Meaning of Philology (What it is, Concept and Definition)

What is Philology:

The philology is the science that studies languages or a particular language, its history and of his grammar.

Philology also consists of the study of the literature of a people, and, through this study, the aim is to know its culture. To do this, it is necessary to study all the writings, and not only those that have literary value, and may interest the true writer.

Philology’s main objective is to compare languages. It is also responsible for reconstructing texts through the study of different manuscripts, as well as the editing and textual interpretation of classical and modern authors.

The first philologists of ancient Greece were the Alexandrians, among them Aristophanes of Byzantium stands out. These first philologists dedicated themselves to the study of the poems of Homer and other authors.

The birth of philology as a science was in the 19th century with the emergence of comparative grammar and historicist grammar. At that time the kinship of the Sanskrit language with Latin, Greek and the Germanic languages ​​was recognized.

This science took off at the end of the 18th century and beginning of the 19th century, due to the romantic movement born in Europe. Johann Herder understood that the only way to know the thoughts of people is through language. From this moment on, the science of philology advanced until it achieved autonomy from other sciences in the 20th century.

Philology has been differentiated, according to its field of study, as:

English philology, which studies the English language to study Anglo-Saxon culture through literature and language. Biblical philology, which focuses its studies on the Bible, a sacred text. Classical philology, which studies the Latin language and the Greek language. German philology , which studies the German language, as well as its culture and literature. Slavic philology, which studies everything concerning the Slavic peoples.

The expression philologist refers to the student of language. In other words, he is one who is versed in philology.

Etymologicallythe word philology is of Greek origin, composed of the suffix “philos” which means “love”, and “logos” which expresses “knowledge”. Based on the above, it would mean “one who has a love for words.”

Philology and linguistics

Philology and linguistics are two sciences that treat language differently. Philology is seen as a more complete science, which studies all possible points of view of human language.

Philology is a science that allows us to obtain, among other information, the date the text was created, and obtain information about the society where the text was made or to whom it refers.

Linguistics is also known as the science of language or glottology. It is considered by some researchers as a modern science that is responsible for studying language to establish its rules and its internal relationships.

Philology is treated as an auxiliary science of linguistics because it provides other information that cannot be deduced simply by linguistics, but is relevant to the interpretation of texts or the history of language.

Finally, philology deals with events that occurred throughout history, especially in ancient times. For its part, linguistics deals with articulated language, whether oral or written.

See also Linguistics

Classical philology

Classical philology is a branch of philology. It is presented as a scientific science, which aims to study and interpret classical languages, specifically, Latin and classical Greek at all levels.

Classical philology concentrates its studies on Greek and Roman civilizations, dealing with their history, languages, philosophy, mythology, religion, art, among other extremely important disciplines.

Philology and hermeneutics

Philology is confused with other sciences, especially hermeneutics, since both are responsible for interpreting the meaning of texts. At this point, it must be taken into account that hermeneutics focuses more on the philosophical, especially the semiological.

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