philology

Inherited from Middle English Philologie, from Latin philologia, from Ancient Greek φιλολογίᾱ (philologíā, “love of argument or reasoning, love of learning and literature”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fɪˈlɒl.ə.d͡ʒɪ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /fɪˈlɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /fɪˈlɒl.ə.d͡ʒi/, /fɪˈlɔl.ə.d͡ʒi/

philology (countable and uncountable, plural philologies)

2. (especially US) The humanistic study of texts and their languages, especially ancient or classical languages.^[1]

   Meronyms: see Thesaurus:philology

   • 1968, John Paul Pritchard, On Interpretation and Criticism, University of Oklahoma Press:

     Philology and philosophy are treated as reciprocal. They exist on equal footing, and neither functions satisfactorily without the other. Their methods ... are opposite; philology attains to knowledge through induction, whereas philosophy starts from a concept. To formulate his concepts soundly, the philosopher needs an adequate fund of knowledge or data; too many philosophers ... lack a basis in knowledge or tradition

   • 2016, Alan Kim, “Paul Natorp”, in Edward N. Zalta, editor, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy‎^[1]:

     […] his early philosophical studies converged with his original love of philology as he pursued the “prehistory” of Kantian critique in Descartes, Galileo, and Copernicus, back to Plato.

4. (especially Commonwealth, rare and somewhat archaic) Historical or comparative linguistics.
6. (philosophy, rare) Love and study of learning and literature, broadly speaking.^[1]
   • a. 1662 (date written), Thomas Fuller, “Writers”, in The History of the Worthies of England, London: […] J[ohn] G[rismond,] W[illiam] L[eybourne] and W[illiam] G[odbid], published 1662, →OCLC, page 26:

     Indeed Philology properly is Terſe and Polite Learning, melior literatura (married long ſince by Martianus Capella to Mercury) being that Florid skill, containing onely the Roſes of learning, without the prickles thereof in which narrow ſenſe thorny Philoſophy is diſcharged as no part of Philology. But we take it in the larger notion as incluſive of all human liberal Studies and prepoſed to Divinity as the Porch to the Palace.

• In English-speaking countries, philology is now usually subsumed under linguistics or classical studies rather than being explicitly taught and recognised as a separate discipline.

• logophilia

• classical studies
• higher criticism
• linguistics
• literary criticism
• lower criticism
• philosophy
• textual criticism

• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “philology”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• “philology”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “philology”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “philology”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
• “philology”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “philology” (US) / “philology” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• “philology”, in Oxford Learner's Dictionaries
• "philology" in WordNet 3.1, Princeton University, 2011.
• “philology” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2025.
• philology, britannica.com
• Philology, encyclopedia.com
• philology, linguistics at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.
• LINGUIST List 9.741: Philology vs. Linguistics, linguistlist.org
• The Disciplinarity of Linguistics and Philology
• What is the difference between philology and linguistics?, askphilosophers.org