philo+logos
March 6, 2008
So. While a quick glance at many a standard dictionary will reveal that philology is considered to be “the study of literary texts” via some systematic or authenticating method, I prefer to interpret in the spirit of the etymology. As the venerable Online Etymology Dictionary itself insists:
philology
c.1386, “love of learning,” from O.Fr. philologie, from L. philologia “love of learning, love of letters,” from Gk. philologia “love of discussion, learning, and literature,” from philo- “loving” + logos “word, speech.” Meaning “science of language” is first attested 1716; this confusing secondary sense has never been popular in the U.S., where linguistics (q.v.) is preferred.[1]
I’m all for this approach. Wikipedia, bastion of common knowledge, opined as recently as December that “Philology, etymologically, is the love of words.”[2] And I do love words. I love languages too, as is often the case of a philologist, but I’m particularly fond of words themselves, and their meanings, in any dialect. Entire languages are wholly different entities.
Philology – a word about words, in particular one fond opinion of them. Kinda parallel to this blog, eh?
1. “philology.” Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. 05 Mar. 2008. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/philology>.
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Philology&oldid=176853708
