Dr. Morbius, the hero of Forbidden Planet was an expert in philology.

This is the study of language and all its contents, development, changes, and effects. In the movie, Morbius was the only survivor of an ancient curse. Until he himself, finally fell.

Language is itself the ultimate repository of all knowledge, the ultimate repository of what it is that makes us human. We manipulate knowledge through language.

One could reasonably make the assumption that the study of language would be the study of all knowledge. Language could be called the technology of knowledge.

One could, ultimately, go too far, and end up as a sort of language-mystic, deifying that which is only a tool, not a god.

Phi*lol"o*gy (?), n. [L. philologia love of learning, interpretation, philology, Gr. : cf. F. philologie. See Philologer.]

1.

Criticism; grammatical learning.

[R.]

Johnson.

2.

The study of language, especially in a philosophical manner and as a science; the investigation of the laws of human speech, the relation of different tongues to one another, and historical development of languages; linguistic science.

Philology comprehends a knowledge of the etymology, or origin and combination of words; grammar, the construction of sentences, or use of words in language; criticism, the interpretation of authors, the affinities of different languages, and whatever relates to the history or present state of languages. It sometimes includes rhetoric, poetry, history, and antiquities.

3.

A treatise on the science of language.

 

© Webster 1913.

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