legislation

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˌledʒ.ɪˈsleɪ.ʃən/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French législation (14th century),^[2] from Late Latin lēgislātiō, properly the phrase lēgis lātiō “a proposing, literally bearing, of a law”,^[2][3][4] from lēgis, genitive of lēx “law”, and lātiō “a proposing”,^[3][5] from lātus, the past participle used with ferre and tollere “to bear, raise”.^[4] It is related to legislator and legal.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The making or enacting of laws: before 1655 in the OED, the 1650s in Etymonline, the mid-17th century in NODE and SOED.^[6][2][4][5]

Semantic evolution

A legislative body, a legislature, was a sense from 1693, now obsolete.^[6] The laws themselves, the product of legislative action, are from 1838.^[2][6] Legislational is from 1829.^[6]

Timeline

• a. 1655 – the making of laws.^[6]
• 1693 – a legislature (obsolete).^[6]
• 1838 – enacted laws.^[2][6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A law or body of laws proposed or enacted.
2. The act or process of making laws; lawmaking by a legislature.

Related words

• legislator
• legislature
• legislate
• legal

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press