liga

Forms

liga f (plural ligas)^[1]

Etymology

It is a noun formed from Spanish ligar (“to tie, bind”).^[2][3][4][1] The verb is a semi-learned form of Latin ligō (“to tie, bind”), beside which Old Spanish had the inherited legar, common in the 13th century.^[3]

De Vaan tentatively reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *liǵ- (“to tie”) and compares Albanian lidh (“to tie”).^[5] Wiktionary gives the root as *leyǵ- (“to bind”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in the Aragonese translations and chronicles of Juan Fernández de Heredia (1376–1391), in the phrase fazer liga “make a league, form an alliance”: in the Gran crónica de España rebels are told to fiziessen liga con ellos “form an alliance with them”.^[6] In Castile the Cortes de Madrid of 1393 speak of el fecho delas ligas “the matter of the leagues”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Corominas dates the sense “confederation, pact” and the sense “alloy” to Nebrija, who has liga enel oro “alloy in gold” and liga enlas amistades, translated by Latin foedus “treaty”.^[3][7] The band that holds up stockings and socks is first recorded in 1599, in Mateo Alemán's Guzmán de Alfarache, and again in the Quijote (1605).^[3][4] Autoridades quotes the Quijote passage in which a black taffeta liga is tied round the forehead.^[8]

The Academy long defined the political sense as a confederation of princes or states; the Chilean Román complained that it ignored the many ligas formed for causes, such as leagues against tuberculosis.^[9][10] Today the DLE has both, and also the sports competition in which every team plays all the others.^[2] In the Americas liga also means a rubber band, and in Tenerife a shoelace.^[11][12] In the slang of the underworld it meant “friendship”.^[13]

Timeline

• 1376–1391 – first records, in Fernández de Heredia, for an alliance.^[6]
• 1393 – the Cortes de Madrid speak of ligas.^[6]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija records the senses “alliance” and “alloy”.^[3][7]
• 1529 – first record from the Americas, a league proclaimed by the papal nuncio, in a Mexican text.^[14]
• 1599 – first record of the sense “garter”, in Mateo Alemán.^[3][4]
• 1734 – Autoridades defines the garter, with a quotation from the Quijote.^[8]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary derives the word from ligar.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A garter: a band, usually elastic, that holds up stockings or socks.^[2][1]
2. A bandage or sash.^[2]
3. A union or mixture.^[2]
4. The alloying of metals; the alloy, especially the copper mixed with gold or silver in coins and jewellery.^[2][1]
5. A league, association: a group of people or bodies with a common aim: Formaron una liga de vecinos contra el ruido.^[2][1]
6. A coalition of rulers or states for political or military ends.^[2]
7. (sports) A league: a competition in which each team plays all the others.^[2][15]
8. (Cuba) A blend of tobacco leaves from different plantations.^[2]
9. (Latin America) A rubber band;^[11][1] (Mexico) a hair tie.^[11][1]
10. (Canary Islands, Tenerife) A shoelace.^[12][1]

Word family

• liguilla
• liguero

Related words

• ligar
• ligadura
• Latin ligō

Usage notes

The DLE has a second liga “mistletoe; birdlime, the sticky substance made from mistletoe or holly to catch birds”, which it calls of uncertain origin.^[2] Corominas instead treats the birdlime as a derivative of ligar first recorded about 1400, and García de Diego derives it from a Celtic *lica “sticky matter”; the form liguia already occurs in the Libro de los animales que cazan of 1250.^[3][16][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. liga
3. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 647
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ligar
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ 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. liga
7. ^ 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. liga
8. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 403
9. ^ 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. 645
10. ^ Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José, p. 805
11. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. liga
12. ^ a b Academia Canaria de la Lengua (2010), Diccionario básico de canarismos, Santa Cruz de Tenerife; online at https://www.academiacanarialengua.org, p. s.v. liga
13. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1032
14. ^ 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. liga
15. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. liga
16. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 3858
17. ^ Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. liga