What is the Difference Between History and Story

History vs Story

History and Story are confusing in some context and thus people see no difference between history and story in such situations. However, strictly speaking, they are different words with different meanings and usages. The word history refers to the events of the ‘past.’ On the other hand, the word story refers to ‘an account of some event.’ This is the main difference between the two words. It is believed by the philologists that the word story would have formed from the word history by means of the phonetic change called ‘aphaeresis.’ According to aphaeresis, some words tend to lose the initial vowel sound due to phonetic change. In the example of history, the initial vowel sound ‘I’ in history is lost and hence it got converted to story.

What does History mean?

According to the American Heritage dictionary history is ‘a chronological record of events, as of the life or development of a people or institution, often including an explanation of or commentary on those events.’ In other words, history is an account of the past. History is always factual. It is always the truth. When we say ‘history of Europe’ we are discussing about the actual events that took place in the past in Europe.

One can say that history deals with the events of the past that had taken place in a country or a society. Political events, social events and other types of events come under history. History is important in the sense it helps us to understand a particular country better.

It is interesting to note that the word history is used as a noun, and it has its adjectival form in the word ‘historical’ as in the expression ‘historical events.’

What does Story mean?

According to the American Heritage dictionary story means ‘an account or recital of an event or a series of events, either true or fictitious.’ In other words, a story is when you tell about something to someone else or write an account of something. However, this account can be true or pure fiction. Sometimes you will see that some stories are part fictional. Let us see an explanation. If you take the story of Jack and Beanstalk it is pure fiction. There are no giants in the world. So, it is the work of pure imagination. Then, if you take a news story about a bill that was passed in the parliament, that is actually a true story. It is known as a story because you are reporting or reciting what happened to the viewers or the readers. Then, sometimes you come across partial fictional stories. For example think about a news story that says a celebrity hit a paparazzi fellow to a pulp. However, in reality, the celebrity has merely pushed the paparazzi fellow away. So, that story is partial fiction.

When it comes to the literature field, we have seen that the word story is indicative of any narration based on imagination or fiction. The writer of stories is often called by the name ‘story writer.’ A story centers on a certain event in one’s life or any incident pertaining to his or her life. It gives a unique message at the end. A story comes in different forms such as novel, poem, short story, etc.

Also, remember that story is never limited to the past. It can be an account of past events, present events, as well as future events. This is mainly because the story does not always have to be the truth. So, you can talk about the future too.

Moreover, the word story is often used as a noun only. Expressions such as ‘storyline,’ ‘crime story’ have been formed from the word ‘story.’