Word philology

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The term word philology refers to a research method in philology which, in contrast to subject philology , aims to gain knowledge solely through the analysis of the texts ( grammar , style , text criticism ) without the aid of other disciplines. This method developed particularly in Classical Philology , which deals with a manageable inventory of texts and tries to preserve the original text form.

In the 19th century, in the wake of the onset of reflection on methods in the humanities, a dispute over methods broke out between Gottfried Hermann and August Böckh , the editor of the Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum . Böckh's strong involvement in other ancient studies , especially epigraphy , received sharp reviews from Hermann . Hermann himself took the view that excessive reliance on the knowledge of other disciplines would cloud the true knowledge of philology. This dispute over methods continued in Germany into the 20th century. However, there was no definite formation of two camps, and hostilities between the main representatives of one method and those of the other rarely occurred.

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