Saying simply "hello" in Irish?

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Caveat

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Might sound like a silly question but I genuinely don't know.

Of course we all learned dia duit at school but surely in the 21st century the average Irish speaker doesn't go around saying the equivalent of God with you - do they?

Is there a widely accepted alternative - and one that isn't simply an 'hibernised' version of an English word?
 
Do ye know I was thinking of exactly the same thing myself earlier this week! I use a range of terms, such as Bhall (Well), Caide mar atá tú (How are you) or maybe both together but never used a direct transaction for Hello ... but then again Hello works well in Irish too! :)
 
In the gaeltacht we always used 'conas ata' - presumably the translation of the Dublin 'storeee'!
 
I think it's more seen as hello now and not what it used to be. It's like the meaning has changed.

There are many words that have also chnaged that my partner and son often argue about. My son will come home and say something and the bf wont know what he's talking about. A new word has just popped into the language.

I posted a question on here before because the bf was working late and i needed to do his homework and didn't have a clue. I got different answers from people, some even asked if i had copied it correctly since they hadn't a clue either on a few words, and they would class themselves as good irish speakers.
 
Caveat said:
Might sound like a silly question but I genuinely don't know.

Of course we all learned dia duit at school but surely in the 21st century the average Irish speaker doesn't go around saying the equivalent of God with you - do they?

Is there a widely accepted alternative - and one that isn't simply an 'hibernised' version of an English word?
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Yes "Dia Duit" is totally used nowadays. Just think "hello" in any other language, is still the same today as 1000 years ago. I, personally, like that it's also a type of blessing. "God with you" isn't the first thing I think of when someone says it to me. I just reply 'Dia is Muire duit' and get on with the rest of the conversation. There are lots of English words which, in Latin, mean something different but we, simply, use it as what it means to us and think no more about it.

When I was in college (all-Irish), the sitcom "Friends" was at its height and to mimic Joey and I suppose, as an earlier post suggested, make up one, used to say "Conas a tú tá?" (emphasis on the tú) ie "How you doin?" :) I still love this one.

Ádh mór!
 
It may be worth pointing out that the English 'Goodbye' is likewise derived from\a contraction of 'God be with you'. I wouldn't regard 'Dia Dhuit' as being an overtly religious greeting.
 
Doing a little bit of lateral thinking, the Hebrew and Arabic words shalom and salaam mean something like peace, complete, full, welfare. A close-ish Irish word is slán as used in "Slán leat / Slán agat / Sláinte agus saol agat" meaning "Good Health / Good Luck / Health & Life to You" or "So long", "Goodbye".

Why not do like the Italians who use "Cioa" as both hello and goodbye (I know, "Pronto" / "Ready Now", on the phone) and say "Slán" as hello and goodbye.

or drop the inflationary 100,000 and just say "Fáilte" as hello.

Now all we need to do is change the Spaniards from "Adios" and we're suckin' Euro diesel, bhoy.
 
In the part of Connamara I am in we say 'Ce bhfuil tu', meaning Howya.
 
I would have said Ce bhfuil tu also.

And to clarify, hello isn't around for a 1000 years. The only reason Hello came about was as a result of the telephone. People speaking to each other in different time zones could no longer say 'Good morning', or 'Good afternoon', etc, so they thought of a new word, hence 'hello'.

Also, I remember in an Irish school book, the word hello was used. I think it was a bit like TG4 Irish though, rather than actually being a translation i.e.
Kevin: Ah Sean, Ce bhfuil tu.
Sean: Ah sound Kevin, agus tusa.
 
guinang said:
I would have said Ce bhfuil tu also.

And to clarify, hello isn't around for a 1000 years. The only reason Hello came about was as a result of the telephone. People speaking to each other in different time zones could no longer say 'Good morning', or 'Good afternoon', etc, so they thought of a new word, hence 'hello'.

Also, I remember in an Irish school book, the word hello was used. I think it was a bit like TG4 Irish though, rather than actually being a translation i.e.
Kevin: Ah Sean, Ce bhfuil tu.
Sean: Ah sound Kevin, agus tusa.
Click to expand...

I was referring to "other languages" and not, necessarily, English but fair point, I didn't know that. Learn something new gach lá! :)
 
In Bavaria and Austria they use Gruss Gott "Greetings of God" (or something like that). I don't see anything wrong with keeping Dia duit - its the traditional way of greeting. Hopefully there aren't some ultra-secular Nazis lobbying to change it ;-)

It's not used in a religious fashion - much as in English "oh my God!" and "Jaysus" are generally not used in the religious sense of the term.
 
mathepac said:
Doing a little bit of lateral thinking, the Hebrew and Arabic words shalom and salaam mean something like peace, complete, full, welfare. A close-ish Irish word is slán as used in "Slán leat / Slán agat / Sláinte agus saol agat" meaning "Good Health / Good Luck / Health & Life to You" or "So long", "Goodbye".

Why not do like the Italians who use "Cioa" as both hello and goodbye (I know, "Pronto" / "Ready Now", on the phone) and say "Slán" as hello and goodbye.

or drop the inflationary 100,000 and just say "Fáilte" as hello.

Now all we need to do is change the Spaniards from "Adios" and we're suckin' Euro diesel, bhoy.
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Yes you're right. I worked in the Middle East for a year and the local greeting was "As-salaam alaykum" (phonetically) meaning "Peace be with you." And the reply "Wa alaykum as-salaam""And with you peace". I loved it and still use it at home with some of my colleagues who were with me out there.
 
jrewing said:
In Bavaria and Austria they use Gruss Gott "Greetings of God" (or something like that). I don't see anything wrong with keeping Dia duit - its the traditional way of greeting. Hopefully there aren't some ultra-secular Nazis lobbying to change it ;-)

It's not used in a religious fashion - much as in English "oh my God!" and "Jaysus" are generally not used in the religious sense of the term.
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"Anseo, anseo!!" :)
 
When I went to the Gaeltacht in Donegal many moons ago, the official greeting was (as another poster mentioned earlier) "Cad é mar atá tú" - which was immediately shortened to "dé a mar" which was said as if it were a single word.

Both phrases must be uttered with a convincing Ulster Irish "blas" for the correct effect!.
 
All fair points.

I still find it odd though that pretty much all European languages tend to have fairly direct equivalents of a more formal "good day" type greeting and also a "Hello/Hi" type greeting - except Irish.

TBH I wouldn't compare Arabic/Hebrew etc as the cultures from which they come are too different to that of most of western Europe IMO.

In Bavaria and Austria they use Gruss Gott "Greetings of God" (or something like that).
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I had never heard that - is it the standard greeting though or just a possible greeting?

To make it clear, I'm not anti dia duit as such, just surprised that there doesn't seem to be a widely used alternative greeting that can directly be compared with Hello/Hi.

...meaning i.e. ce bhfuil tú or conas-a-anything and the like don't count. :p

I like the idea of slán used like ciao BTW but I may be ridiculed...
 
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