Category:Philology

Philology, etymologically, is the "love of words." It is most accurately defined as "an affinity toward the learning of the backgrounds as well as the current usages of spoken or written methods of human communication." The commonality of studied languages is more important than their origin or age, though those factors are important as well. The term is derived from the Greek terms philos (Φιλος) meaning love and logos (λογος) meaning word. In a sense, to understand a language, philology seeks to understand the origins of that language, and so it is often defined as "the study of ancient texts and languages," although this is a rather narrow view and is not entirely accurate.