A myth is a traditional or legendary story, collection, or study. It is derived from the Greek word mythos (μῦθος), which simply means "story". Mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths.[3] A myth also can be a story to explain why something exists.
Academic usage[edit]
Generally associated with the academic fields of mythology, ] or folkloristics, a myth can be a story involving symbols that are capable of multiple meanings. The body of a myth in any given culture usually includes a cosmogonical orcreation myth, concerning the origins of the world, or how the world came to exist. The active beings in myths are generally gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines, or animals and plants. Most myths are set in a timeless past before recorded time or beginning of the critical history.
A myth is a sacred narrative because it holds religious or spiritual significance for those who tell it. Myths also contribute to and express the systems of thought and values of a culture. Use of the term by scholars implies neither the truth nor the falseness of the narrative. To the source culture, however, a myth by definition is "true", in that it embodies beliefs, concepts, and ways of questioning to make sense of the world.
Popular usage[edit]
In popular use, a myth can also be a collectively held belief that has no basis in fact. This usage, which is often pejorative,[5] arose from labeling the religious myths and beliefs of other cultures as being incorrect, but it has spread to cover non-religious beliefs as well.[6] Because of this popular and subjective word usage, many people take offense when the narratives they believe to be true are called myths. This usage is frequently associated with legend, fiction, fairy tale, folklore, fable, confusing data, personal desire and urban legend, each of which has a distinct meaning in academia. A myth can also be told as a fairy tale or told around campfires during camping.
References[edit]
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to Myth. |
- ^. The Walters Art Museum.
- ^ For more information on this panel, please see Zeri catalogue number 64, pp. 100-101
- ^ Kirk, p. 8; "myth", Encyclopedia Britannica
- ^ Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mythography?s=t. Retrieved 19 January 2016. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ^ Howells, Richard (1999).
- Macmillan.
- ^ Eliade, Myths, Dreams and Mysteries, 1967, pp. 23, 162.
Myths & Legends
All over the world there are extraordinary stories—stories that once upon a time were believed to be true but are today limited to the sphere of myths and legends. The question remains, are those myths something that existed in the minds of our ancestors, or were they based on true events? It is true that most of those stories appear to the scientific world as fictitious products of vivid imaginations whose goals were purely to explain phenomena beyond their comprehension. Yet is it not arrogant to accuse our ancestors of being uncivilised and ignorant in one breath, then offer them praise and admiration over their monuments, buildings, art, sculptures, and societies in the next? This only proves that our modern society has two contradictory attitudes toward our past.
In this section we will explore some of the most amazing legends from all over the world—legends that may hold truths that can unlock the secrets of our ancient origins.
LEGENTS
A legend (Latin, legenda, "things to be read") is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude. Legend, for its active and passive participants, includes no happenings that are outside the realm of "possibility" but which may include miracles. Legends may be transformed over time, in order to keep it fresh and vital, and realistic. Many legends operate within the realm of uncertainty, never being entirely believed by the participants, but also never being resolutely doubted.[1]
The Brothers Grimm defined legend as folktale historically grounded.[2] A modern folklorist's professional definition of legend was proposed by Timothy R. Tangherlini in 1990:[3]
Legend is a loanword from Old French that entered English usage circa 1340. The Old French noun legende derives from the Medieval Latin legenda.[5] In its early English-language usage, the word indicated a narrative of an event.
By 1613, English-speaking Protestants began to use the word when they wished to imply that an event (especially the story of any saintnot acknowledged in John Foxe's Actes and Monuments) was fictitious.[6] Thus, legend gained its modern connotations of "undocumented" and "spurious", which distinguish it from the meaning of chronicle.
In 1866, Jacob Grimm described the fairy tale as "poetic, legend historic."[7] Early scholars such as Karl Wehrhan[8] Friedrich Ranke}[9]and Will Erich Peuckert[10] followed Grimm's example in focussing solely on the literary narrative, an approach that was enriched particularly after the 1960s,[11] by addressing questions of performance and the anthropological and psychological insights provided in considering legends' social context. Questions of categorising legends, in hopes of compiling a content-based series of categories on the line of the Aarne-Thompson folktale index, provoked a search for a broader new synthesis.
In an early attempt at defining some basic questions operative in examining folk tales, Friedrich Ranke in 1925[12] characterised the folk legend as "a popular narrative with an objectively untrue imaginary content" a dismissive position that was subsequently largely abandoned.[13]
Compared to the highly structured folktale, legend is comparatively amorphous, Helmut de Boor noted in 1928.[14] The narrative content of legend is in realistic mode, rather than the wry irony of folktale;[15] Wilhelm Heiske[16] remarked on the similarity of motifs in legend and folktale and concluded that, in spite of its realistic mode, legend is not more historical than folktale.
In Einleitung in der Geschichtswissenschaft (1928), Ernst Bernheim asserted that a legend is simply a longstanding rumour.[17] Gordon Allport credited the staying-power of some rumours to the persistent cultural state-of-mind that they embody and capsulise;[18] thus "Urban legends" are a feature of rumour.[19] When Willian Jansen suggested that legends that disappear quickly were "short-term legends" and the persistent ones be termed "long-term legends", the distinction between legend and rumour was effectively obliterated, Tangherlini concluded.
Folktales
Many attempts have been made to define, classify, and describe the folktale. None of these attempts did a completely satisfactory job; the folktale is just too inclusive for such division. The term covers almost any traditional narrative, either oral or literary. Its diverse forms include legends and traditions, fairy tales, animal tales, fables, and of course myths.Read on »
- Choctaw Creation myth, a Choctaw myth.
How the Choctaw found a new home land. - Iktomi, a Lakota myth.
How the spiderman helped them to take the horses from their enemies. - Kana'ti and Selu, a traditional Cherokee oral telling.
Description follows. - The Legend of the Buffalo Dance, a Blackfoot legend.
How the people learned a special ritual from the buffalo. - How the man got in the moon, an Oto myth.
How the image of a man we see in the moon got there. - The Coming of Medicine, a Native American myth.
How medicine was introduced to humans. - Ullikana, a Hawaiian tale (illustrated).
How the horses of Hawaii got their own guardian spirits. - White Buffalo Calf Woman, a Lakota myth.
How a mysterieus woman taught the people the way of life.
- Hunahpu and Ixbalanque, a Mayan legend.
How the sun and the moon came into existance.
- The Dun Horse, a Russian folktale (illustrated).
How a farm boy became a great prince. - The Fisherman's Widow, a Greek folktale (illustrated).
How an old widow chose death, but found happiness in stead. - Hansel and Gretel, a popular fairy tale.
How two children outsmarted a witch and brought wealth to their family. - Jack o'Lantern, a popular folktale
How a farmer attempted to outsmart the devil. - Rapunzel, a popular fairy tale.
How a girl, brought up by an enchantress, escaped her misery. - Queen Pedauqe, an Occitanian tale.
How a queen disproved a strange rumour about her feet. - River of the Princess, a Slavic tale.
How a princess brought fertility back to the land. - The Story of Pressyne, from Medieval France.
The story of a beautiful fairy who married the King of Albany. - The Story of Melusine, from Medieval France.
The story of the first daughter of the fairy Pressyne and King Elynas of Albany - The Story of Palatyne, from Medieval France.
The story of the second daughter of the fairy Pressyne and King Elynas of Albany - The Tale of Taliesin, a Celtic story.
The life of the great bard Taliesin. - The Devil's Dyke, a Sussex folktale.
How the devil was fooled by an old woman.
- The Five Mares of Mohammed, an Arabic tale.
How Mohammed discovered the finest of Arab horses. - The River Sambation, a Jewish myth.
How a group of Israelites found refuge in a place protected by a wondrous river.
- Moonflower, a Japanese story (illustrated).
How a gift from the moon finally brought happiness to a childless couple. - Rahu and Ketu, a Hindu myth.
How the gods triumphed over the demons.
- Beowulf, an Anglo-Saxon tale.
How the great hero Beowulf vanguished the dragon Grendel. Retold by Robert Hoffman. - Beauty and the Beast, a popular fairy tale.
Retold by Robert Hoffman. - Hansel and Gretel, a popular fairy tale.
Retold by Robert Hoffman. - Little Mermaid, a popular fairy tale
How a little mermaid became a human being. Retold by Robert Hoffman. - Pandora's Box, an adaption of the Greek myth.
How the opening of a simple box led to all the unhappiness and sorrow in the world. Retold by Robert Hoffman. - Rapunzel, a popular fairy tale.
Retold by Robert Hoffman. - Saving Spring, a Scandinavian legend.
How Spring was jailed by Old Man Winter and rescued in an ingenious way.
Retold by Ilil Arbel.
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