Philology Meaning
/fɪˈlɒl.ə.d͡ʒɪ/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe humanistic study of texts and their languages, especially ancient or classical languages.
nounHistorical or comparative linguistics.
Sentence Examples
Professor Smith is recognized to be one of the greatest scholars in English philology.
I'm teaching in the philology department.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The student of ____ studied how Latin evolved into modern Romance languages.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She studied ____ to understand how languages evolve and how ancient texts should be interpreted.
Word Origin & History
Inherited from Middle English Philologie, from Latin philologia, from Ancient Greek φιλολογίᾱ (philologíā, “love of argument or reasoning, love of learning and literature”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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"
— 1968, John Paul Pritchard, On Interpretation and Criticism, University of Oklahoma Press:
"[…]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."
— 2016, Alan Kim, “Paul Natorp”, in Edward N. Zalta, editor, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
"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."
— 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:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The student of ____ studied how Latin evolved into modern Romance languages.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She studied ____ to understand how languages evolve and how ancient texts should be interpreted.