légende

Forms

légende f (plural légendes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin legenda (“life of a saint”) (recorded about 1190), literally “things to be read”, the neuter plural of legendus, the gerundive of legō (“to read”), taken as a feminine singular.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Wiktionary gives the French word through Old French legende.^[1] Bloch and Wartburg suggest that the 16th-century sense “explanatory inscription” may be a separate new formation on that gerundive.^[7]

Compare Old Occitan legenda, Catalan llegenda, Portuguese lenda and Italian leggenda.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

About 1220 it names the life of a saint and the book containing it.^[2] The GLLF and Rey date it from the late 12th century, from the Prise d'Orange, which Littré quotes: En sa legende ses faz trouveroit on “one would find his deeds in his legend”.^[5][3][8]

Semantic evolution

The word first named the life of a saint read in the refectory and, beside leçon, the reading at matins that told the life of the saint of the day.^[3][2] The sameness of these readings gave a figurative sense “long enumeration” (about 1400, Christine de Pizan), which did not last into classical French.^[3][2] By extension it came to mean any marvellous story of the past based on a more or less authentic tradition: some date this from the late 12th century, others from the mid-16th, after a use for the life and deeds of a prince (about 1460).^[3] The TLFi's first date for the marvellous popular tale is 1558, in Bonaventure des Périers.^[2]

In the late 16th century the word was read again as “a thing to be read”: the inscription on a coin or medal (1579), the text explaining a picture (1598) and, in map-making, the list explaining the signs (1797).^[2][3] The sense “distorted picture of real events or people”, close to mythe, is first noted in Michelet's history of the Revolution (1853).^[2][3]

Timeline

• late 12th century – The GLLF and Rey date the word from the Prise d'Orange.^[5][3]
• c. 1220 – First record in the TLFi, for the life of a saint.^[2]
• c. 1235 – It names the reading at matins on the life of a saint.^[2][3]
• c. 1400 – Christine de Pizan uses it for a long enumeration.^[2][3]
• c. 1460 – It is used for the life and deeds of a prince.^[3]
• 1558 – Bonaventure des Périers uses it for a marvellous popular tale.^[2]
• 1558 – Légendaire “compiler of legends” appears.^[3]
• 1579 – Henri Estienne uses it for the inscription on a coin.^[2][3]
• 1598 – Guillaume Bouchet uses it for the text accompanying a picture.^[2][3]
• 1797 – Sénac de Meilhan uses it for the key to a map.^[2][3]
• 1853 – Michelet uses it for a distorted account of real events.^[2][3]
• 1884 – The verb légender is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Catholicism, dated) The account of a saint's life read at matins, and a collection of such accounts.^[2][9]
2. A traditional popular tale, more or less fabulous or marvellous; a legend.^[9][2][1]
3. A distorted or embellished picture of real events or people, close to a mythe.^[2][3]
4. The inscription on a coin or medal.^[2][3]
5. The text accompanying a picture, a caption.^[2][1]
6. The key explaining the signs on a map or plan.^[2][1]
7. Légende urbaine: an urban legend.^[1]

Word family

• légendaire
• légender
• légende urbaine

Related words

• lire¹
• leçon
• Latin legō
• English legend

Usage notes

La Légende dorée is the 13th-century collection of saints' lives by Jacobus de Voragine.^[9][3][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u 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 d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 244a
7. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert