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Beannacht Dé lena anam

Word for wordThe blessing of God with his soul
What it meansGod rest his soul.

Word by word

Each headword links to its entry in Ó Dónaill’s Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla (1977) on teanglann.ie; the glosses are quoted from it.

In the sayingHeadwordDictionary glossGrammar
Beannachtbeannachtblessingfeminine noun. Ó Dónaill prints this whole phrase at the entry: Beannacht Dé lena anam, “God rest his soul”.
DéDiaGodthe genitive form Dé: “of God”: the blessing of God.
lenalewithle combines with the possessive a to give lena. “with his”.
anamanamsoulno h before anam is what makes this the form for a man: a (his) leaves a vowel alone; a (her) prefixes h.

How to use it

This is the form for remembering a man. For a woman, Irish marks the difference in one letter: Beannacht Dé lena hanam, where the h before anam is the grammar of “her”. Getting that letter right is the whole kindness, so check which record you need before anything is written or carved.

For remembering more than one person together, the attested collective prayer is Go ndéana Dia trócaire orthu. May God have mercy on them.

It is written in a sympathy card beneath your own message, spoken at a wake, or added after a name in a death notice. It is said of the person who died, not to the bereaved. For the living there is no formula needed beyond your own words, though Is gaire cabhair Dé ná an doras is the tradition’s line of comfort for them.

Saying it

Approximate guide BAN-okht jay LEN-a AH-num

BAN-okht jay LEN-a AH-num. The -acht ending has the throat sound of Scottish “loch”; Dé sounds close to English “jay”, because a slender d in Irish is said near the front of the mouth.

The one fada, on Dé, lengthens the vowel. “jay”, not “jeh”. On a headstone or in print, that fada is not optional.

The guide is written for English speakers and is editorial rather than sourced. Close enough to be understood, not a substitute for a native speaker. Recorded audio is planned; see About.

Where it comes from

Ó Dónaill’s dictionary prints this phrase verbatim in its entry for beannacht: “Beannacht Dé lena anam, God rest his soul”. The exact wording, with the exact gloss carried on this page. That is as strong as dictionary attestation gets.

Grammatically it is a possession blessing rather than a verb-wish: the blessing of God (Beannacht Dé), wished to be with his soul (lena anam). No verb is needed; Irish blessing idiom lets the wish stand as a noun phrase.

The earliest attestation we can point at is Ó Dónaill (1977), s.v. beannacht. The feminine form of the same phrase is attested in living use in the Schools’ Collection manuscripts of 1937–39. See Beannacht Dé lena hanam for that page’s own story. We found no older written source for this exact wording.

For the same occasion

On a card, a speech, a print

In a sympathy card it usually stands as the last line, after your English message: your words first, then the prayer. Spoken, it follows the person’s name naturally.

For a headstone or memorial card, confirm the gender of the form against who is being remembered (this page is the form for a man) and have the proof checked with the fada on Dé in place before it is cut.

This saying as a printA curated Irish painting behind the words, your own names and date composed in. Every fada correct, and the source shown on the print itself. Preview it now; available to buy soon.

Questions people ask

Can I use this for a woman?

No: this is the masculine form. The form for a woman is Beannacht Dé lena hanam; the h before anam is what says “her”. The two are one letter and a world apart, which is why each has its own record here.

What do I write for more than one person?

The attested collective prayer is Go ndéana Dia trócaire orthu (may God have mercy on them) which remembers several people together.

Is this what Irish speakers actually write, or greeting-card Irish?

It is the real thing: Ó Dónaill’s dictionary prints this exact phrase with the gloss “God rest his soul”, and it is what appears in death notices and sympathy cards in Irish to this day.

Is it the same as “Ar dheis Dé”?

They are companions, not the same prayer. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam asks that the soul be at God’s right hand and is the better-known graveside wording; this one is the plainer written blessing.

Provenance

Where this wording comes from. We publish nothing we cannot point at.

  1. DictionaryÓ Dónaill, Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla (1977)s.v. beannacht, printed lowercase as a headword formView the source entry: checked 2026-08-29

Sources checked 2026-08-29; page last reviewed 2026-08-31. How we source and review is on the About page.

Where this belongs

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