protomyth

plural protomyths

1. An initial form of a myth that is inferred or known about only from secondary sources; a motif that is not yet accorded the status of myth, but may (it is supposed) become one.

   Petrosyan, noting that this story links the water-horse to the twins' conception, proposes a protomyth in which the horse is the twins' father.

   2005, “Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies, Volumes 14-16”, in Society for Armenian Studies, page 15

   2 more examples

   In the protomyth, for which the Latvian and Indie myths give evidence, the sun-maiden, which Helen strongly resembles, was married to the divine horsemen (v. (Robbins) Dexter [1980]: 21-22; Dexter [1984]: 138-142).

   1990, Journal of Indo-European Studies, page 303

   The language Gerty borrows from such fantasies and the other languages of popular culture that surface in the novel constitute frustrated protomyths that seek universal significance for the everyday in ways that correspond to Joyce's strategies. Though these protomyths fail, they are not treated altogether unsympathetically.

   2010, Gerardine Meaney, Gender, Ireland and Cultural Change: Race, Sex and Nation, Taylor & Francis (Routledge), page 103