Philological Society

{{short description|Learned society for the study and promotion of languages, linguistics, and philology}}

{{Infobox organization

| name = The Philological Society

| image = Philological Society logo.png

| motto =

| formation = {{start date and age|1842}}

| founder = Edwin Guest(Madison) Fiona Carolyn Marshall. ‘Edwin Guest: Philologist, Historian, and Founder of the Philological Society of London’. Language & History (July 2016); formerly Bulletin of the Henry Sweet Society for the History of Linguistic Ideas 42, no. 1 (2004): 11–30, {{doi|10.1080/02674971.2004.11745588}}.

| type = learned society

| status = charity, limited company

| purpose = Education

| registration_id = 1014370

| headquarters = London, England

| leader_title = President

| leader_name = Lutz Marten

| nickname = PhilSoc

| membership = 641{{cite web|last=|first=|title=Report of the Council of the Philological Society for the year 2019|url=https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-search?p_p_id=uk_gov_ccew_onereg_charitydetails_web_portlet_CharityDetailsPortlet&p_p_lifecycle=2&p_p_state=maximized&p_p_mode=view&p_p_resource_id=%2Faccounts-resource&p_p_cacheability=cacheLevelPage&_uk_gov_ccew_onereg_charitydetails_web_portlet_CharityDetailsPortlet_fileName=0001014370_AC_20191231_E_C.pdf&_uk_gov_ccew_onereg_charitydetails_web_portlet_CharityDetailsPortlet_objectiveId=A10450594&_uk_gov_ccew_onereg_charitydetails_web_portlet_CharityDetailsPortlet_priv_r_p_mvcRenderCommandName=%2Faccounts-and-annual-returns&_uk_gov_ccew_onereg_charitydetails_web_portlet_CharityDetailsPortlet_priv_r_p_organisationNumber=1014370|date=|access-date=2021-02-18}}

| membership_year = 2019

| num_staff =

| fields = Linguistics

| publication = Transactions of the Philological Society

| website = {{official URL}}

}}

The Philological Society, or London Philological Society, is the oldest learned society in Great Britain dedicated to the study of language as well as a registered charity.{{cite web|last=|first=|title=Charity No. 1014370 – Charity Commission for England and Wales|url=https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-search/-/charity-details/1014370/accounts-and-annual-returns|date=|access-date=2021-02-18}} The current Society was established in 1842 to "investigate and promote the study and knowledge of the structure, the affinities, and the history of languages".{{cite web|last=|first=|title=The Philological Society – About Us|url=https://philsoc.org.uk/about-philsoc|date=|access-date=2021-02-17}} The society publishes a journal, the Transactions of the Philological Society, issued three times a year as well as a monographic series.

The first Philological Society, based in London's Fitzroy Square, was founded in 1792 under the patronage of Thomas Collingwood of St Edmund Hall, Oxford.{{cite web|author=(Madison) Fiona Carolyn Marshall|date=|title=History of the Philological Society: The Early Years|url=https://philsoc.org.uk/media/2020/07/Early%20PhilSoc%20history.pdf|access-date=2021-02-17|website=|publisher=}} Its publication was titled The European Magazine, and London Review.[http://bsuva.org/bsuva/euromag/ Attributions of Authorship in the European Magazine, 1782-1826]

The Philological Society is a member organisation of the University Council of General and Applied Linguistics.{{cite web|last=|first=|title=UCGAL – Members|url=http://www.linguistics.ac.uk/members.html|date=|accessdate=2021-02-18}}

History

The Society's early history is most marked by a proposal in July 1857 to create an up-to-date dictionary of the English language.{{cite web|author=|date=|title=Oxford University Press – The Philological Society Proposal|url=https://public.oed.com/history/archives/the-philological-society-proposal/|access-date=2021-02-19|website=|publisher=}} This proposal, issued by Richard Chenevix Trench, Herbert Coleridge, and Frederick Furnivall, members of the Unregistered Words Committee, and an article by Trench, entitled On Some Deficiencies in our English Dictionaries,{{Cite journal|url =https://archive.org/details/onsomedeficienci00trenrich |title = On Some Deficiencies in Our English Dictionaries|last = Trench|first = Richard Chenevix|date = 1857|journal = Transactions of the Philological Society|volume = 9|pages = 3–8}} eventually led the Society to formally adopt the idea of creating a comprehensive new dictionary on 7 January 1858.{{cite book |title= The Professor and the Madman|url= https://archive.org/details/professormadman00simo|url-access= registration|last= Winchester|first= Simon|year= 1999| publisher = HarperPerennial|location= New York|isbn= 978-0-06-083978-9}}{{rp|107–8}} Coleridge, and later Furnivall, led the project by compiling quotations, submitted by volunteer readers, illustrating the usage of words.{{cite web |title=History of the OED |url=https://www.oed.com/information/about-the-oed/history-of-the-oed/ |website=Oxford English Dictionary |access-date=2024-03-16}} In 1879, Oxford University Press agreed to publish the dictionary which would become known as the Oxford English Dictionary, with Society member James Murray being appointed editor that year.{{cite book |last1=Simpson |first1=John |title=The Word Detective: Searching for the Meaning of It All at the Oxford English Dictionary: A Memoir |date=2016 |publisher=Basic Books |location=New York |isbn=9780465060696 |page=7}}

In 1952, the Society hosted the seventh Congress of the International Congress of Linguists in London.{{cite journal

| last1 = Brough

| first1 = J.

| last2 = Scott

| first2 = N. C.

| date = November 1952

| title = Philological Society – Secretaries' Annual Report 1951

| url =

| journal = Transactions of the Philological Society

| volume = 51

| issue = 1

| pages = 143

| doi = 10.1111/j.1467-968X.1952.tb00264.x

}}

At a later date, the Society was instrumental in the early stages of the Survey of English Dialects conducted by Harold Orton between 1950 and 1961, helping to develop, amongst other things, a questionnaire for use in gathering data.{{cite web|last=|first=|title=Special Collections – University of Leeds – Archived notes of Harold Orton|url=https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/409579|date=24 March 2024|accessdate=2021-02-19}}

Activities

The society holds seven regular meetings each academic year; traditionally, four take place in London at SOAS University of London, the other three in Cambridge, Oxford, and at another university outside of South East England.

Most meetings consist of hour-long academic papers being presented by one or more scholar. Occasionally, round table or panel discussions are organised.{{cite web|last=|first=|title=The Philological Society – Meetings|url=https://philsoc.org.uk/meetings|access-date=2024-03-18}} Every two years, together with the British Academy the Society organises the Anna Morpurgo Davies Lecture, named in honour of its former president.{{cite web|last=|first=|title=Anna Morpurgo Davies Lectures|url=https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/lectures/listings/anna-morpurgo-davies-lectures/|access-date=2024-03-18}}

Prizes and Bursaries

Once every two years, the Society awards the R. H. Robins Prize for an article on a subject within the Society's area of interest; the prize bears the name of a former president of the Society.{{cite web|last=|first=|title=The Philological Society – Robins Prize|url=https://philsoc.org.uk/robins-prize|access-date=18 March 2024}}

Every year, the Society further awards a limited number of bursaries valued at up to £15,000 each to students embarking on taught postgraduate programmes in all areas of linguistics or philology.{{cite web|last=|first=|title=The Philological Society – Funding Opportunities|url=https://philsoc.org.uk/funding|access-date=18 March 2024}}

Governance

The Society is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee, having been incorporated on 2 January 1879. The Society is governed by its trustees, consisting of the President (appointed at an Annual General Meeting for a period of three years, with the option to renew for

one further year), the vice-presidents (appointed for life at an Annual General Meeting; usually former presidents), the other Officers, and up to twenty ordinary members of Council, who are elected annually at an Annual General Meeting.

As of January 2025, the Officers of the Society are:{{cite web|last=|first=|title=The Philological Society – Council Us|url=https://philsoc.org.uk/council|access-date=24 December 2024}}

Secretary: Kersti Börjars
Treasurer: Ranjan Sen
Secretary for Publications (Transactions): Delia Bentley
Secretary for Publications (Monographs): Melanie Green
Secretary for Membership: Graham Pointon
Secretary for Student Associate Members: Rebecca Hunt

List of presidents

The following list is based on the sporadically occurring statements concerning membership of the Society's Council as printed in the Transactions of the Philological Society of the relevant years.

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