Introduction

Etymology is the study of the origin of words and the way their meanings have ch anged throughout his tory. The etym ology of

etymology

is from the Greek

etymos

meaning "true, real, actual," and the suffix

–

logia

mean

ing “study of”. Etymology is the s tudy of the true sense of a

word.

Religion

comes from

religare

, Latin for "to bind fast", via the notion of an obligation being placed on us by the gods. The word

science

comes from the Latin

scientia

, meaning

"knowledge”.

And we get the word

philosophy

from the Greek

philosophia

meaning “love of knowledge”.

This makes philosophy and science sound a lot better. I mean, everybody likes knowledge, right? And everybody hates being bound and having obligations, whether to the gods or anyone else. The plot thickens when we check the etymology of knowledge.

Knowledge

comes from the 12

th

century, Old English word

cnawlece

meaning "acknowledgment of a superior, honor, worship". Sounds an awful lot like a relig ion. This may be where we get t he phrase,

“Knowledge is power.”

Is it poss ible that these three f ields are actually the same t hing, in the true sense? The essential element in common between these spheres of human activity is

mythology

. We know the Greek suffix

–

logia

,

meaning “study

of

”

, gives us the

–

logy

part. The etymological derivation of myth should give us pause. We usually think of myt hs as stories or rumours, which are widely believed, but generally misunderstood and incorrect. The term is applied to either the fanciful religions of the ancient peoples

, or to modern “urban legends”

which do not stand up to logi cal critique. But the word myth is derived from the Greek