From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Myth \Myth\ (m[i^]th), noun [Written also {mythe}.] [Gr. my^qos myth, fable, tale, talk, speech: cf. F. mythe.]
1. A story of great but unknown age which originally embodied a belief regarding some fact or phenomenon of experience, and in which often the forces of nature and of the soul are personified; an ancient legend of a god, a hero, the origin of a race, etc.; a wonder story of prehistoric origin; a popular fable which is, or has been, received as historical.
2. A person or thing existing only in imagination, or whose actual existence is not verifiable.
As for Mrs. Primmins's bones, they had been myths these twenty years. --Ld. Lytton.
{Myth history}, history made of, or mixed with, myths.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: a traditional story accepted as history; serves to explain the world view of a people
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
100 Moby Thesaurus words for "myth": Marchen, Mishnah, Spiritus Mundi, Sunna, Talmud, Western, Western story, Westerner, adventure story, allegory, ancient wisdom, apologue, apparition, archetypal myth, archetypal pattern, bedtime story, brainchild, bubble, canard, chimera, cock-and-bull story, common law, concoction, creation, custom, delirium, detective story, eidolon, epic, extravaganza, fable, fabliau, fabrication, fairy tale, falsehood, fancy, fantasque, fantasy, fib, fiction, figment, folk motif, folk story, folklore, folktale, forgery, gest, ghost story, hallucination, history, horse opera, idle fancy, illusion, imagery, imagination, imagining, immemorial usage, insubstantial image, invention, legend, lie, lore, love story, maggot, make-believe, mystery, mystery story, mythology, mythos, nursery tale, parable, phantasm, phantom, prevarication, racial memory, romance, saga, science fiction, shocker, sick fancy, space fiction, space opera, story, suspense story, tall tale, thick-coming fancies, thriller, tradition, traditionalism, traditionality, trip, untruth, vapor, vision, whim, whimsy, whodunit, whopper, wildest dreams, work of fiction
Define.com is a registered nonprofit corporation dedicated solely to the global public interest and the advancement of humanity. It belongs to all of us who have a desire to promote electronic democracy, science, creativity, imagination, reason, critical thinking, peace, race and gender equality, civil rights, equal access to education, personal liberty, free speech, animal rights, compassionate and nonviolent parenting, social and economic justice, global monetary reform, Secular Humanism, cognitive liberty and a permanent cessation of The War on Drugs.
Let's see what we can do if we put our heads together.
0