Go dtí tú slán

About this saying

Ó Dónaill’s dictionary abbreviates its own headwords to a tilde, so what the 1977 entry literally prints is “Go ~ tú slán”. And the headword it sits under is a verb form the dictionary marks as literary: the present subjunctive of the verb come. Expanding that tilde correctly is what settled this record’s wording, and the citation records the expansion.

The gloss Ó Dónaill gives (“may you come back safe, safe return”) is what separates this blessing from its near-twin Go dté tú slán, one letter and one verb away. This one blesses the return; that one blesses the going. Two farewells, not two spellings.