Celtic Medieval Languages and Literatures

Secondary PhD Field in Celtic Medieval Languages and Literatures

The Department of Celtic Languages and Literatures offers a Secondary Field in Celtic Medieval Languages and Literatures for Ph.D. students enrolled in other departments at Harvard. The Celtic languages, once spoken over much of Europe and Asia Minor, are of great linguistic interest, and the splendid medieval literatures of Ireland and Wales constitute a hugely rewarding field of study.

Students of comparative literature, of other medieval languages and literatures, of history, of historical linguistics, and of religion may wish to consider this secondary field. Students, for example of medieval epic and romance, and of genres such as prophecy and vision poetry may wish for comparative purposes to read texts in the Celtic languages. The Celtic material offers invaluable sources for medieval historians of the Western Church, and of secular institutions and customs as well. Students of historical linguistics will know that a thorough knowledge of Old Irish is important for the investigation of Indo-European. The Secondary Field affords an opportunity to achieve professional competence in one of the Celtic languages,  the range of its literature, and the scholarship in the field.

Requirements: The Secondary Field is organized in two separate tracks, Early and Medieval Irish, and Medieval Welsh. Each of them requires the student to take four half-courses in the department, the distribution of which is as follows:

Early and Medieval Irish:

a)  Celtic 200: Introduction to Old Irish and Celtic 201: Continuing Old Irish

b)  Either Celtic 204r: Readings in Early Irish Poetry or Celtic 205r: Readings in Early Irish Prose

c)  A Celtic course with a medieval focus, to be chosen in consultation with the director of graduate studies. Celtic 204r or Celtic 205r, whichever has not been chosen under b), is among the courses from which a choice will be made.

Medieval Welsh:

a) Celtic 225a: Introduction to Middle Welsh and Celtic 225b: Continuing Middle Welsh

b) Either Celtic 226r: Readings in Middle Welsh or Celtic 227: Seminar on Welsh Bardic Poetry

c) A Celtic course with a medieval focus, to be chosen in consultation with the director of graduate studies. Celtic 226f or Celtic 227, whichever has not been chosen under b), is among the courses from which a choice will be made.

d) 3. Courses in the department are given in alternate years. Celtic 200, Celtic 201, Celtic 226r and Celtic 227 will be given in 2009-10. Celtic 204r, Celtic 205r, Celtic 225a and Celtic 225b will be given in 2010-11.

For details contact the Department Administrator, Margo Granfors ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) or the Director of Graduate Studies, Tomas Cathasaigh ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ).