légalité

Forms

légalité f (plural légalités)^[1] Middle French legalité, plural legalitez.^[2]

Etymology

The TLFi takes it as formed from French légal + -ité, comparing Medieval Latin legālitās, which is recorded from 1011.^[2] Rey thinks a borrowing from the Medieval Latin word more likely,^[3] and the Grand Robert and Petit Robert give the Latin as the source.^[4][5] The Latin noun is formed on lēgālis (“relating to the law”), from lēx (“law”).^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Bloch and Wartburg date it to Nicole Oresme (1370), in the sense “loyalty”.^[6][5] The TLFi's first record is from 1450, in the Archives du Nord, for a privilege granted by law.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Like légal, the word first had a moral sense, “loyalty, uprightness”, found at the end of the 15th century in Chastellain and still used in the 16th century.^[2][6] Amyot praised the legalité of Camillus.^[7] The sense “privilege granted by law” later went out of use, and the modern sense, the quality of what conforms to the law, is recorded from 1606 and won out.^[2][3] By extension la légalité is the whole of what the law prescribes, the legal order (before 1836, Armand Carrel).^[8] English legality is recorded from about 1460, and in the sense “conformity to the law” from 1533.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1370 – Oresme uses it in the sense “loyalty”.^[6]
• 1450 – Used in the Archives du Nord for a privilege granted by law.^[2]
• late 15th century – Chastellain uses it for loyalty, conduct in keeping with natural law.^[2]
• 1606 – First recorded in the sense “conformity to the law”.^[2][4]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records it.^[2]
• before 1836 – Armand Carrel uses it for the legal order as a whole.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. Legality: the character of what is légal, in conformity with the law: la légalité d'une décision.^[5][1]
2. The legal order, what the law allows: rester dans la légalité, sortir de la légalité.^[5][8]
3. (obsolete) Loyalty, uprightness.^[8][2]

Word family

• légalitaire

Related words

• légal
• illégalité
• loyauté
• Medieval Latin legālitās
• English legality

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse