3 entries
A claim may be widely repeated before its first recoverable source, and a source may be old without supporting the modern version. Pseudohistory and folklore supply separate tests for the story, its attestation and its transmission.
folklore folktale classification
A category code can identify a recurring pattern while saying almost nothing about the particular observation that received it. Folktale indexing keeps accession and type numbers separate; incident systems should too.
A practice can continue after its stated mechanism has failed every available check. Folk belief and oral transmission make persistence a measurement in its own right, not a proof of what kept the practice alive.