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Myth vs. Folklore — What's the Difference?

Myth vs. Folklore — What's the Difference?

Difference Between Myth and Folklore

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Myth

A fiction or half-truth, especially one that forms part of an ideology.

Folklore

Folklore is the expressive body of culture shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, proverbs and jokes.

Myth

Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. The main characters in myths are usually non-humans, such as gods, demigods, and other supernatural figures.

Folklore

The traditional beliefs, myths, tales, and practices of a people, transmitted orally.

Myth

A traditional, typically ancient story dealing with supernatural beings, ancestors, or heroes that serves as a fundamental type in the worldview of a people, as by explaining aspects of the natural world or delineating the psychology, customs, or ideals of society
The myth of Eros and Psyche.
A creation myth.
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Folklore

The comparative study of folk knowledge and culture. Also called folkloristics.

Myth

Such stories considered as a group
The realm of myth.

Folklore

A body of widely accepted but usually spurious notions about a place, group, or institution
Rumors of their antics became part of the folklore of Hollywood.

Myth

A popular belief or story that has become associated with a person, institution, or occurrence, especially one considered to illustrate a cultural ideal
A star whose fame turned her into a myth.
The pioneer myth of suburbia.

Folklore

A popular but unfounded belief.

Myth

A fictitious story, person, or thing
"German artillery superiority on the Western Front was a myth" (Leon Wolff).

Folklore

The tales, legends, superstitions, and traditions of a particular ethnic population.

Myth

A traditional story which embodies a belief regarding some fact or phenomenon of experience, and in which often the forces of nature and of the soul are personified; a sacred narrative regarding a god, a hero, the origin of the world or of a people, etc.

Folklore

(by extension) The tales, superstitions etc. of any particular group or community.

Myth

(uncountable) Such stories as a genre.
Myth was the product of man's emotion and imagination, acted upon by his surroundings. (E. Clodd, Myths & Dreams (1885), 7, cited after OED)

Folklore

The collective of proofs or techniques which are widely known among mathematicians, but have never been formally published.

Myth

A commonly-held but false belief, a common misconception; a fictitious or imaginary person or thing; a popular conception about a real person or event which exaggerates or idealizes reality.
Scientists debunk the myth that gum stays in the human stomach for seven years.

Folklore

Tales, legends, or superstitions long current among the people; the unwritten literature of a culture, such as stories, proverbs, riddles and songs.

Myth

A person or thing held in excessive or quasi-religious awe or admiration based on popular legend
Father Flanagan was legendary, his institution an American myth. (Tucson (Arizona) Citizen, 20 September 1979, 5A/3, cited after OED)

Folklore

The unwritten literature (stories and proverbs and riddles and songs) of a culture

Myth

A person or thing existing only in imagination, or whose actual existence is not verifiable.

Myth

An invented story, theory, or concept.

Myth

A story of great but unknown age which originally embodied a belief regarding some fact or phenomenon of experience, and in which often the forces of nature and of the soul are personified; an ancient legend of a god, a hero, the origin of a race, etc.; a wonder story of prehistoric origin; a popular fable which is, or has been, received as historical.

Myth

A person or thing existing only in imagination, or whose actual existence is not verifiable.
As for Mrs. Primmins's bones, they had been myths these twenty years.

Myth

A traditional story accepted as history; serves to explain the world view of a people

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