the.com/folklore
the original viral content, spread by word of mouth before mouths had algorithms
means The traditional stories, customs, beliefs, and sayings of a community, passed down informally from one generation to the next.
from A 19th-century English coinage, stitched together from plain old 'folk' (the people) and 'lore' (knowledge or learning, from Old English 'lār,' a cousin of 'learn'). It was minted by an antiquarian who wanted one tidy native word to replace the clunky 'popular antiquities' — and the term caught on so well it spread, fittingly, by word of mouth across the world's languages.
- word origin
- Coined 1846 by William Thoms, replacing 'popular antiquities'
- tale types
- Scholars catalog stories by number, like library codes
- global twins
- Cinderella exists in 500+ versions worldwide
- fearful purpose
- Many tales warned children away from real dangers
- living thing
- Memes and urban legends are folklore being born now
la llorona — weeping woman ghost legend across mexico and latin america for centuries
banshee of irish mythology — wailing female spirit in irish tradition predicting death in families
kraken of scandinavia — giant sea monster in norwegian and icelandic sailors' accounts, 1600s-1700s