Arabic repurposed the Greek word for history to mean fable

Evidence

The same word, the same root, has found its way into Arabic too, but with a dramatic shift of meaning. The Arabic term is ustfiu¯ra. It too derives from the Greek historia, but in Arabic, it has the meaning of a tall story. Ustfiu¯ra is a fable, a myth, a patently invented tale, and it is interesting that this same term, by what route or channel I do not know, should have suffered so complete a change of meaning in Arabic. It is not that the Arabs, from the earliest times, were not interested in history, but they use a different term to designate it. This is the term ta’rı¯kh, which is used not only in Arabic but, as far as I know, in virtually every other Muslim language. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1922

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains the etymology shift of ustura/ustfiu¯ra from Greek historia to ‘tall story’ and ta’rı¯kh as the actual Arabic term for history.
• XREF: Connects to the broader theme of how language encodes a civilization’s relationship to truth and narrative. — connects to: A word’s etymology can embed an entire origin story — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 946