Irish Farewell Gift Blessings
A leaving gift with Irish on it joins a very long tradition. The emigrant’s farewell is one of the things this language has the most practice saying. What the road blessings mostly wish is not the going but the coming back, which is usually what the card wants to say anyway.
These suit a leaving card, a retirement, a friend emigrating, or the wall of whoever stays behind. As ever: the wording is quoted from the cited source on each record, and checking it there takes a minute.
7 sayings each with its source, and its job
- Go n-éirí do bhóthar leatMay your journey go well.The road blessing as the dictionaries actually print it. Your road, not the road. The story behind the famous English version is on its record page.See it as a print
- Go n-éirí an bóthar leatMay the road rise to meet you.The form everyone knows: “may the road rise to meet you”. In universal use; its page says honestly how it is sourced.See it as a print
- Go dtí tú slánMay you come back safe.Said to someone setting out, and what it wishes is the safe return. The plainest road blessing the dictionaries attest.See it as a print
- Go gcuire Dia an t-ádh ortMay God send you luck.May God send you luck: the general good wish for someone heading into the unknown.See it as a print
- Go gcuire Dia rath ortMay God prosper you.Prosperity rather than luck: for the leaver going to make something of it.See it as a print
- Bíonn siúlach scéalachThe traveller has the tales to tell.The traveller has the tales: the warm way to say "come back with stories".See it as a print
- Níor dhún Dia doras riamh nár oscail Sé ceann eileGod never closed one door without opening another.One door closing, another opening: for a leaving that was not entirely chosen.See it as a print
Not the occasion you meant? Start from the chooser: or browse every sourced saying.