Philology is the study of human speech, the science of language. Not only does it give us a chatting acquaintance with the fascinating history of the words we use or might use in speech; but it is an indispensable searchlight cast inward upon the cloudy nature, and backward upon the obscure early history, of man. The term philology once meant the study of the literature of a people (from Greek _philein_, love, and _logos_, a word, speech, discourse). Modern usage is limiting it to the science of language itself. The best introduction to the science lies in a study of our own language, the English, rapidly becoming the American. What is true of word-building and word-journeying in English is…
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