mythification

/ˌmɪθɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/

Etymology

From myth + -ification.

mythification means conversion into a myth. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.

mythification is pronounced /ˌmɪθɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/.

Why “mythification” is a great word

MYTHIFICATION — [Noun] The conversion or transformation of something into a myth, or the process of making something the subject of a myth. Formed within English from the noun 'myth' (from Ancient Greek μῦθος (mûthos, 'speech, thought, story, myth')) and the suffix '-ification' (from Latin -ficātiō, denoting a making or creating). Unlike demythification (which strips the legendary away) or mystification (which deliberately obscures), mythification is the solemn, often collective, act of narrative creation. It is the slow accretion of glory around a battle’s forgotten facts, the halo of impossible virtue applied to a founder’s memory, and the gradual hardening of a local ghost story into a name on a map—the human alchemy by which a fact, over time, becomes a truth.

noun

Conversion into a myth.“Both products of Hollywood’s youth boom of the late ’60s, “Woodstock” and “Zabriskie Point” begin in the same cultural moment and head off in completely different directions: “Woodstock” toward a mythification of the recent past, “Zabriskie” toward a nameless dread of the near future.”