mythe

Forms

mythe m (plural mythes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin mythos (“fable, myth”),^[2][3] from Ancient Greek μῦθος (mûthos), which meant first “a sequence of words that make sense”, hence “speech”, and then “fiction, myth”.^[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg, the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert give the Late Latin form as mythus.^[4][5][6] The Greek word is of obscure origin: an expressive formation from the sound /mu/, as in Latin mūtus and muttum (the sources of muet and mot), has been suggested, but Rey notes that the sense of the oldest texts does not fit it.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Wailly records it in 1803, as a feminine noun meaning a mythological fable.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The noun was borrowed long after the adjective mythique (1570), and it competed with the Latinism fable.^[3] From 1840 it also meant the expression of an idea or a teaching in allegorical form (in the Académie's Complément of 1842).^[2][3][7] Larousse records in 1874 the sense “idealized picture of a past state of mankind”, also used of a man or an idea.^[2][3] Before 1865 Proudhon used it for a construction of the mind with no relation to reality and for a simplified, often illusory image.^[3][7] The study of myths grew in importance in the history of religions and in anthropology through the 19th and 20th centuries, down to the structuralism of Lévi-Strauss.^[3] English myth (1830) comes from the French word (dated 1818 by Etymonline) and directly from Modern Latin mythus.^[8] The verb mythifier first appears in Valéry in 1929.^[2]

Timeline

• 1570 – The adjective mythique is borrowed.^[3]
• 1803 – Wailly records mythe, as a feminine noun.^[2][4]
• 1830 – English myth is recorded.^[8]
• 1840 – The sense “allegorical expression of an idea” appears.^[2][3]
• before 1865 – Proudhon uses it for an illusory construction of the mind.^[3][7]
• 1874 – Larousse has the sense “idealized picture of a past state of mankind”.^[2][7]
• 1929 – Valéry uses mythifier.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fabulous story handed down by tradition, in which gods, heroes or forces of nature stand symbolically for aspects of the world or of the human condition: le mythe de Prométhée.^[6][2][9]
2. The expression of an idea or teaching in allegorical form.^[2][7]
3. An idealized picture of a person, a fact or a past state, distorted or magnified by the imagination.^[6][2]
4. A belief or image with no basis in reality; a fiction.^[1][3]

Word family

• mythifier

Related words

• mytho-
• mythomane
• mythomanie
• mythique
• mythologie
• fable
• Ancient Greek μῦθος (mûthos)
• English myth

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)