J.R.R. Tolkien’s academic field was philology, the historical study of language and texts.
Philology investigates how languages develop and how written works preserve evidence about earlier cultures. Tolkien studied Classics, English language, and literature, then became a scholar of Old and Middle English. His professional work included teaching and researching languages, manuscripts, and medieval literature.
This background had a direct influence on his fiction. Tolkien often created a people’s history by imagining how its language changed over time. Names, sound patterns, grammar, and word origins therefore form part of the deeper structure of Middle-earth rather than serving only as decoration.
The word philology is sometimes replaced in modern descriptions by historical linguistics, though the terms are not perfectly identical. Tolkien’s scholarship also involved literary criticism, especially his influential work on Beowulf. His fantasy writing grew alongside, rather than separately from, his academic interest in language.