Bible Dictionaries
Fable

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

primarily signifies "speech, conversation." The first syllable comes from a root mu---, signifying "to close, keep secret, be dumb;" whence, muo, "to close" (eyes, mouth) and musterion, "a secret, a mystery;" hence, "a story, narrative, fable, fiction" (Eng., "myth"). The word is used of gnostic errors and of Jewish and profane fables and genealogies, in 1 Timothy 1:4; 4:7; 2 Timothy 4:4; Titus 1:14; of fiction, in 2 Peter 1:16 .

Muthos is to be contrasted with aletheia, "truth," and with logos, "a story, a narrative purporting to set forth facts," e.g., Matthew 28:15 , a "saying" (i.e., an account, story, in which actually there is a falsification of facts); Luke 5:15 , RV, "report."