Philology

Philology is the study of ancient texts and languages. The term originally meant a love (Greek philo-) of learning and literature (Greek -logia). In the academic traditions of several nations, a wide sense of the term "philology" describes the study of a language together with its literature and the historical and cultural contexts which are indispensable for an understanding of the literary works and other culturally significant texts. Philology thus comprises the study of the grammar, rhetoric, history, interpretation of authors, and critical traditions associated to a given language. Such a wide-ranging definition is becoming rare nowadays, and "philology" tends to refer to a study of texts from the perspective of historical linguistics.

Branches of philology

Comparative philology

One branch of philology is comparative linguistics, which studies the relationship between languages. Similarities between Sanskrit and European languages were first noted in the early 18th century and led to the speculation of a common ancestor language from which all of these descended - now named Proto-Indo-European. Philology's interest in ancient languages led to the study of what were in the 19th century "exotic" languages for the light they could cast on problems in understanding and deciphering the origins of older texts.

Related Topics:
Comparative linguistics - Sanskrit - European languages - 18th century - Proto-Indo-European - Decipher

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Text reconstruction

Philology also includes elements of textual criticism, trying to reconstruct an ancient author's original text based on variant manuscript copies. A related study, known as Higher criticism, which studies the authorship, date, and provenance of texts, both proves invaluable in these attempts, but also is informed by them.

Related Topics:
Textual criticism - Higher criticism

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

These philological issues are often inseparable from issues of interpretation, and thus there is no clear-cut boundary between philology and hermeneutics. As such, when the content of the text has a significant political or religious influence (such as the reconstruction of early versions of christian gospels), it is difficult to find neutral or honest conclusions.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Deciphering ancient texts

Another branch of philology is the decipherment of ancient writing systems, which had spectacular successes in the 19th century involving Egyptian and Assyrian. Beginning with the sensational publication of the decipherment of the Rosetta Stone by Jean-François Champollion in 1822, a number of individuals attempted to decode the great inscriptions of the ancient world.

Related Topics:
Decipherment - Writing systems - Rosetta Stone - Jean-François Champollion

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Work on the ancient languages of the middle east progressed rapidly, with Hittite decoded in 1915 by Bed?ich Hrozný, and the cuneiform languages of the Behistun Inscription, namely Old Persian, Elamite, and Akkadian, being decoded by Sir Henry Rawlinson.

Related Topics:
Hittite - Bed?ich Hrozný - Cuneiform - Behistun Inscription - Old Persian - Elamite - Akkadian - Henry Rawlinson

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The most famous inscriptions, also amongst the most important for what they tell of the ancient Mediterranean civilisations, are Linear A, and Linear B. While Linear B was deciphered in the 1950s by Michael Ventris and proclaimed as an early form of Greek (indicating that the Mycenaean language, and thus likely the Mycenaeans, was Greek), this conclusion is still heavily debated in the field. Linear A, the unknown language of the Minoans (which would shed much light on this ancient civilisation), on the other hand, still resists translation.

Related Topics:
Linear A - Linear B - Michael Ventris - Mycenaean language - Minoan

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Work still continues on less exciting, but nevertheless important, scripts such as Mayan hieroglyphics (with great progress made in the late 20th century), and on Etruscan.

Related Topics:
Mayan - Hieroglyphics - Etruscan

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

J.R.R. Tolkien was a noted philologist of his day, although he is now best known for writing The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Another was C.S. Lewis, his friend and colleague at Oxford, who wrote the Chronicles of Narnia and the Space Trilogy.

Related Topics:
J.R.R. Tolkien - The Hobbit - The Lord of the Rings - C.S. Lewis - Chronicles of Narnia - Space Trilogy

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~