different between myth vs mythos

English

Alternative forms

• mythe (rare or archaic)

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ????? (mûthos, “word, humour, companion, speech, account, rumour, fable”). Attested in English since 1830. Doublet of mythos.

Pronunciation

• enPR: m?th, IPA^(key): /m??/
• Rhymes: -??

Noun

myth (plural myths)

1. A traditional story which embodies a belief regarding some fact or phenomenon of experience, and in which often the forces of nature and of the soul are personified; a sacred narrative regarding a god, a hero, the origin of the world or of a people, etc.
2. (uncountable) Such stories as a genre.

   Myth was the product of man's emotion and imagination, acted upon by his surroundings. (E. Clodd, Myths & Dreams (1885), 7, cited after OED)

3. A commonly-held but false belief, a common misconception; a fictitious or imaginary person or thing; a popular conception about a real person or event which exaggerates or idealizes reality.

   Synonym: misconception

   Scientists debunk the myth that gum stays in the human stomach for seven years.

4. A person or thing held in excessive or quasi-religious awe or admiration based on popular legend

   Father Flanagan was legendary, his institution an American myth. (Tucson (Arizona) Citizen, 20 September 1979, 5A/3, cited after OED)

5. A person or thing existing only in imagination, or whose actual existence is not verifiable.
   • 1849, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, The Caxtons

     As for Mrs. Primmins's bones, they had been myths these twenty years.

6. An invented story, theory, or concept.

   His story is a pure myth.

Related terms

Translations

See also

• legend

Further reading

• myth in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• myth in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• "myth" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 210.

Welsh

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /m???/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /mi??/

Noun

myth

1. Nasal mutation of byth.

Mutation

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin m?thos (“myth”), from Ancient Greek ????? (mûthos, “report, tale, story”). Doublet of myth.

The plural form mythoi is from Ancient Greek ????? (mûthoi), and the form mythoses from mythos +? -es.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m???s/, /?m??-/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?m??o?s/
• Hyphenation: myth?os

Noun

mythos (plural mythoi or mythoses)

1. Anything transmitted by word of mouth, such as a fable, legend, narrative, story, or tale (especially a poetic tale).
2. A story or set of stories relevant to or having a significant truth or meaning for a particular culture, religion, society, or other group; a myth, a mythology.
3. (by extension) A set of assumptions or beliefs about something.
4. (literature) A recurring theme; a motif.

Synonyms

• mythus

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• mythos (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Y-moths, thymos

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mi.to/

Noun

mythos m

1. plural of mytho

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ????? (mûthos).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?my?.t?os/, [?my?t???s?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?mi.tos/, [?mi?t??s]

Noun

m?thos m (genitive m?th?); second declension

1. a myth

Declension

Second-declension noun (Greek-type).

Synonyms

• (myth): fabula

Related terms

References

• mythos in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press