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μυθολογία

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Etymology and origin of the Ancient Greek word μυθολογία

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
500–300 BC Plato More words from the 5th century BC
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek μῦθος,λέγω

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /myː.tʰo.lo.ɡí.aː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /my.θo.loˈʝi.a/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /my.θo.loˈʝi.a/[1]

Forms

μῡθολογῐ́ᾱ (mūthologíā) f (genitive μῡθολογῐ́ᾱς); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek μυθολογέω (muthologéō, “to tell tales”) + -ία (-íā), the verb being from μυθολόγος (muthológos, “teller of tales”), a compound of μῦθος (mûthos, “story”) and λέγω (légō, “to say”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Plato, for storytelling and for a fictional or legendary narrative.[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

Plato names it beside λόγος (lógos) in the plural, and uses it both of storytelling and of legend.[2][3] Cornutus uses it for a legend, and Plutarch also uses it for storytelling.[2][3]

Through Latin mythologia the word gave the English word mythology, used first (early 15th century) for the exposition of myths, later (from 1781) for any system of myths.[5] It also gave French mythologie.[1] The modern μυθολογία (mythología) is a learned borrowing back from French in this modern sense, meaning the myths of a people and their study.[6]

Timeline

  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for storytelling and for legendary narrative.[2][3][7]
  • 1st century AD – Cornutus uses it for a legend.[2][7]
  • 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it of storytelling.[2][7]
  • Early 15th century – The English word mythology appears, taken from Late Latin.[5]
  • Modern Greek – μυθολογία (mythología) returns from French for the myths of a people.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Storytelling.[2][3]
  2. Romance, fiction, legendary narrative.[2][3]
  3. A legend.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  4. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  7. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
Cite this entry

“Μυθολογία.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/grc/%CE%BC%CF%85%CE%B8%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%BF%CE%B3%CE%AF%CE%B1. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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