# mythology

Pronunciation: say "mi-THOL-uh-jee" US /mɪˈθɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/, UK /mɪˈθɒl.ə.d͡ʒi/

## Noun

1. The body of myths belonging to a people, telling of their origins and history and of their gods, ancestors, and heroes.
   - Simple: All the old stories a people tell about where they came from, their past, their gods, and their heroes.
   - _Thor and Loki both come from Norse mythology, though comic books have reshaped them._
   - _The museum's new wing traces the mythologies of the Aztec and Maya peoples through carved stone._
2. A body of myths about a particular event, person, or institution.
   - Simple: A set of stories and legends that people tell about a particular person, event, or group.
   - _Decades of films and songs have built a rich mythology around the outlaw._
   - _The company's founding mythology centers on two friends tinkering in a garage._
3. The false beliefs and attitudes that people hold about something and that shape how it is perceived.
   - Simple: The wrong ideas that many people have about something, which shape how they see it.
   - _The report set out to challenge the mythology surrounding immigration and crime._
   - _Much of the mythology about left-handed people has no basis in fact._
4. The elements that run through a fictional universe and together make it resemble a mythological world.
   - Simple: The background story and world that run through a work of fiction and make it feel like a world of myths.
   - _Later seasons leaned heavily on the show's alien-conspiracy mythology, leaving casual viewers lost._
   - _The author spent years building the mythology of her fantasy world before writing the first chapter._
5. The systematic gathering and study of myths.
   - Simple: The study of myths, and the work of collecting them.
   - _Comparative mythology looks for shared patterns in the myths of different cultures._
   - _He switched his major from history to mythology and folklore._

## Origin

First attested in Middle English in 1412, from Middle French mythologie, from Latin mythologia, from Ancient Greek muthología, related to muthologéō ("to tell tales"), ultimately from mûthos ("story") + légō ("to say"). By surface analysis, myth + -ology.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/mythology (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).