μῦθος

Etymology

According to Frisk of onomatopoeic origin, from μῡ (mū). According to Beekes there are no plausible comparanda and the word is Pre-Greek. Others compare it to Proto-Slavic *myslь (“idea, thought”), as if via Proto-Indo-European *muHdʰ-. Ernštedt (1953: 55-57) argue that it derived from Egyptian mdt (“word, speech, affair”). If so, a cognate to Coptic ⲙⲟⲩⲧⲉ (moute).

Pronunciation

Noun

μῦθος • (mûthos) m (genitive μῡ́θου); second declension

1. something said: word, speech, conversation
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 11.561

     ἀλλ' ἄγε δεῦρο, ἄναξ, ἵν' ἔπος καὶ μῦθον ἀκούσῃς

     all' áge deûro, ánax, hín' épos kaì mûthon akoúsēis

   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 4.777

     μῦθον, ὃ δὴ καὶ πᾶσιν ἐνὶ φρεσὶν ἤραρεν ἥμιν.

     mûthon, hò dḕ kaì pâsin enì phresìn ḗraren hḗmin.

   1. public speech
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 1.358

        ἔργον ἐποίχεσθαι· μῦθος δ' ἄνδρεσσι μελήσει

        érgon epoíkhesthai; mûthos d' ándressi melḗsei

      • 750 BCE – 650 BCE, Hesiod, Works and Days 192
   2. (mostly in plural) talk, conversation
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 4.214
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 4.239
   3. advice, counsel, command, order, promise
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 5.493

        Ὣς φάτο Σαρπηδών, δάκε δὲ φρένας Ἕκτορι μῦθος·

        Hṑs pháto Sarpēdṓn, dáke dè phrénas Héktori mûthos;

      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 7.358

        οἶσθα καὶ ἄλλον μῦθον ἀμείνονα τοῦδε νοῆσαι.

        oîstha kaì állon mûthon ameínona toûde noêsai.

   4. the subject of a speech or talk
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 22.289
      • 458 BCE, Euripides, Electra 346
   5. a resolve, purpose, design, plan
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.545
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 3.140
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 4.676
   6. saying, proverb
      • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, The Libation Bearers 314
   7. the talk of men, rumor, report, message
      • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Ajax 226
      • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Ajax 189
2. tale, story, narrative,
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 3.94
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 4.324
   1. tale, legend, myth
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.45
      1. (in Attic prose) a legend of the early Greek times, before the dawn of history
         • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 330D
   2. a professed work of fiction, fable, such as those of Aesop
      • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 377A
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Meteorology 2.3.2
   3. the plot of a tragedy
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Poetics 6.8