MYTHOLOGY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does mythology mean? 

• MYTHOLOGY (noun)
  The noun MYTHOLOGY has 2 senses:

1. myths collectively; the body of stories associated with a culture or institution or person

2. the study of myths

  Familiarity information: MYTHOLOGY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MYTHOLOGY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Myths collectively; the body of stories associated with a culture or institution or person

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("mythology" is a kind of...):

accumulation; aggregation; assemblage; collection (several things grouped together or considered as a whole)

Meronyms (members of "mythology"):

myth (a traditional story accepted as history; serves to explain the world view of a people)

Domain member category:

thunderbird ((mythology) the spirit of thunder and lightning believed by some Native Americans to take the shape of a great bird)

Brunhild; Brunnhilde; Brynhild (a Valkyrie or a queen in the Nibelungenlied who loved the hero Siegfried; when he deceived her she had him killed and then committed suicide)

Anglo-Saxon deity ((Anglo-Saxon mythology) a deity worshipped by the Anglo-Saxons)

Teutonic deity ((German mythology) a deity worshipped by the ancient Teutons)

Wayland; Wayland the Smith; Wieland ((European mythology) a supernatural smith and king of the elves; identified with Norse Volund)

Siegfried ((German mythology) mythical German warrior hero of the Nibelungenlied who takes possession of the accursed treasure of the Nibelungs by slaying the dragon that guards it and awakens Brynhild and is eventually killed; Sigurd is the Norse counterpart)

Nibelung ((German mythology) a companion or follower of Siegfried)

Nibelung ((German mythology) any of the group of dwarfs who possessed a treasure hoard that was stolen by Siegfried)

Arjuna ((Hindu mythology) the warrior prince in the Bhagavad-Gita to whom Krishna explains the nature of being and of God and how humans can come to know God)

diffusion (the spread of social institutions (and myths and skills) from one society to another)

mythology (the study of myths)

Annwfn; Annwn ((Welsh mythology) the other world; land of fairies)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "mythology"):

classical mythology (the system of mythology of the Greeks and Romans together; much of Roman mythology (especially the gods) was borrowed from the Greeks)

Norse mythology (the mythology of Scandinavia (shared in part by Britain and Germany) until the establishment of Christianity)

Derivation:

mythologic; mythological (based on or told of in traditional stories; lacking factual basis or historical validity)

mythologist (an expert on mythology)

mythologize (make into a myth)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The study of myths

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("mythology" is a kind of...):

cultural anthropology; social anthropology (the branch of anthropology that deals with human culture and society)

Domain category:

mythology (myths collectively; the body of stories associated with a culture or institution or person)

Derivation:

mythologist (an expert on mythology)

mythologize (make into a myth)

 Context examples 

“Yes,” added the other; “and of the Roman emperors as low as Severus; besides a great deal of the heathen mythology, and all the metals, semi-metals, planets, and distinguished philosophers.”

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

The rules of the International Astronomical Union require that the moons of Neptune are named after Greek and Roman mythology of the undersea world.

(Tiny Neptune Moon Spotted by Hubble May Have Broken from Larger Moon, NASA)

Hippocamp is a half-horse half-fish from Greek mythology.

(Tiny Neptune Moon Spotted by Hubble May Have Broken from Larger Moon, NASA)