Etymologically
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μῦθος

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /mŷː.tʰos/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈmy.θos/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈmy.θos/[1]

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)
  • 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