Summaries

Prof. dr. Thomas Charles-Edwards, Oxford
The Historian and Early Irish and Welsh Literature

As yet no summary received.

Dr. Bart Jaski, Utrecht
Early Irish history: rewind and fast-forward

In the 1980s, scholarly attention shifted from the Indo-European and Celtic roots of early medieval Irish culture to the impact of the advent of Christianity on the Irish way of thinking and writing. The nativist / anti-nativist debate has now run its course, and has not led to any prevailing consensus in the field. New problems arise, such as aspects of unity and diversity in the Ireland of ca. 650-1150. This makes it necessary to go back to basics and establish the nature of the Irish literary output: who wrote what when and for whom, and what was preserved and why?

Prof. dr. Peter Schrijver, Munich
Celtic in the Low Countries: language as a mirror of history

It is commonly believed that the impact of a Celtic-speaking population on the language and history of parts of the Low Countries is limited to a handful of place names. Yet for a variety of reasons, which this lecture will address, it is necessary to reconstruct a linguistic history of Dutch in which Latin and Celtic played a pivotal role. The picture that emerges is one of demographic continuity, on the one hand, and episodes of language shift, on the other. Observed from this angle, the linguistic history of present-day Dutch turns out to be a window on the historically dark ages between the last centuries before Christ and 800 A.D. Within this framework, the lecture will focus on the foundations of present-day Standard Dutch and its possible connections with the language of Dorestad.

Dr. John T. Koch, Aberystwyth
The Case for Seventh-Century Written Transmission of Early Welsh Poetry

 The lecture will review several areas relevant to dating early Welsh poetry: matters of text and language, political geography, political agenda (ecclesiastical, as well as secular), probable contexts in which the poems first assumed written form, and why they came to be transmitted in medieval Wales. I plan also to discuss the alternative theories of late composition and prolonged purely oral transmission. The body of early poetry considered comprises the Book of Aneirin corpus; the panegyric awdlau addressed to Cynan Garwyn, Urien Rheged, and Gwallawg; Marwnad Cunedda, Moliant Cadwallon, and Marwnad Cynddylan. I shall touch on evidence of the relationship of the testimony of the poems and that of Historia Brittonum and Bede. Conclusions will involve some rethinking of Britain's early post-Roman period and the written sources for it.

Dr. Rijcklof Hofman, Nijmegen
Achievements and desiderata in the study of medieval Irish texts on linguistics

In this paper achievements and desiderata in the study of texts on linguistics written by Irishmen in the medieval period will be evaluated. Particular attention will be paid to texts dating from the Old Irish period and based on Classical linguistic thinking. This earlier group comprises texts written either in Latin or in Old Irish or in both these languages. The main emphasis will be laid on sources written in Irish. In the field of linguistic historiography, this means that much attention will be paid to the Auraicept na nÉces, a title best translated as The Scholars’ Primer. A new and innovative interpretation of at least part of this curious text will be presented during the Colloquium.

Anders Ahlquist, Galway and Helsinki
Celtic Studies: Past, Present and Future

The paper aims at providing an overview of the mission of Celtic Studies. It is intended for a scholarly audience, but not specifically for Celticists. The central position of the Celtic languages themselves in defining the subject will be insisted upon, but something will also be said about the role of ancillary disciplines, such as archaeology and history. Furthermore, the role of the Celtic languages in shaping the current linguistic make-up of the Western world will be discussed, as will their possible role as examples - to follow or not to follow - in shaping current and future language policies for Europe. Finally, some remarks will be made about the role that Dutch Celticists have played in the past and what may be expected from them in the future.