noun

The branch of knowledge that deals with the structure, historical development, and relationships of a language or languages 

*literary or classical scholarship.

DERIVATIVES

Philologian |noun|

Philological |adjective|

Philologically |adverb|

Philologist |noun|

ORIGIN

Late Middle English (in the greek sense): current usage (late 17th cent.) from French Philologie, via Latin from Greek Philologia 'love of learning'