PHILOLOGY

linguistics, philology

(noun) the humanistic study of language and literature

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

philology (countable and uncountable, plural philologies)

(linguistics) The humanistic study of historical linguistics.

(philosophy) Love and study of learning and literature, broadly speaking.

(culture) Scholarship and culture, particularly classical, literary and linguistic.

Source: Wiktionary

Phi*lol"o*gy, n. Etym: [L. philologia love of learning, interpretation, philology, Gr. philologie. See Philologer.]

1. Criticism; grammatical learning. [R.] Johnson.

2. The study of language, especially in a philosophical manner and as a science; the investigation of the laws of human speech, the relation of different tongues to one another, and historical development of languages; linguistic science.

Note: Philology comprehends a knowledge of the etymology, or origin and combination of words; grammar, the construction of sentences, or use of words in language; criticism, the interpretation of authors, the affinities of different languages, and whatever relates to the history or present state of languages. It sometimes includes rhetoric, poetry, history, and antiquities.

3. A treatise on the science of language.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition