mythologizev.
/mᵻˈθɒlədʒʌɪz/, U.S. /məˈθɑləˌdʒaɪz/ 1. transitive. To interpret in mythological terms or with regard to mythological features; to expound the symbolism of (a story, fable, etc.). Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > mythology > convert into or construct myth [verb (transitive)] > interpret in mythological terms
mythologize1603
mythicize1840
mythize1851
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > mythology > convert into or construct myth [verb (transitive)]
mythicize1840
mythologize1847
mythify1873
remythologize1954
1603 J. Florio tr. M. de Montaigne Ess. ii. x. 237 Most of Æsopes fables have divers senses... Those which Mithologize them, chuse some kind of coluor well-suting with the fable.
1632 G. Sandys (title) Ovids Metamorphosis Englished, mythologiz'd, and represented in figures.
1649 J. Ogilby in tr. Virgil Æneis i. 46 (note) in tr. Virgil Wks. [Pallas], Goddess of Wisdom, born of Jove's Brain; by Macrobius..mythologiz'd, the Vertue of the Sun deriv'd from the highest part of the Sky.
1704 J. Swift Tale of Tub Pref. 14 This Parable was immediately mythologiz'd; The Whale was interpreted to be Hobs's Leviathan [etc.].
1727 W. Warburton Crit. & Philos. Enq. Causes Prodigies & Miracles i. 62 How naturally one of their own Fables is here mythologized and explained.
1847 J. W. Donaldson Vindic. Protestant Princ. 67 The task which he [sc. David Strauss] undertook, of mythologizing the evangelical history.
2. † b. transitive. To make up (a fictitious story). Obsolete. rare.
a. intransitive. To recount a myth or myths; to create a mythology. Also transitive with clause as object.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > mythology > relate or construct myth [verb (intransitive)]
mythologize1609
1609 P. Holland Annotations sig. vjv, in tr. Ammianus Marcellinus Rom. Hist. Natalis Comes of this fabulous narration doth mythologize in this maner.
1669 T. Gale Court of Gentiles: Pt. I ii. i. 10 Noah his three sons divided the world; so did Saturnes... Thus they mythologised.
1719 Free-thinker No. 88. 2 While the Writer is thus gravely mythologizing on so odd an Adventure.
1753 S. Shuckford Creation & Fall of Man Pref. p. x They mythologized, that five Gods were now born, Osiris, Orus, Typho, Isis, and Nepthe.
1848 ‘L. Mariotti’ Italy Past & Present II. iv. 118 What can the poet hope by mythologising on well-defined historical events?
1883 Sat. Rev. 10 Nov. 607 As to Mr. Brown's examination of the character and legend of Circe, we are constrained to say that with all his industry, he is..mythologizing on a mistaken method.
1960 Times Lit. Suppl. 22 Apr. 256/4 Where other critics..summarize or mythologize, Mr. Hartman analyses and compares.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > fabrication of statement or story > invent, concoct [verb (transitive)]
forgec1386
contrivec1400
commentc1450
dissimule1483
devisea1535
invent1535
fable1553
coin1561
to make upc1650
manufacture1700
to tell the tale1717
fabricate1779
concoct1792
fob1805
mythologize1851
fabulate1856
phoney1940
1851 Fraser's Mag. 43 410/1 He heard that Hunter had been mythologizing..something to Benson's discredit several years before, and had been trying to make mischief between him and some of his relations.
3. transitive. To represent mythologically; to embody in myth. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > mythology > convert into or construct myth [verb (transitive)] > express mythologically
mythologize1678
1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. ii. 83 What the Poets Fable of Tantalus in Hell..is nothing to that true fear which men have of a Deity..in this Life, which indeed was the very thing mythologized in it.
1902 Q. Rev. Oct. 481 The whirling wind..has been mythologised into a demon.
4. transitive. To convert into myth or mythology; to make mythical or the subject of a myth. Also (in extended use): to create or promote an exaggerated or idealized popular image of.
ΚΠ
1878 R. W. Emerson Sovereignty of Ethics in N. Amer. Rev. 126 414 Our religion..respects and mythologizes some one time and place, and person.
1924 Amer. Mercury Nov. 263/1 They were so completely agape before the greatest figure in world history that they could only mythologize Him.
1936 A. Tate Coll. Ess. (1959) 298 First, there is the religious imagination, which can mythologize indiscriminately history, legend, trees, the sea, animals, all being humanly dramatized.
1960 William & Mary Q. 17 76 He did not have to mythologize the events or view them through the lens of a later generation.
1983 Listener 16 June 14/2 They persist in mythologising the campus as being dominated, even populated exclusively, by rich WASPs.
1991 Times 6 Feb. 17/1 Alternative comedy helped to mythologise Mrs Thatcher.
1999 Calgary (Alberta) Sun (Electronic ed.) 9 Jan. We have not mythologized hockey the way Americans..have mythologized baseball.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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