Hi, I am new here and wanted to ask a question.
I am writing a novel and a brief part of it is set in Switzerland. I have been to Switzerland, so I know the people and some of the culture and waht it looks like. But what I want is a translation of the following sentence:
"God bless you my lady."

Any help would be appreciated.

Title did say:

English to Swiss-German Translation

so... who reads titles.
( and I've deleted my post )

"Sid gsegnet gueti Frau"

I think any translator will tell you that more context is needed... who is the person speaking, what historical period, upper/lower class, etc. The sentence set within the context of a paragraph would help (not that I can translate to swiss German anyway !)

A civilian greeting a female noble in the street, with a sort of reverence.
It is set in 2011, but it is a fictitious town and the people are quite humble.

Hmmm - difficult, if not impossible, because Switzerland does not have any nobility and therefore in 2011 no Swiss person would ever dream of greeting anybody "humbly" or reverently. A normal person - even in the most remote village - would use the greetee's full name, e.g. "Guete Tag, Frau von Bockmist" when passing her in the street

You see, this is why context is so important when translating. From the "God bless you my lady" I would have sworn it was a historical novel.

I agree with you, from the number of Swiss people that I met, they seemed like a very no nonsense people, and don't mince their words.
But, IF there was nobility, and people did revere this woman that I am writing about, then how would they greet her, especially if this woman was a local hero as well, kind of like their unoffical Queen.

If you could put yourself in to the shoes of a villager and you met someone, like the Godfather for example, but it is a woman instead, and you just wanted to pay your respects, you bow your head and say "God bless you my lady." or simply, "my lady."

Switzerland came about when a bunch of unruly peasants got rid of their Habsburg overlords. A "local hero" would not be greeted with humble reverence - reverence is for subjects, not for free citizens.

So: Hoi [name]! should do it.

Well, as already said this is not usually the done thing. The closest I would come up with is "Grüessgott Frau xxx" though I have trouble to come up with an appropriate translation.. something like "hail god"...?

Not some extra-noble greeting or anything...

I appreciate that you may not be the sort of person who would bow to a noble, even if you met the Queen of England. All I am asking, is for someone to use a little imagination and think what they would say, to show respect to a Lady, who you hold in high esteem.

If you cannot do that, then please don't reply.

I appreciate that you may not be the sort of person who would change the setting of a novel, even if it were completely unsuitable. All I'm asking, is for you to use a little imagination and think what you would change, in your novel, to make a Swiss setting believable.

If you cannot handle the answers, then please don't ask.

Are all Swiss people as helpful as you?

You might not like it, but he is right...

The felt hierarchy here is very flat. I've lived here almost all my life and I never felt the need to "humbly" greet someone.
"Common" people are more likely to laugh at someone with an attitude that tries to suggest nobility.
Local heroes... well... that hardly exists. An average Swiss person is more likely to show jealousy than humbleness (I don't like that fact either, but that's how it is).
The closest to a local hero would probably be a successful athlete of some kind... but you wouldn't greet him humbly. You would greet him by his first name.

I met a Bundesrat a couple of times and I greeted him with "Grüezi Herr...". That is probably what you should use. "Grüezi Frau whatever"

When I read the phrase it reminded me of a literal translation along the lines of a contextual farewell phrase: "Gott bhüet öich" (Bernese Swiss dialect).

But I see you want it in a contextual greeting phrase. I must admit that's more difficult. For 'my lady' I could only come up with the adapted standard german 'gnädigi Frou'. But it sounds as if from a different historical period - that was pointed out already in this thread.

Correct. I cannot imagine anybody saying "Gnädigi Frou / Frau" in Swiss German other than for making fun of somebody. 200 years ago, maybe, but not, as dodgey requested, in 2011.

To take a practical example. Prince Charles on his many visits to Switzerland and Liechtenstein in English was greeted by "Good .... Sir" but in German (Standard German) by "Guten Tag Herr Mountbatten"