Celticism

Celticism is the quality or practice of admiring, studying, or reviving Celtic cultures, languages, and artistic traditions. The term is used chiefly in cultural studies, linguistics, and literary contexts to describe an emphasis on Celtic motifs, narratives, or linguistic features in societies outside the Celtic-speaking world, or the organized revival of Celtic culture within the Celtic nations.

Historically, Celticism gained prominence in the European Enlightenment and Romantic period, with renewed scholarly attention to insular Celtic languages (Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh) and to continental Celtic branches (Gaulish, Lepontic). The 18th–20th centuries saw national movements in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Brittany, and the Isle of Man that framed Celtic identity through literature, folklore, music, and art, often blending antiquarian interest with nationalism.

In literature and the arts, Celticism denotes the use of Celtic mythic motifs, symbols (knots, spirals, dragons), and landscapes to convey themes of tradition, otherness, or timelessness. In linguistics, it can refer to approaches that foreground Celtic linguistic features, such as the verbal-nasal mutations in Brythonic or the complex inflectional systems of Goidelic languages, though such usage is less common and sometimes controversial.

In contemporary discourse, Celticism appears in discussions of cultural heritage, tourism, and neopagan or nationalist movements, as well as in scholarly debates about cultural appropriation and the revival’s degree of authenticity. The term is often supplanted by more specific designations, such as Celtic revival, Celtic studies, or the language-centered field of Gaelic or Brythonic studies.