apocryphal

From Late Latin apocryphus (“secret, not approved for public reading”), from Ancient Greek ἀπόκρυφος (apókruphos, “hidden, obscure”, thus “(books) of unknown authorship”), from ἀπό (apó, “from”) + κρύπτω (krúptō, “I hide”). Properly plural (the singular would be apocryphon), but commonly treated as a collective singular. “Apocryphal” meaning “of doubtful authenticity” is first attested in English in 1590.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈpɒkɹɪfəl/, /əˈpɒkɹəfəl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈpɑːkɹɪfəl/, /əˈpɑːkɹəfəl/

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apocryphal (comparative more apocryphal, superlative most apocryphal)

1. (Christianity) Of, or pertaining to, the Apocrypha.
   • 1920, Montague Rhodes James, “Introductory”, in The Lost Apocrypha of the Old Testament:

     The Latins are throughout poorer. Tertullian and Cyprian will be referred to; but Jerome hates apocryphal literature, and says so, while Augustine, a valuable source of knowledge about some New Testament Apocrypha, never, it so happens, quotes spurious Old Testament literature at all.

2. (by extension) Of doubtful authenticity, or lacking authority; not regarded as canonical. [from 1590s]

   Synonyms: allonymous, spurious

   Antonym: canonical

   Many scholars consider the stories of the monk Teilo to be apocryphal.

3. (by extension) Of dubious veracity; of questionable accuracy or truthfulness; anecdotal or in the nature of an urban legend.

   Synonym: anecdotal

   • 1749, [John Cleland], Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: Printed [by Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], OCLC 731622352:

     Charles, already dispos'd by the evidence of his senses to think my pretences to virginity not entirely apocryphal, smothers me with kisses, begs me, in the name of love, to have a little patience, and that he will be as tender of hurting me as he would be of himself.

   There is an apocryphal tale of a little boy plugging the dike with his finger.

• Apocrypha on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Apocryphal Literature in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)