yore
Times long gone
Yore means long ago or former times, appearing almost exclusively in the phrase of yore: knights of yore, in days of yore.
The word is literary and deliberately old-fashioned, evoking a romanticized past.
Outside the set phrase, yore sounds archaic or playful.
Of a distant past
- bygoneOf earlier times
- ancientVery old indeed
- antiquityGreat age, ancient era
- archaicBelonging to earlier times
prehistoric · primordial · antediluvian · paleolithic · neolithic · classical · medieval · renaissance
Of folklore, not fact
- epicImpressively grand in scope
- sagasExtended heroic narratives
- folkloreInherited cultural narratives
- fablesDidactic animal stories
tales · myths · legends · Arthurian · Beowulf · Gilgamesh · Odysseus · Valhalla
Recalling past experiences
- wistfulnessTender sadness for absence
- longingIntense, persistent desire
- yearningIntense prolonged craving
- melancholySubdued, lasting sadness
sentimentality · memory · recollection · reverie · retrospection · hiraeth · bittersweet · sepia-toned
Family line of descent
- forefathersAncestral predecessors
- progenitorsOriginal ancestors of a lineage
- lineageDescent from progenitors
- heritageInherited cultural legacy
forebears · elders · patriarchs · matriarchs · generations · bloodline · roots · tradition
Ordered historical record
- annalsYear-by-year historical account
- archivesStored historical documents
- antiquarianScholar of old artifacts
- relicsPreserved items from antiquity
artifacts · manuscripts · parchment · codex · inscription · records · scrolls · documentary
olden
Of a distant past
archaic · prehistoric · primordial · antediluvian · paleolithic · neolithic · classical · medieval · renaissance · epoch
mythical
Of folklore, not fact
fables · tales · myths · legends · Arthurian · Beowulf · Gilgamesh · Odysseus · Valhalla · Camelot
reminiscence
Recalling past experiences
- wistfulnessTender sadness for absence
- longingIntense, persistent desire
- yearningIntense prolonged craving
melancholy · sentimentality · memory · recollection · reverie · retrospection · hiraeth · bittersweet · sepia-toned · halcyon
ancestry
Family line of descent
- forefathersAncestral predecessors
- progenitorsOriginal ancestors of a lineage
- lineageDescent from progenitors
heritage · forebears · elders · patriarchs · matriarchs · generations · bloodline · roots · tradition · legacy
chronicle
Ordered historical record
- annalsYear-by-year historical account
- archivesStored historical documents
- antiquarianScholar of old artifacts
relics · artifacts · manuscripts · parchment · codex · inscription · records · scrolls · documentary · historiography
- erasera, epoch, age, bronze age, period
- old-fashioned wordsforsooth, hark, betwixt, hither, prithee
- archaic adverbsanon, betimes, ere, erstwhile, forsooth
- archaic wordsthee, thou, thy, thine, tis
- old time wordsfortnight, twelvemonth, erstwhile, ere, anon
- nostalgianostalgia, nostalgic, memories, memory, remember