Legend

Legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude. Legend, for its active and passive participants, includes no happenings that are outside the realm of "possibility" but may include miracles. Legends may be transformed over time, in order to keep them fresh and vital, and realistic. Many legends operate within the realm of uncertainty, never being entirely believed by the participants, but also never being resolutely doubted.

The Brothers Grimm defined legend as folktale historically grounded. A modern folklorist's professional definition of legend was proposed by Timothy R. Tangherlini in 1990: "Legend, typically, is a short (mono-) episodic, traditional, highly ecotypified historicized narrative performed in a conversational mode, reflecting on a psychological level a symbolic representation of folk belief and collective experiences and serving as a reaffirmation of commonly held values of the group to which the tale is told."

Etymology and origin

The English word "legend" comes from the Medieval Latin legenda. In its early English-language usage, the word indicated a narrative of an event. The word legendary was originally a noun (introduced in the 1510s) meaning a collection or corpus of legends. This word changed to legendry, and legendary became the adjectival form.

Related concepts

Anthropologists distinguish between myth, folklore, fable, folk tale, fairytale, and legend. Myths are supernatural, religious stories with heroes and gods; legends are about semi-true historical or folk heroes, real people, events, and places. Folklore is a genre of literature that includes legends, folk tales, and fables; folk tales are fantasies, like fairy tales, and do not contain any historical truth.

See also

• Folklore
• Myth
• Fable
• Folk tale
• Fairytale

References

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