J.R.R. Tolkien taught and researched philology professionally.
Philology is the historical study of languages and literary texts, especially through manuscripts, vocabulary, grammar, and sound changes. Tolkien’s professional interests included Old English, Middle English, Gothic, Welsh, Finnish, and other languages. He used this expertise both in scholarship and in constructing the languages of Middle-earth.
Tolkien taught at the University of Leeds before moving to Oxford, where he held major chairs in Anglo-Saxon and English language and literature. His academic career included influential work on texts such as Beowulf, whose language and mythology deeply interested him.
People sometimes describe Tolkien primarily as an author or novelist, but writing fiction was only one part of his career. His philological training shaped the names, histories, myths, and linguistic relationships that make Middle-earth feel like a world with a deep past.