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Philology, etymologically, is the "love of words." It is most accurately defined as "an affinity toward the learning of the backgrounds as well as the current usages of spoken or written methods of human communication." The commonality of studied languages is more important than their origin or age, though those factors are important as well. The term originally meant a love (Greek Φιλος or philos) of (a) word (Greek λογος or logos). In a sense, to understand a language, philology seeks to understand the origins of that language, and so it is often defined as "the study of ancient texts and languages," although this is a rather narrow view and is entirely inaccurate.