μῦθος

Forms

μῦθος (mûthos) m (genitive μῡ́θου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[2][3] Frisk took it to be an expressive word of everyday speech, as many words for “word” and “speak” are, built with the suffix -θος (-thos) on the sound-imitating μῦ (mû) (compare μύζω (múzō, “to mutter”)).^[3] Chantraine objected that the earliest texts show no trace of sound imitation, and Beekes, who finds no comparanda outside Greek, considers it quite possibly Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek.^[2]

An older comparison, made by Pokorny and others, groups it with Proto-Slavic *myslь (“thought”), Lithuanian mausti (“to long for”) and Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌿𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (maudjan, “to remind”) under a root Proto-Indo-European *mewHdʰ- (“to care about”), but Beekes implicitly rejects it.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

From the Iliad on it is that which is spoken, a word, a speech or a statement, and in the plural talk.^[4][5] Homer often sets it against deeds: a hero should be “a speaker of words and a doer of deeds” (μύθων τε ῥητῆρ’ ἔμεναι πρηκτῆρά τε ἔργων, Il. 9.443).^[5] Homer also uses it for a command or threat, and for a plan held in the mind but not yet spoken.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

In Homer the word covers any tale or account, true or false, much as the later λόγος (lógos) does.^[5] Tragedy uses it for the talk of men, a rumour or a report, and Aeschylus for a saying or maxim.^[5][4]

From Pindar on it came to mean a fiction as opposed to a true account (lógos): Plato's Timaeus sets a made-up tale against a true one.^[5][6] Herodotus and Plato use it for the inherited stories about gods and the distant past, legends and myths, and Plato for the stories told to children.^[5][4] Aristotle calls Aesop's fables by this name.^[5][4] In Aristotle's Poetics it is the plot of a tragedy or comedy, the form a story takes when it is staged.^[5][4]

The Septuagint has it once (Sirach 20:19).^[7][6] In the New Testament the letters to Timothy and Titus warn against “myths”, fables opposed to the truth, and 2 Peter says that the apostles did not follow sophistic fables.^[7]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept the word.^[8] Modern Greek μύθος (mýthos), a learned form, means a fanciful traditional story about gods and heroes or the origins of the world, and a fable.^[9] The English word myth (1830) comes from it through French mythe and New Latin mythus.^[10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for words and speech, set against deeds.^[5][4]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it in the plural for fictions as opposed to the truth.^[5][11]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for a legend.^[5][11]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato contrasts a made-up tale with a true account and uses the word for children's stories.^[5][6][11]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for Aesop's fables and, in the Poetics, for the plot of a drama.^[5][11]
• 1830 – English borrows myth, through French and Modern Latin.^[10]
• Modern Greek – The learned Modern Greek μύθος (mýthos) means a myth or a fable.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A word, speech, utterance; in the plural, talk.^[5][4]
2. Mere word, as opposed to deed or fact.^[5][4]
3. A public speech or plea; a conversation.^[5]
4. Something said: a command, a threat, a charge; a matter or fact.^[5][4]
5. Something held in the mind but not yet spoken: a purpose, a plan.^[5][4]
6. A saying, a proverb.^[5][4]
7. Talk of people, rumour; a report or message.^[5][4]
8. A tale, story or narrative, true or false.^[5][4]
9. A fiction, as opposed to a true account; a legend or myth about gods and the distant past.^[5][4]
10. A fable, a children's story.^[5]
11. (literary criticism) The plot of a tragedy or comedy.^[5][4]

Word family

• ἀκριτόμυθος (akritómūthos)
• ἄμυθος (ámuthos)
• εὔμυθος (eúmuthos)
• μυθολογέω (mūthologéō)
• πολύμυθος (polúmuthos)
• στοιχομυθέω (stoikhomuthéō)
• φιλόμυθος (philómūthos)

Related words

• μυθέομαι (mūthéomai)
• μυθικός (mūthikós)
• μυθόομαι (muthóomai)
• μυθώδης (mūthṓdēs)
• English myth

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
7. ^ a b Spicq, Ceslas (1994), Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, tr. James D. Ernest, 3 vols, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge