Celtic studies
[1] The primary areas of focus are the six Celtic languages currently in use: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx, Welsh, Cornish, and Breton.
Written studies of the Celts, their cultures, and their languages go back to classical Greek and Latin accounts, possibly beginning with Hecataeus in the 6th century BC[1] and best known through such authors as Polybius, Posidonius, Pausanias, Diodorus Siculus, Julius Caesar and Strabo.
Modern Celtic studies originated in the aftermath of the Gutenberg Revolution, when many of these classical authors were rediscovered, mass produced using the printing press, and translated into vernacular languages.
[1] Academic interest in Celtic languages grew out of comparative and historical linguistics, which were established at the end of the 18th century.
In 1767 James Parsons published his study The Remains of Japhet, being historical enquiries into the affinity and origins of the European languages.
[citation needed] In 1896, Kuno Meyer and Ludwig Christian Stern founded the Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie (ZCP), the first academic journal solely devoted to aspects of Celtic languages and literature, and still in existence today.
He held a chair in Sanskrit at the University of Leipzig; but he is best remembered for his numerous publications in the field of Celtic studies.
In 1901, the Orientalist and Celtologist Heinrich Zimmer (1851–1910) was made professor of Celtic languages at Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin, the first position of its kind in Germany.
[citation needed] In 1920, Julius Pokorny (1887–1970) was appointed to the chair of Celtic languages at Friedrich Wilhelm University, Berlin.
Despite his support for centrist German nationalism and membership in the Catholic Church in Germany, he was forced out of his university position by the Nazis on account of his Jewish ancestry.
He subsequently fled as a refugee to Switzerland but returned to Germany in 1955 to teach at Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich.
[citation needed] After World War II, Celtic studies predominantly continued in West Germany and the Second Austrian Republic.
[8] Only Marburg, Vienna and Bonn maintain formal programs of study, but even then usually as a subsection of comparative or general linguistics.
[citation needed] The only Chair of Celtic studies in Continental Europe is at Utrecht University (in the Netherlands).
In addition, Celtic languages are taught to a greater or lesser extent in schools in Wales, the island of Ireland, Scotland, Cornwall and the Isle of Man.
DIAS and the Royal Irish Academy are leading publishers of Celtic Studies research, including the journals Celtica and Ériu.
The University of Western Brittany (Brest) offers a two-year, international European-Union certified master's degree course entitled "Celtic languages and Cultures in Contact".
Closely linked to this MA programme, the University of Western Brittany organizes an intensive two-week Summer School in Breton Language and Cultural Heritage Studies every year in June.
The Derek Allen Prize, awarded annually by the British Academy since 1977, rotates between Celtic Studies, Numismatics and Musicology.
Recent winners in the field of Celtic Studies include: Prof. Máire Herbert (2018), Prof. Pierre-Yves Lambert (2015) and Prof. Fergus Kelly (2012).
