International Journal of Social Science Tomorrow Vol. 1 No.

Meaning, Origin and Functions of Myth: A Brief Survey

Ali Alhaidari, Research Student, English Dept., School of Languages, Literature and Cultural Studies
Dr. S. G. Bhanegaonkar, Associate Professor, English Department, Peoples College, SRTM University

Abstract
Myths are traditional tales which are shared by a group of people. Every culture has its own myths which
transfer the beliefs of primitive people about the creation of the universe and its content. Knowledge, like a river
flowing down a mountain, has a source. Thus, Myths are regarded as the first source of knowledge for the
primitive people to acquaint themselves with the world around. The origin of the word myth and its different
interpretations along with its uses has to be surveyed briefly for giving a complete idea about myth. This survey
is an attempt to shed the light on the origin of the word myth, to review the different meanings of myth and to
present into light the various uses of myth.

Keywords: Myth, Mythology, Primitives, Religious, Rituals.

1. Definition of Myth
Defining the word "myth" has faced many problems and difficulties, some writers disagree that there is a
coherent concept behind the word "myth". Before defining the term "Myth", one has to look at its history. Most
of literary terms, usually, are derived from Greek words and myth does not contradict this rule; thus it is widely
known that literature inherits the word "myth and its concept from ancient Greece. The word myth comes from
the Greek word "mythos" which means "speech, thought, story and myth" of unknown origin. In their A
Glossary of Literary Terms, Abrams and Galt uphold this idea and add that it "signifies any story or plot,
whether true or invented". Partridge proclaims that " like the French myth, the English myth derives, via
Latin mythus , from Greek muthos, speech, a narrative, a fable or myth." (Partridge 2085). According to
Martin, Homer uses the word myth in his poetry to mention some kinds of speech acts such as: boasts, threats,

ISSN: 2277-6168 May|2012 www.ijsst.com Page | 1

 International Journal of Social Science Tomorrow Vol. 1 No. 3
invectives, laments, prophecies, and prayers (qtd. in Woodard: 54). In his book A Short Introduction to
Classical Myth, Powell ranges over many interpretations and definitions to provide the historical and theoretical
background of classical myth as it is found in the primary sources. He confidently initiates his explanation by
claiming that the word "muthos" "has no known etymology and attributes its innovation to Homer, who uses it
in the opening scene of the Iliad" when a priest of Apollo requests Agamemnon, the leader of Greek armies, to
release his captivated daughter.

Then all the rest of the Achaeans shouted agreement,

To respect the priest and accept the wonderful ransom,
Yet that did not please the heart of Agamemnon, son of Atreus,
But he sent him away harshly and laid upon him a stern muthos:
Let me not find you, old man, by the hollow ships,
either tarrying now or coming back later,
or your staff and the wreath of the god will not protect you.
Here I will not set free. Sooner shall old age come upon her
in our house , in Argos, far from her native land,
as she walks back and forth before the loom and serves my bed.
So go, do not anger me, if you wish a safe return."
(qtd.in Powell:2002:2)

In his translation of The Iliad, Butler does not translate the word but explains Agamemnon's speech as "spoke
fiercely" and "sending" the priest "roughly away". Agamemnon threatens and devalues the status of the priest
among the people who show him respect; thus it means "a threat". According to Powell, Homer in "Iliad", uses
another word, "epos", which means speech. Epos has an etymology, so "epea" is its plural form.

Then Aeneas answered him and said,

"Son of Peleus, think not to frighten me with epea, as if I were a child,
Knowing that I too know well how to utter insults and abuse.
We know each other's genealogy, and each other's parents,
for we have heard the epea told in olden days by mortal men,
(qtd in Powell: 3)

In this passage, the word "epea" is used twice with two different meanings. At first, it means the insulting
speech which is used to frighten others, and then refers to the old oral stories which depict the achievements of
ancestors.

At the beginning of his poem, Theogony, which is about the origin of the gods and cosmos, Hesiod mentions the
way of making falsities and fallacies seem true. He does not use the word "muthos".

Shepherds of the wilderness wretched things of shame, mere bellies,

We know how to speak many psedea["false things"] as though they were etumea
["true things"];
We know too, when we wish, to utter aletheia.
(qtd. in Powell: 4)

A new meaning for "muthos" appears in the writing of Pindar, a Greek poet. He lived two hundred years after
Homer. He is a professional writer who writes to sell his writings to the client. Homer informs us that the
purpose of Greek poetry is to delight and entertain. According to Powell, Pindar has moral stories of Homer
and others and considers some of them untrue, so he attempts to rewrite them with a new moral content. In his
poem Olmypian1", Pindar modifies the old story of Pelops. In this modification he wishes to tell the true story.
Apparently, ""muthos is presented as "untrue story".

Poseidon fell in love, when Clotho took him out of the pure Cauldron, furnished
With a gleaming ivory shoulder .Yes, there are marvels, and yet I suppose the muthoi of
mortals beyond the alathe ["true"] account can be deceptive, stories adorned with
embroidered pseudea ["lies"]
and grace, who fashions all gentle things for men,
confers esteem and often contrives to make believable the unbelievable. But the days to
come are the wisest witnesses.
(qtd. in Powell: 6)

In one of his dialogues called Protagoras, Plato refers to "muthos" and "logos" as two different terms:"shall I,
as an old man speaking to juniors, put my demonstration in the form of a muthos or of a logos?"(qtd. in Powell:

ISSN: 2277-6168 May|2012 www.ijsst.com Page | 2

 International Journal of Social Science Tomorrow Vol. 1 No. 3
7). Plato points to muthos in the same dialogue also as a story happened in the past which describes the deeds of
gods and how things began to get forms as they have now. And he develops his story to describe the relation
between the humans and gods. According to Powell, Plato, in his work Phaedra, calls "muthos" " the story of the
Egyptian god Theuth's ( =Thoth) discovery of writing.

According to Plato, logos is more truthful and reasoned than muthos:

Socrates: listen now to fine logos, which you regard as a muthos, I imagine, but I as an
actual logos. What I am about to tell you I mean to offer as the truth [alethe]. (qtd. in
Powell: 9)

Obviously, in his writing Plato refers to "muthos" as a traditional tale whose reality and credibility is suspected
but logos is a normal speech but it is certain.

Aristotle uses the word "muthos but with different meaning; he uses it to refer to the framework of the story
and the arrangement of the incidents".

According to above interpretations, one can notice that the problem of the trustfulness of story is a controversial
issue and it guides to rise some terms, such as "muthos" and "logos". A logo is a reasoned explanation of
something with actual sequence. This definition interprets the appearance of the suffix (-logy) at the end of
some words which refer to sciences. Whereas a teller of logos is responsible for the information and speech that
he has said, a teller of myth is not responsible for any. The modern interpretations of "myth" neglect the
truthfulness of the story and consider it as a traditional tale". A traditional tale depicts a society, its concerns
and values. When a story is a traditional tale, it has an unidentifiable author. A myth is appreciated as a
traditional tale but any literary work that depends on myth should have an identifiable author. For instance, the
poetic drama by P. B. Shelley Prometheus Unbound has an author but the myth of Prometheus" has no author
and no one can say who created it.

Walter Burkert states myth as "traditional tale with secondary, partial reference to something of collective
importance". However, Bremmer makes a study on "What is a Greek Myth?" Burkert's definition is the center of
his research. According to Bremmer, this definition presents three problems; the first problem which he
discusses is "How traditional is a Greek Myth?" He precedes his investigation by talking about the oldness of
myth and the difficulties of determining the age of myth, yet he shows that some myths are recorded late.
Moreover, he refers to that which Homer mentions some tales which depict places in a time before the
emigration of Greek these places. Also, some writers present different details about the same myth. For
example, Homer's details about Odysseus and Circe are different from Alcaman's details. Furthermore, he
indicates the analogies between different myths from different societies. Due to the open-ended system of
mythology, he considers myths often untraditional. The second problem is "the Collective Importance of Myth".
The Greek myth begins as a tale recited in public show by the poet. This public performance obliges the writer
to be aware of the public's taste. He receives much respect and is regarded as "of the gods". Also, his epic poetry
is believed to have been transmitted by the Moses, spirits which watch everything. This origin encourages the
poet to create new myths and often to change the content of the old ones.

Colonization, the growth of democracy and the introduction of writing and money have an important role in the
change of character in a society comically or tragically. Furthermore, the arrival of literacy puts myths under
attack. Due to this attack, poets, slowly, lose their status and their power is lost to historians and philosophers.
Poets stop writing myths but historians begin to write myths in prose and they do not claim to be divinely
inspired. In the third problem, Bremmer inquires if myth is a traditional tale so what are the differences between
myth and other literary genres of traditional tales. Firstly, he attempts to present the difference between myth
and fairy-tale. From the outset, fairy-tales are told in prose privately and they do not refer to a specific time and
place, but they are restricted by a phrase "Once upon a time, a king was ruling On the other hand, myths
detail the place and the origins of its heroes. Every fairy-tale is separated from another; however, a Greek myth
evokes another by presenting its hero and giving him a restricted role. Then, he refers to the English legend
which covers two German genres, Legende and Sage. The Legende is a story of a holy man whose life is held up
to the community and it has a purpose to urge people to "go and do likewise". So, they are invented by the
church to influence the lives of the faithful.

The Sage is "a legend that explains building or stresses the boundaries between men and animals; it accounts for
extraordinary events and catastrophes; and it describes world peopled by spirits and demons." From this point,
one can note that myths and sage are similar if they are believed by people. Also, Greek myths are used to
bolster the national identity under the Roman Empire and sage are collected for searching a common past.
Therefore, they are for supporting the national identity. Those legends claim to be true, but there is no claim that

ISSN: 2277-6168 May|2012 www.ijsst.com Page | 3

 International Journal of Social Science Tomorrow Vol. 1 No. 3
they have divine inspiration. In this argumentative way, Bremmer attempts to prove that Greek myths are not
always traditional tales and nor their collective importance the same in the whole history of Greece.

Richard Caldwell attempts to define myth, but after mentioning that "no one has yet been able to come up with
a simple definition of myth that includes everything the definer regards as myth and excludes everything else."
Before coming to the definition of the word "myth, he defines and explains the word "table" which should be
defined in connection with its form and function. He infers that "a table is something that both looks like a table
and is used like a table. Exactly the same can be said of a myth: it is something that both looks (or sounds) like a
myth and is used like a myth." (Caldwell : 12). One can infer that the exact definition of myth should contain its
form and its function. According to him the first part of the definition is fairly easy although the long battles of
definers for defining the myth, so his definition is that:

"Greek myth, we all know, is a traditional story (that is, handed down over
generations) about gods or heroes (and their families) of either the remote or more
recent past (a remote past in creation myths (Caldwell : 12)

Like Burkert, Caldwell considers the myth as a traditional story. According to him, the second part is more
complex and it needs to study the functions of myths. The term myth" is defined and discussed by many
writers; Simpson & Roud interpret it as stories about divine beings, generally arranged in a coherent system;
they are revered as true and sacred; they are endorsed by rulers and priests; and closely linked to religion. Once
this link is broken, and the actors in the story are not regarded as gods but as human heroes, giants or fairies, it is
no longer a myth but a folktale. Where the central actor is divine but the story is trivial the result is religious
legend, not myth." (Sampson :254)

Bascom states Myths "are prose narratives which, in the society in which they are told, are considered to be
truthful accounts of what happened in the remote past . . . They may recount the activities of deities, their love
affairs, their family relationships, their friendships and enmities, their victories and defeats." ( (Bascam : 4).
American Heritage Dictionary presents four meanings for myth. 1- a traditional, typical ancient story dealing
with supernatural beings, ancestors, or heroes that serves as fundamental type in the world view of people, as by
explaining aspects of the natural world or delineating the psychology, customs, or ideals of society. 2- A story, a
theme, an object, or a character regarded as embodying an aspect of culture. 3- A fiction or half-truth, especially
one that forms parts of an ideology. 4- A fictitious story, person, or thing". According these four definitions, the
word myth is connected to a different thing; it is depicted as a story which has relation to the traditions of a
society. In addition, its meaning is widened to refer not only to stories, but also to objects and characters. In the
third meaning, it has relation with the world of fiction completely or partially but with a purpose to form an
ideology. Finlay, it is shown to be completely fictitious with its theme or person.

Looking for the word myth leads to the general word Mythology". Firstly, it is used to refer to a collection of
myths that form a mythological system. Hence, one can talk of "Roman Mythology" or "Greek Mythology". In
this sense, one describes the system of myths used by a particular society at some particular time in human
history. It is not the only way to group myths but it is possible to group mythologies in another way, for
instance, one can group them geographically such as Oceanic mythology" or "African mythology. A second
meaning is the academic study of myths and systems of myths in general. Bierce defines mythology as "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." (Bierce : 168) So, they mention myth as the first
thought of the people about the world around them. So it can be defined as a cultural memory book.

The myth is not a simple word which can be defined easily but one needs to study its functions and role.
Through different definitions and reading different myths from different cultures, one finds some similarities
among them which can guide readers to a belief that some myths are not traditional stories for specific society
but they are universal traditions for the whole people of the ancient ages.

2. Functions of Myth
Myths are the soul of a culture, an integral part of the religious experience of a people. Myths play a great role
in any society and culture. They contain a variety of tales which cover all the sides that both primitive and some
modern people look for such as truth, experience and entertainment. These myths have several functions which
can be understood through reading. These functions are discussed by various writers, but there is no writer who
presents them all in his book. For instance, Bolton attempts to discuss these functions under different titles.
Osborn and Burges argue some of them too.

As a part of human nature, a person always wants to know everything and also looks for the answer to questions
which are initiated by why. The primitives curiosity and desire to discover everything around lead them to

ISSN: 2277-6168 May|2012 www.ijsst.com Page | 4

 International Journal of Social Science Tomorrow Vol. 1 No. 3
create these myths which offer an explanation for the unknown phenomena such as the creation of the universe
and they also attempt to answer some basic and broad questions about the purpose of creation. They also give
explanation for how things happen. Furthermore, Myths provide reasons for the happening of small things as the
changing of seasons and also how fire came to man. Whereas people of the modern ages depend on the
technological advancement to know about the world around, people of primitive ages depend on the myths to
know everything not only the universe. For example, the development of science shows the reason of the
changing of seasons. The reason is that when the earth rotating every year, its axis tilts. On the other hand,
myths give another explanation to this phenomenon. The interpretation depends on the myth of Demeter, the
goddess of fertility, and her sadness for her daughter who has been kidnapped by the god of the underworld. In
the spring, the mother and daughter reunite. Subsequently, the earth becomes green. When the daughter has to
come back to the underworld, the mother becomes sad and the earth starts to lose its fertility. Bolton and Osborn
discuss this function.

The second function which associates myths with rituals are explained by Kirk, Osborn and Bolton. Myths serve
various purposes for the old people; one of the important purposes is religious. The ancient Greek and Roman
are the religious people. The people believe that the gods and goddesses have a great power. The myths give
definition to many gods and goddess and they show the function of each one. So people know well which god or
goddess they should pray in need. Each religion has rituals which people should do. Myths also offer the rituals
of religion of ancient people along with an explanation and justification to these rituals. For instance, when the
people offer up a sacrifice to gods, they slaughter an animal, burn its bone and save the meat for themselves.
They do not save the bones themselves because in the first sacrifice Prometheus offer bones and fat for Zeus and
save the meat for human being.

Bolton adds the third function which is about establishing order of myths. Myths give a good image of the
natural and social order. The universe starts with the creating of universe. After that, the myths show that the
creation of human being and its society comes after the creation of the large universe. The Natural order is
explained in the character and role of the God Zeus (Romans call him Jupiter). Myths depict Zeus (Jupiter) as
the responsible for everything in the universe. He is believed to be the creator of such order in the universe.
Although, some gods have role in the universe and power among some phenomena, he is illustrated to be over
all. He orders everything in the universe in its respective place.

Social order has an important role in any societies. Any society must have a leader who has the responsibility to
judge and shows people their roles in society. Each society has to be in order and every individual has to know
his authority and must not exceed others authority. Otherwise, the individuals will fight each other and this
society will be vanished as fast as possible. As people now have rules which establish the order of society,
ancient people have rules establishing through myths. Myths reflect rules for the ordering of society. So myths
are like a social charter which shows people what to do and what not to do. Like the responsibility of natural
order, the social order responsibility is laid on the shoulders of Zeus (Jupiter) as well. He is stated as the judge
who builds rules for maintaining order and justice. Moreover, he sets rules for punishing those who break these
rules.

Besides, Bolton adds another function that explains the capability of myths to touch humanism. One of the
characteristics which discriminates humans from the other creatures is their range of emotion. They reflect the
emotion of love, jealousy and sadness etc. Reading myths makes sense that they have been designed to help
human kind to know more about their human nature. Apparently, the characters of myths are granted feeling to
be more accessible to people. This feature makes myth more unforgettable and eternal. Moral Lessons for
teaching and lessons for attacking immoral behavior exist within myths. According to the allegorical theory,
these myths are allegories. These lessons are not explained directly, but the reader has to read myth and elicit the
message. Caldwell mentions Kirks definition of myths which proclaim unreservedly that myths bear lessons
about life. Kirks states that myths as are on the hand good stories, on the other hand bearers of important
messages about life in general and life-within-society in particular.(qtd in Caldwell: 4)

Furthermore, Bolton states myths as a product of a collective people. However, myths do not only reflect the
cultural views and ideas of society, but also those of individual people. They reflect the features of the ideal
human being and the right human behavior. Such an explanation shows what behaviours people consider as an
ideal and what features people admire. Myths present an ideal archetype of human behavior and suggest ideal
features for a hero. Myths show the admirable qualities for men and women.
Myths still attract varieties of readers interests and tastes because of the topics included in them. They cover
various topics that suit tendencies of different readers. Individually, each one prefers a particular type of stories;
one likes fictitious stories, another one likes adventurous stories, third one likes love stories. Implicitly they
carry facts which apply people to think of. However, the idea that the stories are true loses its supporters in the
presence of science. One of the functions of literature is to bring pleasure to the readers. Myths are the great

ISSN: 2277-6168 May|2012 www.ijsst.com Page | 5

 International Journal of Social Science Tomorrow Vol. 1 No. 3
source of entertainment. The themes they deal with bring pleasure to the readers and the audience if these stories
have been filmed. Readers will meet adventurous stories, love stories, moral tales, stories of great heroes in the
field of battle, tales of rewarding the virtue and punishing the vice, tales of fights between beasts and men, tales
of magic, fairy tales and many other stories which are admirable. Some believe that the charm of these stories
can be noticed in the nights of winter when all the family set down and one of them starts to narrate a myth. The
oral tradition has its charm.

Caldwell calls this function the aesthetic function for its capability of producing pleasure and satisfaction.
According to Caldwell, Kirk mentions the narration and entertaining. Kirk also discusses another two functions
which are the same functions which are argued by Bolton; the first function refers to operation, iteration and
validation which include the association of myths with ritual and religion, charter myths and etiological myths.
The second function is speculation and explanation. As Caldwell believes, the psychological function must be
given priority. He classifies this function into three functions.

(1) The expression of unconscious ideas in a specific form; (2) the transfer of emotional
energy to non-psychological matters and functions; (3) the provision of societal response to
shared psychological needs. (Caldwell 6-7)

Here, Caldwell declares his support to the psychological interpretation. He justifies his acceptance by saying
that the general function of myths is to fulfill a variety of human needs and the emotion is one of these needs
which has to be fulfilled. Besides, he classifies functions into psychological and non-psychological functions.
As he stated, these functions have reciprocal relation, so it is impossible to refer to one and neglect the other.
Whereas psychological functions give emotional energy to non-psychological functions, non-psychological
functions provide them with the opportunity of emergence.

Campbell classifies functions of myth into four categories; mystical, cosmological, sociological and pedagogical
functions. The mystical function aims to attract peoples attention to the mystery and wonder of the creating of
the universe and beings. The cosmological function is to show the shape of the universe and its content. Myths
provide a complete explanation of the universe and its content. The sociological function mentions the ethical
laws which give people charter to follow in their behaviors with others. The pedagogical function is to teach
people how to live human lifetime under different circumstances.

Obviously, myths are not created functionlessly, but they have various functions. From the beginning, they have
been created to answer many inquiries about the universe. They are like an encyclopedia which covers different
sciences. According to the ancient people, myths are the only source of knowledge, religion, and social charter.

Ali Alhaidari Dr. S. G. Bhanegaonkar

Research Student, Associate Professor,
English Dept., English Department,
School of Languages, Literature and Cultural Studies, Peoples College,
SRTM University, SRTM University,
Nanded, India Nanded, India

Reference
Abraham, M. H., and Geofrey Galt Harpham. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Boston: Wordsworth Cengage Learning, 2009.
Bascam, W. R. "the Forms of Folklore: Prose Narrative." Journal of American Folklore (1965): 3-20.
Bierce, Ambrose. The Unabridge Devil's Dictionary. Ed. David E. schultz & S. T. Joshi. Athens &London: The University of Geor gia
Press, 2002.
Bolton, Lesly. The Everything Classical Mythology Book : Greek and Roman gods,goddesses, heroes and monsters from Ares to Zeus.
Adams Media Corporatio, 2002.
Caldwell, Richard. The Origin of the Gods A Psychoanalytic Study of Greek Theogonic Myth. New York: Oxford University Press,
1989.
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with A Thousand Faces. Princerton: Princerton University Press, 1949.. The power of Myth. New
York: Anchor Books, 1991.
Osborn, Kevin, and Dana Burgess. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Classical Mythology. New York: Alpha Books, 1998.
Partridge, Eric. Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English. London: Routledge, 2006.
Powell, Barry B. A Short Introduction to Classical Myth. Upper Saddle River, New Jersi: Pearson Education, Inc., 2002.
Sampson, Jacqueline, and Steve Roud. The Dictionary of English Folklore. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Woodard, Roger, ed. The Campridge Companion to Greek Mythology. New York: Campridge University press, 2007.

ISSN: 2277-6168 May|2012 www.ijsst.com Page | 6