Term

The Greek compound lang: μυθολογία mythología "a story-telling, a legendary lore" is derived from lang: μυθολογείν mythologein "to relate myths", from lang: μύθος mythos, meaning "narrative, speech, word, fact, story" + lang: λόγος logos, meaning "speech, oration, discourse, quote, story, study, reason, argument".

The term mythology has been in use since at least the 15th century, and means "the study or exposition of myths". The additional meaning of "body of myths" itself dates to 1781. In extended use, the word can also refer to collective or personal ideological or socially constructed received wisdom The adjective mythical dates to 1678.

Myth, in general use, is often interchangeable with legend or allegory, but some scholars strictly distinguish the terms. The term has been used in English since the 19th century. The Oxford English Dictionary distinguishes the meanings

1a. "A traditional story, typically involving supernatural beings or forces or creatures, which embodies and provides an explanation, aetiology, or justification for something such as the early history of a society, a religious belief or ritual, or a natural phenomenon", citing the Westminster Review of 1830 as the first English attestation.

1b. "As a mass noun: such stories collectively or as a genre." (1840)

2a. "A widespread but untrue or erroneous story or belief". (1849)

2b. "A person or thing held in awe or generally referred to with near reverential admiration on the basis of popularly repeated stories (whether real or fictitious)." (1853)

2c. "A popular conception of a person or thing which exaggerates or idealizes the truth." (1928)

Not all traditional stories are myths: in contrast to legends or folktales, myths are narratives involving the sacred, either gods or near-gods or the distant past, particularly the creation of the world. By contrast, legends are stories about the (usually more recent) past, which generally include, or are based on, some historical events; generally focussed on human heroes and folktales/fairytales (or Märchen, the German word for such tales) are stories which lack any definite historical setting and often include such things as fairies, witches, a fairy guide and animal characters.Segal, p. 5

By the Christian era, the Greco-Roman world had started to use the term "myth" (Greek , muthos) to mean "fable, fiction, lie"; as a result, early Christian writers used "myth" with this meaning. This use of the term "myth" passed into popular usage.

Characteristics