Origin Stories: Apocryphal
“Origin story” is an expression for a superhero’s backstory — for instance, Superman was born on Krypton just before it was destroyed. Many words also have fascinating origin stories. While English comes largely from Latin (and from Greek, and from Latin through French and Spanish, with some Germanic roots and a bit of Sanskrit, etc.), you’ll find that word usage can change quite bit over a couple thousand years.
Apocryphal means “of questionable authenticity; false.”
I’m sorry, but this putative letter from George Washington that you found at a garage sale is clearly apocryphal -“ it is riddled with anachronisms (for instance, Washington was long dead by the time silent films were invented), and also, Washington most certainly didn’t refer to Martha Washington as hey baby.
Related Words: Ersatz (artificial, synthetic, serving as a substitute), Faux (fake, imitation, as in faux fur), and Specious (pleasing to the eye but deceptive).
The word Apocrypha often refers to books that have been rejected for inclusion in (various versions of) the Bible, either due to dubious authenticity or because the Church considered them useful, but not divinely inspired. Obviously, different authorities disagree about what exactly is included in the Apocrypha.
The Latin “apocryphus” meant “secret, not approved for public reading,” from the Greek “apokryphos” (hidden, obscure), from the roots “apo” (away) and “kryptein” (to hide, also appearing in “crypt”). Hmmn, is that like kryptonite? Actually, yes — before Krypton was a fictional planet, it was a chemical element. The name comes from the same root, so named because it is a rare gas.