proto-story

noun

An underlying or root story upon which many later stories are variants.

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Meanings

nounproto-story (plural proto-stories)

plural proto-stories

  1. An underlying or root story upon which many later stories are variants.

    Just as Greek and Sanskrit reflect a proto-language, so do the Cypria and the Mahābhārata reflect a proto-story.

    2025 December 12, Tom Hercules Davies, “Horses, Wheels, Languages: Greek, Mesopotamian and Indic Epic on the Eurasian Steppe”, in The Classical Quarterly, volume 75, number 1, page 5

Origin

From proto- + story.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

proto-story. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/proto-story

MLA

“proto-story.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/proto-story. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “proto-story,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/proto-story.

Source: proto-story on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.