PHILOLOGY

A term derived from the Greek φίλος "lover" and λόγος "speech, word." In time this meaning of "lover of the word, fond of literature or study" came to be applied especially to lovers of the languages of Greece and Rome and then to include their whole culture.

In the early Alexandrian age, the philologists safeguarded the textual purity of the ancient Greek epic and dramatic writers and set up canons of criticism. Suetonius tells us that Crates brought philology from Greece to Rome in 169 b.c. Here philological study for a time concerned itself with older Latin writers, such as Plautus and Terence, whose texts were particularly liable to corruption at the hands of theatrical producers. This interest spread to other writers, such as Virgil; commentaries on him by Servius and Donatus are still extant. Christian writers, such as St. Jerome, were well acquainted with the general principles of textual criticism. Cassiodorus established a monastery where the principal work was the copying of religious and secular manuscripts. Even pagan authors were copied, and writers such as Isidore of Seville attempted a reconciliation of pagan and Christian thought. Irish monks preserved classical texts during the barbarian invasions and re-Christianized Europe afterward largely through their monastic centers of prayer, learning, and classical culture.

With the rise of scholastic philosophy in the 11th century, the texts of Aristotle attracted philologists. For well over a century before the fall of Constantinople, Greek scholars had been teaching in Italy. With the invention of printing and the spread of learning a great need arose for accurate texts of the classics. During the Reformation, both Catholic and Protestant scholars used the same Biblical and patristic texts to vindicate their stands. Later the Maurist Benedictines and the Jesuit Bollandists widened the scope of philology by using such auxiliary sciences as chronology, diplomatics, and palaeography. (see mabillon, jean; bollandists.)

Richard bentley showed how literature and classical antiquity opened up new vistas in scholarship. After him Friedrich Wolf (1759–1824) attempted a new science of philology, naming it Altertumswissenschaft. He pleaded for an encyclopedic view of all antiquity, defining the 24 divisions of the field: metrics, grammar, history, geography, mythology, public and private law, religion, etc. This concept influenced the chief manuals of A. Boeckh (1785–1867), I. von Müller (1830–1917) for classical philology, L. Geiger (1856–1943) and E. Kuhn (1846–1920) for Indo-Iranian, J. Bühler (1837–98) for Sanskrit, H. Paul (1846–1921) for Germanic, and G. Gröber (1844–1911) for Romance. It underlies L. Traube's (1861–1907) concept of medieval Latin philology.

Bibliography: j. e. sandys, History of Classical Scholarship (New York 1958). c. h. haskins, The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century (Cambridge, Mass. 1927). u. von wilamowitzmoellendorff, Geschichte der Philologie (3d ed. Leipzig 1959).

[r. t. meyer]