'mythologize' originates from English formation based on the noun 'mythology', ultimately from Greek 'mythologia', where 'mythos' meant 'story' and 'logia' meant 'study' or 'account'.

'mythologize' developed in English by adding the verb-forming suffix '-ize' (from Greek '-izein' via Latin/French) to Middle English 'mythology' (from Old French/Latin forms of Greek 'mythologia'), eventually producing the modern verb 'mythologize' and its derived forms like 'mythologizing'.

Initially the root referred to 'accounts or studies of myths'; the verb formation originally meant 'to treat as or relate in the manner of myth', and it has evolved into the current sense 'to make into a myth or to idealize/romanticize', often with critical or evaluative nuance.