Mythology

Definition: Mythology

Mythology

Noun

1. Myths collectively; the body of stories associated with a culture or institution or person.

2. The study of myths.

Date "mythology" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references)

Etymology: Mythology \My*thol"o*gy\, noun; plural Mythologies. [French mythologie, Latin mythologia, Greek myqologi`a; my^qos, fable, myth + lo`gos speech, discourse.]. (Websters 1913)

Specialty Definition: Mythology

Domain	Definition
Satire	MYTHOLOGY, n. The body of a primitive people's beliefs concerning its origin, early history, heroes, deities and so forth, as distinguished from the true accounts which it invents later. N. Source: Devil's Dictionary.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Specialty Definition: Mythology

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

A mythology is a relatively cohesive set of myths: stories that comprise a certain religion or belief system.

What is Mythology?

Myths are generally stories based on tradition and legend designed to explain the universe, the world's creation, natural phenomena, and anything else for which no simple explanation presents itself. Not all myths need have this explicatory purpose, however. Likewise, most myths involve a supernatural force or deity, but many are simply legends and stories passed down orally from generation to generation.

Mythology figures prominently in most religions, and most mythology is tied to at least one religion. Some use the words "myth" and "mythology" to portray the stories of one or more religions as false, or dubious at best. The term is most often used in this sense to describe religions founded by ancient societies, such as Roman mythology, Greek mythology, and Norse mythology, which were nearly extinct at one time. However, it is important to keep in mind that while some view the Norse and Celtic pantheons as mere fable, others hold them as a religion (See Neopaganism). By extension, many people do not regard the tales surrounding the origin and development of religions like Christianity, Judaism and Islam as literal accounts of events, but instead regard them as figurative representations of their belief systems.

People within most religions take offense at the characterization of their faith as a group of myths, for this is tantamount to claiming that the religion itself is a lie. However, most people concur that each religion has a body of myths that have developed in addition to scriptures.

For the purposes of this article, therefore, we use the word "mythology" to refer to stories that, while they may or may not be strictly factual, reveal fundamental truths and insights about human nature, often through the use of archetypes. Also, the stories we discuss express the viewpoints and beliefs of the country, time period, culture, and/or religion which gave birth to them.

Stories from scripture are usually not referred to as mythology except in a pejorative sense, but one can speak of a Jewish mythology, a Christian mythology, or an Islamic mythology, in which one describes the mythic elements within these faiths without speaking to the veracity of the faith's tenets or claims about its history.

Many modern day rabbis and priests within the more liberal Jewish and Christian movements, as well as most Neopagans, have no problem viewing their religious texts as containing myth; they see their sacred texts as indeed containing religious truths, divinely inspired but delivered in the language of mankind. Others, of course, disagree.

Modern Mythology

Television and book series like Star Trek and Tarzan have strong mythological aspects that sometimes develop into deep and intricate philosophical systems. These items are not mythology, but contain mythic themes that, for some people, meet the same psychological needs.

An excellent example is that developed by J. R. R. Tolkien in The Silmarillion'\' and The Lord of the Rings''. However, copyright law restricts independent authors from extending modern story cycles.

Some critics believe that the fact that the core characters and stories of modern story cycles are not in the public domain prevents the modern story cycles from sharing several essential aspects of mythologies. Fan fiction goes some distance to relieving this problem.

Fiction, however, does not reach the level of actual mythology until people believe that it really happened. For example, some people believe that fiction author Clive Barker's Candyman was based upon a true story, and new stories have grown up around the figure. The same can be said for the Blair Witch and many other stories.

Mythology is alive and well in the modern age through urban legends and many other ways.

Book Title

Mythology is the title of a 1942 work by Edith Hamilton detailing Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology with their sources.

Mythologies

Africa

Akamba mythology
Akan mythology
Alur mythology
Ashanti mythology
Bambara mythology
Bambuti mythology
Banyarwanda mythology
Basari mythology
Baule mythology
Bavenda mythology
Bazambi mythology
Baziba mythology
Bushongo mythology
Dahomey mythology (Fon)
Dinka mythology
Efik mythology
Egyptian mythology (Pre-Islam)
Ekoi mythology
Fan mythology
Fens mythology
Herero mythology
Ibibio mythology
Ibo mythology
Isoko mythology
Kamba mythology
Kavirondo mythology
Khoikhoi mythology
Kurumba mythology
Lotuko mythology
Lugbara mythology
Lunda mythology
Makoni mythology
Masai mythology
Mongo mythology
Mundang mythology
Ngbandi mythology
Nootka mythology
Nupe mythology
Nyamwezi mythology
Oromo mythology
Ovambo mythology
Pygmy mythology
San mythology
Serer mythology
Shona mythology
Shongo mythology
Songhai mythology
Sotho mythology
Tsimshian mythology
Tumbuka mythology
Ute mythology
Xhosa mythology
Yoruba mythology
Zulu mythology
Zuni mythology

Australia & Oceania

Aboriginal mythology (natives of Australia)
Micronesian mythology
Polynesian mythology

American mythology

(non-Native American)

North American

Abenaki mythology
Algonquin mythology
Blackfoot mythology
Chippewa mythology
Creek mythology
Crow mythology
Haida mythology
Hopi mythology
Inuit mythology
Iroquois mythology
Huron mythology
Kwakiutl mythology
Lakota mythology
Leni Lenape mythology
Navaho mythology
Pawnee mythology
Salish mythology
Seneca mythology
Winnebago mythology

South America and Mesoamerica

Aztec mythology
Incan mythology
Guarani mythology
Maya mythology
Olmec mythology
Toltec mythology

Asia

Buddhist mythology
Bon mythology (Pre-Buddhism Tibetan mythology)
Chinese mythology
Hindu mythology
Japanese mythology
Korean mythology
Melanesian mythology

Europe

Anglo-Saxon mythology
Celtic mythology
Corsican mythology
German mythology
Greek mythology
English mythology
Etruscan mythology
Finnish mythology
Fjort mythology
Irish mythology
Latvian mythology
Norse mythology
Polish mythology
Roman mythology
Romanian mythology
Sardinian mythology
Slavic mythology

Middle-Eastern

Arab mythology (Pre-Islam)
Christian mythology
Hebrew mythology
Islamic mythology
Jewish mythology
Sumerian mythology

Other

Scientific mythology

Mythological Archetypes

Culture Hero
Earth Mother
First man or woman
Life-Death-Rebirth Deity
Lunar Deity
Mana
Psychopomp
Sky Father
Solar Deity
Trickster
Underworld

Mythological Creatures

List of Mythic Creatures

To see role-playing related races, see: Fantasy bestiary

Books on Mythology

Bulfinch's Mythology by Thomas Bulfinch.
Mythology by Edith Hamilton.

External link

Encyclopedia Mythica An encyclopedia on mythology, folklore, and legend

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Mythology."

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Synonyms within Context: Mythology

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Heterodoxy	Paganism, heathenism, ethicism; mythology; polytheism, ditheism, tritheism; dualism; heathendom.
Jupiter	Mythology; heathen-mythology, fairy-mythology; Lempriere, folklore.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

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Crosswords: Mythology

English words defined with "mythology": classical mythology ♦ Greek mythology ♦ Norse mythology ♦ Roman mythology. (references)

Etymologies containing "mythology": Mythologue ♦ Orion. (references)

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Modern Usage: Mythology

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	Mythology it's all Greek to me. (Andromeda; writing credit: John Cranna) Oh yeah, the greek mythology. (Orgazmo; writing credit: Trey Parker)
Movie/TV Titles	Urban Mythology (2000)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Commercial Usage: Mythology

Domain	Title
Books	Bulfinch's Mythology (reference) Dictionary of Classical Mythology (reference) Old Money: The Mythology of Wealth in America (reference) Who's Who in Classical Mythology (Who's Who Series) (reference) (more book examples)

Theater & Movies	Mexican Mythology (reference) Mythology of Ancient Mexico (reference) Who�s Who in Greek and Roman Mythology (reference) (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music	Age of Mythology [SOUNDTRACK] (reference) Portrait of the Goddess: Musical Mythology (reference) V: The New Mythology Suite (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

High Tech	Age of Mythology (reference) Age of Mythology Special Edition (reference) Greek Mythology (Jewel Case) (reference) (more camera examples; more video game examples; more computer examples; more electronic examples; more software examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Image Slideshow: Mythology

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Photo Album: Mythology

Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	"Epochs of Nature According to Azteck Mythology" in: "Researches Concerning the Institutions and Monuments of the Ancient Inhabitants of America," by Alexander von Humboldt and translated by Helen Maria Williams, 1814. Vol. II, p. 15. Library Call Number C/gLH919. Credit: Treasures of the Library.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

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Use in Literature: Mythology

Title	Author	Quote
Les Miserables	Hugo, Victor	The Pagan mythology was wrestling with the Christian mythology.
Walden	Thoreau, Henry David	There we worked, revising mythology, rounding a fable here and there, and building castles in the air for which earth offered no worthy foundation.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Non-Fiction Usage: Mythology

Subject	Topic	Quote
Lexicography	Devil's Dictionary	SATYR, n. One of the few characters of the Grecian mythology accorded recognition in the Hebrew. (Leviticus, xvii, 7.) The satyr was at first a member of the dissolute community acknowledging a loose allegiance with Dionysius, but underwent many transformations and improvements. Not infrequently he is confounded with the faun, a later and decenter creation of the Romans, who was less like a man and more like a goat.
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Usage Frequency: Mythology

"Mythology" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Mythology" is used about 411 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	100%	411	13,718

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Expressions: Mythology

Expressions using "mythology": classical mythology ♦ greek mythology ♦ norse mythology ♦ Roman mythology. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Mythology

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Expression	Frequency per Day	Expression	Frequency per Day
greek mythology	2,995	age mythology serial	67
age of mythology	2,807	age mythology patch	65
mythology	2,030	age mythology strategy	62
age cheat mythology	762	greek mythology name	60
norse mythology	362	mythology picture	57
roman mythology	293	greek roman mythology	55
egyptian mythology	206	goddess in moon mythology roman who	54
age cd key mythology	197	age downloads mythology	53
greek mythology picture	139	aztec mythology	48
celtic mythology	129	mythology personal	46
phoenix mythology	123	age mythology through walk	44
age download mythology	105	irish mythology	44
age cheat code mythology	103	age map mythology	43
age demo mythology	96	age cd mythology no	40
greek mythology god	90	age key mythology product	40
japanese mythology	82	indian mythology	39
age mythology titans	81	hindu mythology	37
chinese mythology	80	age heaven mythology	36
age code mythology	75	greek mythology medusa	36
african mythology	72	greek mythology story	35
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translation: Mythology

Language		Translations for "mythology"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		mitologji. (various references)

Arabic		‏ميثولوجيا, ‏علم الأساطير. (various references)

Bulgarian		митология. (various references)

Chinese		神話 (fairy tale, myth), 神话 (Myth, Mythic, Mythical, Mythological, Mythologies). (various references)

Czech		mytologie. (various references)

Danish		mytologi. (various references)

Dutch		mythologie. (various references)

Esperanto		mitologio. (various references)

Farsi		افسانه شناسی , اسطوره شناسی , اساطیر. (various references)

Finnish		mytologia. (various references)

French		mythologie. (various references)

German		Mythologie. (various references)

Greek		μυθολογία. (various references)

Hebrew		מיתולו�'י�". (various references)

Hungarian		mitológia. (various references)

Italian		mitologia. (various references)

Japanese Kanji		神話学 . (various references)

Japanese Katakana		し�"わがく. (various references)

Korean		� �" (Myth, Mythologies). (various references)

Manx		feayn-skeealleydaght. (various references)

Papiamen		mitologia. (various references)

Pig Latin		ythologymay

Portuguese		mitologia. (various references)

Romanian		mitologie. (various references)

Russian		мифология. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		mitologija. (various references)

Spanish		mitología. (various references)

Swedish		mytologi. (various references)

Thai		ตำนาน (legend). (various references)

Turkish		mitoloji. (various references)

Ukrainian		міфологія. (various references)

Vietnamese		thần thoại thần thoại học, khoa thần thoại. (various references)

Welsh		chwedloniaeth. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Ancestral Language Translations: Mythology

Language	Period	Translations
Greek	700 BCE-300 CE	mythologia, mythos. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Misspellings: Mythology

Misspellings
	"Mythology" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: methology, mithology, mthology, mytholigy, mythologys, mytholoy. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Rhyming with "Mythology"

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "mythology" (pronounced muthÄ"lujē)
7	-u th Ä" l u j ē	ornithology, pathology.
6	-th Ä" l u j ē	anthology, ethology.
5	-Ä" l u j ē	anesthesiology, anthropology, apology, archaeology, archeology, astrology, bacteriology, biology, biotechnology, cardiology, chronology, cosmetology, criminology, cytology, dendrochronology, dermatology, doxology, ecology, embryology, endocrinology, entomology, epidemiology, epistemology, ethnology, etiology, etymology, genealogy, geology, geomorphology, gerontology, graphology, gynecology, histology, Hymnology, ideology, immunology, kinesiology, limnology, meteorology, methodology, microbiology, micropaleontology, mineralogy, morphology, mycology, neurology, numerology, oncology, ontology, ophthalmology, otology, paleontology, penology, petrology, pharmacology, physiology, Pomology, psychology, radiology, rheumatology, seismology, serology, sociology, terminology, theology, toxicology, urology, virology, zoology.
4	-l u j ē	analogy, cosmology, elegy, eulogy, trilogy.
3	-u j ē	prodigy, strategy.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

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Anagrams: Mythology

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "g-h-l-m-o-o-t-y-y"
	-2 letters: myology.
	-3 letters: gloomy, thymol.
	-4 letters: gloom, hooly, hooty, hotly, molto, mothy, mythy, ology, thymy.
	-5 letters: glom, holm, holt, holy, homo, homy, hoot, logo, logy, loom, loot, loth, molt, moly, mool, moot, moth, myth, tool, toom, toyo, yogh.
	Words containing the letters "g-h-l-m-o-o-t-y-y"
	+5 letters: metapsychology, mythologically.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.