Surprisingly the term pathologic liar is often used. Sometimes the term Münchhausen Syndrome is used.
On February 22, two centuries ago the "baron of lies" Karl Friedrich Hieronymus Baron von Münchhausen passed away. Born in 1720 in Bodenwerder, Münchhausen served initially as a page to Prince Anton Ulrich von Braunschweig, and later as a cornet, lieutnant and cavalry captain with a Russian regiment in two Turkish wars. Münchhausen was known during his lifetime as an excellent raconteur of anecdotes about war, hunting and travel adventures. After the death of his first wife, Münchhausen married a 17-year old noblewoman. This marriage was an unhappy one which constantly drove him to debt and caused scandals.
His first tales of adventure and wonder appeared anonymously in 1781-83 in the magazine "Vademecum für lustige Leute". In 1786 the librarian Rudolf Erich Raspe published an English edition entitled "Baron Münchhausen«s Narrative of his Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia". The book success and the second edition was translated into German in 1786 by the writer Gottfried August Bürger who added eight of his own stories to it. This became the prototype for the subsequent genre of the Münchhausen wonder tales. In 1788 Bürger added another five wonder tales to this collection and brought
out an enlarged second edition. In subsequent years there were several adaptions of the Münchhausen stories in different forms, such as the novel (K.L. Immermann), drama (H. Eulenberg, F. Lienhard; H. von Gumppenberg) and film (screenplay by E. Küstner, 1943).
