In North American academia, the word ‘philology’ pulls in two directions – towards a broad, idealist sense corresponding to the roots philia and logos and towards a narrower conception of ‘mere’ philology, a historicist sub-discipline centred on etymology and textual editing. This essay examines the role of ‘philology’ before, during, and beyond the period known as the ‘linguistic turn,’ with special focus on Speculum’s 1990 special issue, The New Philology. Against the many invocations of ‘philology’ pitting the lofty ideal against fallen disciplinary practice, I argue for the institutional re-elaboration of philological study in the present.