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For example, francophilia describes fondness for French culture, language, etc. and an anglophile is a person who is similarly fond of British culture.

Is there an analogous word to describe a person who is fond of Irish or Celtic culture or languages?

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2 Answers 2

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A hibernophile is a person who is fond of Irish culture, Irish language(s), or Ireland.[1] Although I can't find a direct source for this definition besides Wikipedia, the Oxford English Dictionary lists its antonym, "hibernophobia". Its root is Hibernia, the Latin name for Ireland.

Similarly terms include scotophile for Scotland and cambrophile for Wales. Wikipedia also has a list of common -phil- terms in this same vein.[2]

As far as I can tell, there is no official word to describe affinity for Celtic cultures, although I see the term "celtophile" used informally.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibernophile
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-phil-#National

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I'm a bit iffy about scotophile, but the others all seem reasonable to me. Wikipedia notwithstanding, they're all effectively nonce-words (none of them are in OED, so I think that means none of them are "official"). I'd also point out that there is a word scotophil Biol. Designating a phase of a diurnal cycle during which consistent darkness is required for certain developmental processes, such as flowering in plants and diapause in insects; of or relating to such a phase. Contrasted with photophil. So I wouldn't be the only one to say scotophile is "potentially unsafe". –  FumbleFingers Jan 3 '14 at 3:14
Google has 66 results for "Caledoniphile", 354 for "Caledoniaphile" and 347 for "Caledonophile". I don't like mixing Latin and Greek, but it seems common with "-phile" combinations. To avoid this, "Scotiophile" would probably get my vote, to differentiate it from the plants that like the dark. –  Phil M Jones Jan 3 '14 at 9:18

The Latin name for Scotland is Caledonia, so I would assume, in keeping with the other Latin names (Anglo-phile, Hiberno-phile and Cambro-phile), a person with an affinity for all things Scottish would be a Caledonophile.

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