mythology (English)

Where does "mythology" come from?

The English noun mythology is first attested in 1412[1]. It traveled into English through Middle French 'mythologie' and Latin 'mythologia', both originating from the Ancient Greek 'muthología' meaning 'legend'[1]. This Greek term is a compound formed from 'mûthos' meaning 'story' and 'légō' meaning 'to say'[1].

Open questions

• The origin of the Ancient Greek word 'mûthos' is disputed, with proposals including a Pre-Greek origin, an onomatopoeic source, or a derivation from Egyptian. [4]

Full etymology tree

• mythology (English), 'The collection of myths of a people, concerning the origin of the people, history, deities, ancestors and heroes.'
  • borrowed mythologie (Middle French)
    • borrowed mythologia (Latin), 'mythology'
      • borrowed μυθολογία (muthología) (Ancient Greek), 'romance, fiction, legend'
        • suffix μυθολογέω (muthologéō) (Ancient Greek), 'to tell myths or legends'
          • suffix μυθολόγος (muthológos) (Ancient Greek), 'teller of legends, romancer'
            • compound μῦθος (mûthos) (Ancient Greek), 'tale, story, narrative'
            • compound λέγω (légō) (Ancient Greek), 'to put in order, arrange, gather'
              • inherited *légō (Proto-Hellenic), 'to gather'
                • derived *léǵ-e-ti (Proto-Indo-European)
                  • derived *leǵ- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to gather, collect, with derivatives meaning to speak by carefully selecting one's words.'
          • suffix -έω (-éō) (Ancient Greek), 'Used to form verbs from nouns, adjectives and other verbs. Often, not always, added to the stems of thematic nouns or adjectives in -ος (-os).'
        • suffix -ία (-ía) (Ancient Greek), 'Added to stems of adjectives, rarely to the stems of verbs, and even more rarely to the stems of nouns, to form feminine abstract nouns'

Ancestors

• mythologia (Latin)
• μυθολογία (Ancient Greek)
• μῦθος (Ancient Greek)
• λέγω (Ancient Greek)
• mytho- (English)
• -logy (English)

Descendants and derived words

• astromythology (English)
• etymythology (English)
• geomythology (English)
• mytharc (English)
• mythologian (English)
• mythological (English)
• mythologist (English)
• mythologize (English)
• neomythology (English)
• neuromythology (English)
• pseudomythology (English)
• xenomythology (English)

Related words

• myth (English)
• legend (English)
• deity (English)
• hero (English)

Sources

1. mythology (English) - Wiktionary
2. λέγω (légō) (Ancient Greek) - Wiktionary
3. μυθολογία (muthología) (Ancient Greek) - Wiktionary
4. μῦθος (mûthos) (Ancient Greek) - Wiktionary
5. mythologia (Latin) - Wiktionary
6. mdwt (Egyptian) - Wiktionary
7. μυθολογέω (muthologéō) (Ancient Greek) - Wiktionary
8. légō (Proto-Hellenic) - Wiktionary
9. μυθολόγος (muthológos) (Ancient Greek) - Wiktionary

Updated October 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris