Cosmogenies

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Theories or accounts explaining the origin of the universe ; mythical narratives describing how the cosmos was brought into existence
2. Explanations of how the universe first arose ; traditional stories that recount how the world and cosmos were formed
3. Accounts of how the universe came into being, whether drawn from scientific reasoning or from religious and mythic tradition

Etymology: "Cosmogenies" is the plural of "cosmogeny," a word built from Greek roots: "kosmos," meaning order or world, and "-geneia," from "gignesthai," to be born or come into being. The combination names the origin or creation of the universe, and the plural form refers to the different accounts of how the cosmos came to be. Because "cosmogeny" is a formal coinage from classical elements rather than a word that passed through ordinary speech, its sense stays close to its parts: a story of how the world was generated.

Synonyms: cosmogony