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Philology
(2,252 words)

1. Concept

The term “philology” (Greek philología, “love of words/thoughts,” coined by Plato) had already become synonymous with erudition per se by the 1st century BCE, where that erudition was in the field of language and literature. A philologist (Greek philólogos) was a specialist in grammar (grammatikós) and linguistic and literary criticism (kritikós), capable of assessing the linguistic correctness of texts and…

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Walther, Gerrit, “Philology”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 11 December 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_025515>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20200721



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