history
We usually use the word “history” to either mean “what happened” or “a record of what happened.” And which way we mean it is usually determined by the context. An example of the first meaning is “History repeats itself.” An example of the second is “Read history if you want to understand…” The expression “History tells us…” can be taken either way because it can mean “Experience tells us that…” or “Books tell us that…”
- plural: histories
- cognates: historic, historical, historically, historian
historiography
The word “historiography” refers to “the way history is written.” This includes guiding principles like sorting sources into primary (e.g. letters and diaries), secondary (e.g. biographies and history textbooks), and tertiary (e.g. encyclopedias and bibliographies) categories.
- plural: historiographies
- cognates: historiographical, historiographically, historiographer
See NTBF: Distinguishing Historical Claims for the New Testament from Theological Claims for It
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