monomythn.
/ˈmɒnə(ʊ)mɪθ/, U.S. /ˈmɑnəˌmɪθ/ An archetypal myth; a theme that underlies a number of superficially different myths.
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society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > mythology > [noun] > a mythical story or myth > type of
creation story1860
creation myth1863
sun myth1865
solar myth1870
nature myth1871
just-so story1897
monomyth1929
FOAF1989
1929 J. Joyce Contin. Work in Progress in transition No. 18. 229 And his monomyth! Ah ho! Say no more about it!
1949 J. Campbell Hero with Thousand Faces 30 The standard path of the mythological adventure of the hero is a magnification of the formula represented in the rites of passage: separation—initiation—return: which might be named the nuclear unit of the monomyth.
1977 I. Asimov in R. Jewett & J. S. Lawrence Amer. Monomyth p. xv The myth stands almost alone—hence monomyth, the single story we do deeply believe in.
1988 D. Bentley in G. Lynch & D. Rampton Canad. Ess. (1991) 322 A structuralist belief in the existence of a monomyth that is merely elaborated in local and idiosyncratic ways which are of vastly less importance than the pattern that underlies them.
1990 Mythlore 63 20/1 Part of the strength of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz comes from Baum's use of one of the oldest and most prevalent patterns available to writers—that of the monomyth—which he blends with his intuitive knowledge of ageless aspects of the human psyche.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1929