Tá Dia láidir (agus tá máthair mhaith aige)
Written for English speakers and editorial rather than sourced. It will get you close enough to be understood, and it is not a substitute for a native speaker. Recorded audio is planned; see About.
When to use it For encouragement in trouble: consolation with a wink in it.
About this saying
Ó Dónaill prints this proverb with its aside in parentheses (the consolation and the wink in one line) and the parentheses are the dictionary’s own. They are also the reason this site’s character rules changed: our validation originally banned parentheses from Irish text, which left only two options for this proverb. Truncate sourced wording or refuse it. Truncating sourced text is the exact corruption the rules exist to prevent, so the character set gave way instead, in a reviewed change with a test pinning the decision. Rules serve the sources, not the other way round.
Provenance
Where this wording comes from. We publish nothing we cannot point at.
- DictionaryÓ Dónaill, Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla (1977)s.v. Dia