myth

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μῦθος (muthos moo'-thos, “word, humour, companion, speech, account, rumour, fable”). English since 1830.

Pronunciation

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• Rhymes: -ɪθ

Noun

myth (plural myths)

1. A traditional story which embodies a belief regarding some fact or phenomenon of experience, and in which often the forces of nature and of the soul are personified; a sacred narrative regarding a god, a hero, the origin of the world or of a people, etc.
2. (uncountable) such stories as a genre

   Myth was the product of man's emotion and imagination, acted upon by his surroundings. (E. Clodd, Myths & Dreams (1885), 7, cited after OED)

3. A commonly-held but false belief, a common misconception; a fictitious or imaginary person or thing; a popular conception about a real person or event which exaggerates or idealizes reality.
4. A person or thing held in excessive or quasi-religious awe or admiration based on popular legend

   Father Flanagan was legendary, his institution an American myth. (Tucson (Arizona) Citizen, 20 September 1979, 5A/3, cited after OED)

Related terms

• mythic
• mythical
• mythicize
• mythologem
• mythological
• mythology
• mythopoeia
• mythopoeic
• mythopoesis
• mythos
• pseudomyth

Translations

story

Afrikaans: mite (af) Arabic: اسطورة (ar) (Ustuura) f. Catalan: mite (ca) m., mites (ca) pl. Croatian: mȋt (hr) m. Czech: mýtus (cs) m. Dutch: mythe f. and m. Estonian: müüt (et) Finnish: myytti (fi), kertomus (fi) French: mythe (fr) German: Mythos (de) m. Greek: μύθος (el) (mýthos) m. Ancient: μῦθος m. Hebrew: מיתוס (he) Hungarian: rege (hu) Icelandic: saga f., uppspuni m.

Irish: miotas (ga) m. Japanese: 神話 (しんわ, shinwa) Lithuanian: mitas (lt) m. Norwegian: myte m. Polish: mit (pl) m. Portuguese: mito (pt) Romanian: mit (ro) n., legendă (ro) f. Russian: миф (mif) m. Scottish Gaelic: fionnsgeul (gd) m. Sotho: tshomo (st) Spanish: mito (es) m. Swedish: myt (sv) c. Turkish: mit (tr), söylence (tr), efsane (tr) Ukrainian: міф (uk) (mif) m.

common belief

Croatian: mȋt (hr) m. Dutch: mythe f. and m. Finnish: myytti (fi), uskomus (fi) German: Mythos (de) m. Greek: μύθος (el) (mýthos) m. Icelandic: skröksaga f. Japanese: 伝説 (でんせつ, densetsu)

Lithuanian: mitas (lt) m. Norwegian: myte m. Portuguese: mito (pt) Russian: миф (mif) m. Swedish: myt (sv) c. Ukrainian: повір'я (uk) (povírja) n., легенда (uk) (lehénda) f.

See also

• legend

External links

• myth in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• myth in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

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Welsh

Noun

myth

1. byth nasally mutated.

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
byth	fyth	myth	unchanged