folklore

Etymology

From folk + lore, coined by British writer William Thoms in 1846 to replace terms such as "popular antiquities". Thoms imitated German terms such as Volklehre (“people's customs”) and Volksüberlieferung (“popular tradition”). Compare also Old English folclar (“popular instruction; homily”) and West Frisian folkloare (“folklore”).

noun

  1. The tales, legends, superstitions, and traditions of a particular ethnic population.
  2. (by extension) The tales, superstitions etc. of any particular group or community.
    A selection of longer items of hacker folklore and humor is included in Appendix A, Hacker Folklore. 1996, Eric S. Raymond, The New Hacker's Dictionary, 3rd edition, MIT Press, page 3
    Foxes boss Rodgers had a smile that illuminated Wembley as he joined Leicester's players in joyous scenes of celebration after the manager and his players had written their name into the club's folklore. May 2021, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 0 – 1 Leicester”, in BBC Sport
  3. (mathematics, slang) The collective of proofs or techniques which are widely known among mathematicians, but have never been formally published.

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