Philology

(fe-lol'o-je.) [Gr. phi lolog i a, from phi leo, I love, and logos, language.] (Lit.) In its usual acceptation, that branch of literature which comprehends a knowledge of the etymology or origin of words, and whatever relates to the history, affinity, and Fig.527. present state of languages. In a PHILISTINE. (After an wider sense, it signifies an a em-Egyptian painting.) grammar, bl age of sciences, rhetoric, consisting poetry, antiquities, of history, criticism, ., usually understood by the French term belles lettres. [s. 704]