Question about the words 'legend' and 'myth'?

legend

myth

Legends usually have some sort of historical basis, even if they have strayed far from fact. They frequently concern people or places or cultures that are real, even if the stories themselves are distorted by imagination.

Myths are typically stories that have been believed in ancient times, such as stories about gods and goddesses and superheroes, but are no longer thought to be true. They often have to do with explaining some natural phenomenon or teaching a moral lesson.

Some things may be told of in myth and in legend; there’s an overlap. But if you have a tale of a folk hero whose gang used to pursue justice for the oppressed peasants, you have a legend; if you have a story of how a river was born or a constellation came to be in the sky, you have a myth.

Off the top of my head:

A legend is something like a folk tale, like Johnny Appleseed or the Hook that have become treasured stories and part of a culture.

A myth, to me, has more of a religious meaning. They’re stories about gods or deities that made up someone’s religion once. A newer religion might have moved in and displaced the first, so now the stories are “just myths.”

Something “becoming legend” has a respectful ring to it, whereas “that’s just a myth” sounds dismissive, like a lie, which are the meanings I would expect them to pick up if my first two assertions are true.

A legend exists, in the past or in the present – but it exists. A myth doesn’t – it’s a figment of your imagination. Some legends are tales, other are simply “living legends” – myths include the famous ones, like Zeus and others in Greek (or Roman, Viking, etc.) lore.

I’m a legend in my own mind.

I think of a legend as something with heroic or “larger than life” characteristics. Legend of the Knights of the Roundtable or a Derek Jeter’s saves are legendary. Just two examples.

I think of a myth as something that people believe to be true but is actually false. Government treats all citizens equally is a myth. Just an example.

Just as an addendum,“myth” didn’t always carry the modern connotation of “made-up stories that had once been thought true by naive people”. In its original sense, “mythos” was not considered historical fact, but an archetype of a timeless truth. In other words, the “story” of the myth was not taken as something that actually happened, but as illustrating an ongoing fundamental principle. The myth was considered “true” not as history, but as paradigm.

A legend is a story that is passed down from generations, and will remain that way. An example would be Paul Bonyon or Johnny Appleseed.

A myth is something that is usually Greek or something that may seem unreal. For example the Minotaur and Greek Gods.

@jca, I know that’s a common understanding of the term, and we often see it reinforced in articles with titles such as “7 myths about investing” and “10 myths about education.” I take strong exception to the notion that myth = falsehood. Myths can contain great truths. They are not, however, literal expressions of fact or history; they are cast in another kind of language, one that speaks to us in a different way from science and provable record.

Myths are not “usually Greek,” @blueberry_kid. Every culture has its mythologies. They represent a nonlinear kind of understanding, especially understanding of the past, the world, and the self.

@Jeruba she said in a three year old voice

Im sorry!

A myth can be seen as an early form of human psychology.