'philology' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'philologia', where 'philo-' meant 'loving' and 'logos' meant 'word, speech, reason'.

'philologia' passed into Classical Latin as 'philologia', later seen in Medieval Latin and Middle French forms, and entered English via Middle English as 'philologie' before becoming the modern English 'philology'.

Initially it meant 'love of learning and literature', but over time it evolved into a more specialized modern meaning focused on 'the scholarly study of language and written texts (especially historical texts)'.