Myths and legends are stories of real or fictitious events in the past, often relevant to the history of a social group or to the origins of the things and customs of the world as we know it.
Technical Usage
The term myth is usually associated with such stories when they are religious and when they relate in some way to the broader human condition, either in general or in a particular society. Tales of the creation of the universe are usually classed as myths. But an unverifiable story of how your great uncle found gold in his garden would be classified as a legend, not a myth. Thus strictly speaking "legend" is a broader category and includes "myths" within it.
The specialized term "charter myth" or "mythical charter" refers to myths that use a real or hypothetical past event to provide a logic justifying a custom or social structural arrangement, such as why a particular dynasty is appropriately in power.
Most anthropologists assume that people believe their myths to be literally true. But in fact it is not clear how much a myth or legend is believed by people to be literally true as against merely metaphorically inspiring. For example, there are people who believe that the Bible's account of Jonah living in the belly of a "great fish" is a true story. But most Jews and Christians see it as a compelling story intended to point a moral, but not literal history. Its inclusion in the Bible renders it sacred, in a sense, but if many or most most Bible readers do not see it as literally true, does it cease to be a "myth" for purposes of comparative analysis?
If myths are understood as stories that point to cosmic or contemporary truths, then should non-religious stories be considered myths? For example, the European story of the virtuous Cinderella who is rewarded over her lordly step-sisters seems to be a powerful image and inspiration to many Americans, among whom references to Cindarella are surely more frequent than to the story of Jonah living in the great fish. Should Cinderella be considered a myth for analytical purposes?
As analysts turn their attention more and more to the popular culture of industrialized nations, the analytical category of "myth" seems to move further and further beyond its range of convenience.
Everyday Usage
In everyday speech, the word "myth," far from referring to something holy, is used to refer to something false. ("It is a myth that the Great Hall is haunted by the ghost of the Headless Surfer." "It is a myth that women are attracted to men who don't bathe.") Therefore when sacred tales from major religious traditions are described as myths —as in the "myth" of Jesus founding the Catholic Church with Peter as its first pope — people sometimes find the term "myth" insulting. The derivative adjective "mythical" is often used to dismiss something as false. ("The inheritance she spoke so much about proved to be mythical.") The contamination of the word "myth" by the idea of falsehood in popular usage is one more factor that makes its use unfortunate as a technical term in the study of religion or literature.
The less frequent word "legend" in popular parlance also refers to an undocumented or fictional(ized) historical account, but it carries less sense of the speaker's hostility toward the story or less desire to discredit it, sometimes because it is assumed not to be believed anyway. ("There are many amusing legends of ghosts at the Hotel del Coronado.") The associated adjective "legendary" has a very positive connotation of being famous. ("His confrontation with the Dean became legendary.")
Content Revised: 2008-02-05
Software Last Modified: 2022-05-30
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