DegreeVenue Advance Your Career Today.

Celtic is one subgroup of the Indo-European family of languages. Six Celtic languages have survived into the modern period: Cornish, Manx, Breton, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Welsh. The last four are still spoken. The oldest extant Irish and Welsh texts date from the sixth century, justifying the claim that they represent the oldest non-classical literatures of Europe. Heroic narratives in prose and verse, lyric poetry, tales of the Otherworld, and legendary history are all richly attested in the Celtic literatures. Celtic tradition has influenced both the Latin and the vernacular literatures of medieval Europe, being the source, e.g., of the Arthurian cycle.

The Harvard Celtic Studies program offers instruction in the following: Old, Middle, and Modern Irish; Middle and Modern Welsh; Scottish Gaelic; historical backgrounds of early Irish and Welsh; early, medieval, and modern Irish literature in Irish and in translation; early, medieval, and modern Welsh literature in Welsh and in translation; Irish and Welsh history and law in their social context; Celtic paganism; folklore; reading of Irish manuscripts. Courses in Breton and Cornish may be available from time to time. Consult Courses of Instruction for availability of courses in a given year.

While there is no undergraduate concentration in the department of Celtic Languages and Literatures, undergraduates are welcome to enroll in most department courses; in some instances permission of the instructor must be sought. Undergraduates concentrating in Folklore and Mythology may elect Celtic as an area specialization. Undergraduates may also petition the office of Special Concentrations to pursue a degree program in Celtic Languages and Literatures.