What is philology?
“Philology, derived from the Greek φιλολ ογία (philologia, from the terms φίλος philos meaning “loved, beloved, dear, friend” and λόγος logos “word, articulation, reason”) considers both form and meaning in linguistic expression, combining linguistics and literary studies. Classical philology is the philology of the Greek, Latin and Sanskrit languages. Classical philology is historically primary, originating in European Renaissance Humanism, but was soon joined by philologies of other languages both European (Germanic, Celtic, Slavic etc.) and non-European (Sanskrit, Oriental languages such as Persian or Arabic, Chinese etc.). Indo-European studies involves the philology of all Indo-European languages as comparative studies. Any classical language can be studied philologically, and indeed describing a language as “classical” is to imply the existence of a philological tradition associated with it. Because of its focus on historical development (diachronic analysis), philology came to b
” drew an interdisciplinary audience whose main fields of research ran the gamut from ancient Indo-European languages to African-American literature, signaling a certain sense of urgency about a seemingly narrow subject. These papers reveal that the role of philology is more important than ever. At a time when literature in printed form has taken a back seat to television, film, and music, it is crucial that scholars be able to articulate why students and colleagues should care about the books with which they work. Just as knowledge will be lost if philological standards decline, so too will fields of study die if their representatives cannot find meaning for today’s readers. On Philology will be of interest not only to students of philology but also to anyone working in the fields of hermeneutics, literature, and communication.
” was sponsored in March 1988 by the Center for Literary and Cultural Studies at Harvard University. An expanded form of the lectures are available in Jan Ziolkowski, Ed., “On Philology,” Pennsylvania State University Press, 1990. The speakers included prominent members from the fields of Classics, Comparative Literature, Literary Criticism, and Linguistics. The editor of the above work, who organized the conference, says the following: “One surprise of the conference was the extent to which the debate over the place of philology in the cirriculum was presented unabashedly as a power struggle. Indeed, philology seemed less at issue than philocracy…” My favorite response to the question was “Philology is the art of reading slowly,” offered by Calvert Watkins, who was quoting Roman Jakobson, who was quoting ….
Calvert Watkins Philology: What is at Stake? Barbara Johnson Thoughts on Celtic Philology and Philologists John T. Koch Death of a Schoolboy: The Early Greek Beginning of a Crisis in Philology Gregory Nagy Anti-Foundational Philology Jonathan Culler Greek Philology: Diversity and Difference Margaret Alexiou Philology as Subversion: The Case of Afro-America Carolivia Herron Past and Future in Classical Philology Richard F. Thomas Philology’s Discontents: Response Stephen Owen Book Reviews Franco Moretti, The Way of the World: The Bildungsroman in European Culture (Michal Peled Ginshurg) Claudia J. Brodsky, The Imposition of Form: Studies in Narrative Representation and Knowledge (Lawrence R. Schehr) Alan Warren Friedman, Charles Rossman, and Dina Sherzer, eds., Beckett Translating / Translating Beckett (Deirdre Bair) Judith Marcus, Georg Lukács and Thomas Mann: A Study in the Sociology of Literature (Beth Sharon Ash) Clayton Koelb and Virgil Lokke, eds.
