legal

Forms

legal m or f (masculine and feminine plural legales)^[1] The earliest Spanish records have the plural legals (Navarre, 1297).^[2] The DEMel lists the Leonese leygales (1282) and leygal (before 1300, Fuero de Salamanca) under a separate lemma.^[2] Juan Fernández de Heredia also writes legual in his translation of Thucydides (c. 1384–1396).^[3]

Etymology

It is a learned borrowing, borrowed from Latin lēgālis (“of or concerned with law”).^[4][1][5][6] The Latin adjective is formed lēx (“law”) + -ālis.^[7][1][8]

The same Latin word was inherited as leal “loyal, faithful”, recorded from the earliest texts and the Cid on.^[5][6][1] García de Diego also lists Old Aragonese leyal and calls this word a learned form.^[9] Corominas holds that the popular forms Portuguese leal, Catalan lleial and Occitan leial are no learned words, against Meyer-Lübke's view.^[5][10] The learned word exists beside them in legal, legal and French légal, while French loyal is the inherited form.^[11][12][13]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Italic *lēg-, which de Vaan reads as a “collection” of rules; whether the root noun already existed in Proto-Indo-European is uncertain for lack of precise cognates.^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DEMel's first records are the plural legals in political documents of Navarre of 1297.^[2] The earliest hits of the CDH, of 1240 and 1268, are Latin texts.^[3] In the late 14th century Juan Fernández de Heredia uses the word of the religious law of the Old Testament: el sacerdote legal antigo deuia prender muller virgen “the priest of the old Law had to take a virgin as wife”.^[3] Corominas, who dates the word to about 1520, notes that it is the learned doublet of leal.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

In the 15th and 16th centuries the word stood close to leal: Nebrija's Latin–Spanish dictionary of 1492 glosses Latin legalis as “belonging to the law, or loyal”.^[15] Covarrubias (1611) gives escriuano legal, a notary who performs his office according to the law, and in Mexico City in 1571 a notary is to be fiel y legal “faithful and lawful”.^[16][17]

The Diccionario de Autoridades separates the sense “of or according to the law” from “truthful, punctual and faithful in one's duty”, and the Academy kept both through the 19th century.^[18][19] Terreros equates the word with leal, fiel and bueno.^[20] The 1884 edition was the first to give its etymology, and the 1899 edition added the phrase medicina legal.^[21][22]

In colloquial Spanish of Spain a tipo legal is a loyal, reliable person, a use also found in marginal slang with ir de legal “to act honestly with one's friends”.^[4][23][24] In Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Cuba, Ecuador and Bolivia it means “great, excellent”, and in El Salvador “easy” of a thing.^[25] Brazilian Portuguese has the same colloquial praise word.^[11]

Timeline

• 1297 – legals in political documents of Navarre.^[2]
• 1376–1396 – Juan Fernández de Heredia writes of the sacerdote legal antigo.^[3]
• 1492 – Nebrija's Latin–Spanish dictionary glosses legalis with leal.^[15]
• c. 1520 – Corominas's first record, in Padilla.^[5]
• 1571 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico City.^[17]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines escriuano legal.^[16]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades gives the senses “according to the law” and “faithful in one's duty”.^[26]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology “Del lat. legalis”.^[21]
• 1899 – the Academy adds medicina legal.^[22]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Prescribed by law (ley) and in accordance with it; lawful, statutory: Ese contrato no es legal.^[4][1]
2. Of or relating to the law or to jurisprudence (derecho); legal: medicina legal.^[4][27]
3. Truthful, punctual, faithful and upright in carrying out the duties of one's office.^[4][27]
4. (colloquial, Spain) Loyal (leal), reliable, straight in one's dealings.^[4][24]
5. (colloquial, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Cuba, Ecuador, Bolivia) Very good, great.^[25]

Word family

• alegal
• legalismo
• legalista
• legalmente
• legalidad
• legalizar
• ilegal

Related words

• ley
• leal
• Latin lēgālis
• Portuguese legal

Usage notes

Set phrases include cuerpo legal “body of laws”, depósito legal “legal deposit” and de curso legal “legal tender”.^[4][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. legal
3. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. legal
4. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. legal
5. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 639
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ley
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 418
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 3820
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4968
11. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. legal
12. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. legal
13. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. loyal
14. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
15. ^ a b Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. legal
16. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1074
17. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. legal
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 397
19. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 461
20. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 2, 433
21. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 635
22. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 593
23. ^ León, Víctor (1980), Diccionario de argot español y lenguaje popular, Madrid: Alianza Editorial, p. s.v. legal
24. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. legal
25. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. legal
26. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 378
27. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. legal