaoth go brách ag do chúl
> Go lonraí an ghrian go te ar d'aghaidh
> Go dtite an bháisteach go mín ar do pháirceanna
> Agus go mbuailimid le chéile arís,
> Go gcoinní Dia i mbos A láimhe thú.


 
Note that "Go n-éirí" in the context of this blessing is an idiom meaning "to succeed".
So it's something like :

_May you have a sucessful journey.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
the rain fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of his hand._

*Source*


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## Fericire

L'irlandais said:


> Hello uchi.m,
> Welcome to "other languages".  I was surprised we hadn't touched on this before in this forum.
> 
> It's part of an Irish blessing (Beannacht Ghaelach) :
> 
> 
> Note that "Go n-éirí" in the context of this blessing is an idiom meaning "to succeed".
> So it's something like :
> 
> _May you have a sucessful journey.
> May the wind be always at your back.
> May the sun shine warm upon your face,
> the rain fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again,
> may God hold you in the palm of his hand._
> 
> *Source*



I really have to thank you.
We were (_are_?) discussing this on http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=2326181. Your post has helped me a lot.


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## elirlandes

As L'Irlandais says, the basis of the phrase is the phrasal verb "éirigh le" which means to succeed. 
[éirigh = rise, le = with] but [éirigh le = to succeed].

While "*Go n-éirí an bóthar leat*" is part of a typical blessing or toast, the phrase itself is often used simple to mean "*Good luck!*"


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## Pedro y La Torre

I prefer the 'false' translation personally: may the road rise to meet you.


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## L'irlandais

Hi Pedro,
Your prefered translation is the widely accepted one.    Just that as a cyclist, I've always thought it odd that the road continually rising before you could be a blessing.


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## tabyr

uchi.m said:


> Hello
> 
> What does *Go n-éirí an bóthar leat *mean in Irish? It's part of a prayer.
> 
> Thank you





may the road rise with you


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## tabyr

tabyr said:


> may the road rise with you


may you succeed in everything you do


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## Tegs

L'irlandais said:


> Hi Pedro,
> Your prefered translation is the widely accepted one.    Just that as a cyclist, I've always thought it odd that the road continually rising before you could be a blessing.



It depends on how cheesy you want to be in your translation  This is also widely used to mean "good luck" in a non-greeting-card context. If you take a new job, your old colleague might tell you "go n-éirí an bóthar leat" which is a completely normal way of saying good luck. In this case, he is not trying to be poetic and you wouldn't translate it with "may the road rise up etc"  If you see it in a greeting card or a prayer though, it is ok to translate it as "may the road etc".


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