mȳ́thos

mȳ́thos, mûthos Vorlage:agrie. μῦθος ‘Wort, Rede, Gespräch, Überlegung, Erzählung, Sage, Märchen’

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 *mewHdʰ-.
• Ernštedt (1953: 55-57) argues that it derived from Egyptian mdwt (“word, speech, affair”). If so, a cognate to Coptic ⲙⲉⲧ- (met-), and related to Coptic ⲙⲟⲩⲧⲉ (moute).
• Possibly related to Sanskrit मिथ्या (mithyā, “false, spurious, illusory”), from Proto-Indo-European *mewHdʰ- (“to complain or care about something”).

Pronunciation

[ more ▼] 

• IPA^(key): /mŷː.tʰos/ → /ˈmy.θos/ → /ˈmi.θos/

• Hyphenation: μῦ‧θος

Noun

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

1. something said: word, speech, conversation [ quotations ▼]
   1. public speech [ quotations ▼]
   2. (mostly in plural) talk, conversation [ quotations ▼]
   3. advice, counsel, command, order, promise [ quotations ▼]
   4. the subject of a speech or talk [ quotations ▼]
   5. a resolve, purpose, design, plan [ quotations ▼]
   6. saying, proverb [ quotations ▼]
   7. the talk of men, rumor, report, message [ quotations ▼]
2. tale, story, narrative, [ quotations ▼]
   1. tale, legend, myth [ quotations ▼]
      1. (in Attic prose) a legend of the early Greek times, before the dawn of history [ quotations ▼]
   2. a professed work of fiction, fable, such as those of Aesop [ quotations ▼]
   3. the plot of a tragedy or comedy [ quotations ▼]

Usage notes

The scholia on the Odyssey 21.71 says that μῦθος (mûthos) is Aeolic for μόθος (móthos), but compare μυθιήτης (muthiḗtēs). It is used there in the significance of "resolve, purpose".