Etymologically
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mythical

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈmɪθɪkəl/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin mȳthicus (“legendary”) with the English suffix -al;[2][3][4] the OED notes that the Latin adjective is recorded from Varro by Augustine.[2] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek μυθικός (muthikós), from μῦθος (mûthos, “speech, word, story, myth”) with the suffix -ικός (-ikós).[2][3][5] Etymonline calls the Greek noun a word of unknown origin, which Beekes thinks quite possibly Pre-Greek.[5] The Shorter Oxford and Etymonline instead derive the adjective from mythic and -al,[6][5] but in the OED it is recorded before mythic, which it compares with Middle French mythique (1570).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of the nature of a myth or based on myths: 1610, in John Healey's translation of Augustine's City of God.[2][3] Etymonline dates the word to the 1670s,[5] Dictionary.com to 1670–80,[4] and the Shorter Oxford to the late 17th century.[6]

Semantic evolution

From 1625, in Samuel Purchas, it was used of persons and things known only from myths rather than from historical fact;[2] from 1870, in Disraeli's Lothair, more loosely of anything without foundation in fact, fictitious or imaginary.[2] Coleridge (1818) used it of writers and artists who drew on myths, a use now rare;[2] from 1871 theologians spoke of a mythical theory that read accounts of miracles as myths rather than history.[2] In the 20th century it came to describe a person or thing with an idealized or exaggerated reputation built on rumour (1927).[2][7]

Timeline

  • 1610 – based on or relating to myths.[2][3]
  • 1625 – known only through myths; existing only in myth.[2]
  • 1670s – Etymonline's date for the word.[5]
  • 1818 – of writers and artists, drawing on myths.[2]
  • 1870 – fictitious, imaginary.[2]
  • 1871 – theology, interpreting miracle accounts as myth.[2]
  • 1927 – having an exaggerated, idealized reputation.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of, occurring in or typical of myths or folk tales: a mythical sea serpent.[8][3][7][2]
  2. Imaginary or fictitious; existing only in people's minds: The firm's mythical overseas investor never appeared.[8][7][2]
  3. Idealized or exaggerated, especially of the past or of a reputation built on rumour.[7][2]
  4. (chiefly theology) Relating to a theory that reads accounts of miracles as myths rather than history.[2]

Word family

  • mythically
  • mythicalness
  • nonmythical
  • premythical
  • pseudomythical
  • semimythical
  • unmythical

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins