| definition |
- A traditional or legendary story, usually dealing with supernatural beings, ancestors, heroes or events, that is with or without determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation, but is used to explain some practice, rite or phenomenon of nature, or to justify the existence of a social institution.
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| Abstract from DBPedia | Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrative as a myth can be highly controversial. Many adherents of religions view their own religions' stories as truth and so object to their characterization as myth, the way they see the stories of other religions. As such, some scholars label all religious narratives "myths" for practical reasons, such as to avoid depreciating any one tradition because cultures interpret each other differently relative to one another. Other scholars avoid using the term "myth" altogether and instead use different terms like "sacred history", "holy story", or simply "history" to avoid placing pejorative overtones on any sacred narrative. Myths are often endorsed by secular and religious authorities and are closely linked to religion or spirituality. Many societies group their myths, legends, and history together, considering myths and legends to be true accounts of their remote past. In particular, creation myths take place in a primordial age when the world had not achieved its later form. Other myths explain how a society's customs, institutions, and taboos were established and sanctified. There is a complex relationship between recital of myths and the enactment of rituals. The main characters in myths are usually non-humans, such as gods, demigods, and other supernatural figures. Others include humans, animals, or combinations in their classification of myth. Stories of everyday humans, although often of leaders of some type, are usually contained in legends, as opposed to myths. Myths are sometimes distinguished from legends in that myths deal with gods, usually have no historical basis, and are set in a world of the remote past, very different from that of the present.神話（しんわ、英: Myth、Mythology）は、人類が認識する自然物や自然現象、または民族や文化・文明などさまざまな事象を、世界が始まった時代における神など超自然的・形而上的な存在や文化英雄などとむすびつけた一回限りの出来事として説明する物語であり、諸事象の起源や存在理由を語る説話でもある。このような性質から、神話が述べる出来事などは、不可侵であり規範として従わなければならないものとして意義づけられている。 英語のMythology（ミソロジー）には「物語としての神話」と「神話の研究」のふたつの意味がある。例えば「比較神話学」（comparative mythology）は異なる文化圏の神話を比較研究する学問であり、一方で「ギリシア神話」（Greek mythology）とは古代ギリシアの神話物語の体系を指す。単語「myth」は口語にてしばしば「誤った根拠」を指して使われるが、学問的に使われる場合は、その真偽を問うことは無い。民俗学では、神話とは世界や人類がいかにして現在の姿となったかを説明する象徴的な物語と定義されるが、他の学問分野では単語「myth」の使い方が異なり、伝統的な説話を広く包括する意味合いを持たせている。 比喩的な用法では根拠も無く絶対的事実だと思われている事象を例えて用いる言葉にも使われ、「日本の『安全神話』（safety myth）が崩れた」といった例で使われる場合もある。これらは、現実が隠蔽され、人々の考え方や行動が何かしら誤った方向に固定化してしまった「常識」ともいえる。 (Source: http://dbpedia.org/resource/Myth) |
