Coláiste na Tríonóide
Trinity College Dublin

Scoil na Gaeilge
School of Irish and 
Celtic Languages

Description

Staff
- Research
- Publications
- Contact Info

Courses
- Early / Modern Irish
- CSLL
- Foreign Students
- Old Irish
(Diploma)
- Early Irish
(M.Phil.)

An Cumann Gaelach

Admissions

Postgraduate Theses

Oifigeach na Gaeilge

Scoil na Gaeilge (as Gaeilge)

School of Irish & Celtic Languages (In English)

DESCRIPTION

The Chair of Irish was instituted in the School of Divinity in 1840 and remained part of that School until 1918. Among its occupants in the present century were two of the most accomplished Celtic scholars, Thomas F. O'Rahilly (1919-'29) and David Greene (1955-'67), and one of the finest creative writers in Modern Irish, Máirtín Ó Cadhain (1969-'70). Eleanor Knott and E. G. Quin also held professorships in Early Irish in the School.

Great pride is taken in the excellent standards in Irish and Celtic Studies set by these scholars. O'Rahilly's studies in Irish dialects and in early Irish history and mythology as well as his lecture `The two Patricks' (delivered in Trinity College) are still essential reading as are the numerous articles on various aspects of the history of the Irish language written by David Greene. Eleanor Knott's editions of Bardic Poetry set a very high standard for all who follow her in that field and Gordon Quin put all students of Early Irish in his debt by devoting most of his scholarly life to seeing the Dictionary of the Irish Language to completion.

Location

The School of Irish is located on campus in the Arts Building (rooms 4055-4063).  It holds microfilm copies of the Irish Folklore Commission's Collection of Irish Folklore Manuscripts. The College's important collection of Irish manuscripts (College Library) is accessible to research students, while the National Library of Ireland and the Royal Irish Academy (Royal Irish Academy) both housing extensive collections of manuscripts, are a short walk away.

Degrees and number of students

Early and Modern Irish are taught as two separate subjects in the School. They may be taken together as a single honor course in `Early and Modern Irish' (BA, 4 years, Courses) or combined individually with a number of other subjects as part of a `Two Subject Moderatorship' (BA, 4 years). Research students may read for an M. Litt. (1-3 years) or a PhD (2-5 years). Staff members in the School currently supervise research in their own areas; two new taught post-graduate courses, the Old Irish diploma  and the Early Irish M. Phil.  will run in 2007/8 and 2008/9 respectively.

At present (2007-2008) there are over 100 under-graduate students on books, 40 reading Early and Modern Irish, 55 reading Modern Irish in TSM and 2 reading Irish in Computer Science, linguistics and a language. There are 10 reading Irish Studies. In addition there are 40 one-year students from abroad.

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