lega

lega¹ league, alliance; alloy

Etymology tree of lega¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin ligō

Aromanian leg

Catalan lligar

French lier

Spanish liar

Italian legare

Italian lega

Romanian lega

Spanish ligar

From the same root · lega¹

Latin alligō ← ligō

Latin circumligō ← ligō

Latin colligō ← ligō

Latin dēligō ← ligō

Latin illigō ← ligō

Latin ligāmen ← ligō

Latin ligāmentum ← ligō

Latin ligātūra ← ligō

Latin obligō ← ligō

Latin religō ← ligō

English lea ← lier

French liaison ← lier

French liement ← lier

French relier ← lier

Romanian câșlegi ← lega

Spanish liga ← ligar

Pronunciation

• /ˈle.ɡa/^[1]

Forms

lega f (plural leghe)^[1]

Etymology

The word for a league or alliance is a deverbal noun from Italian legare (“to tie, bind”).^[2][3][4][1] legare continues Latin ligō (“to fasten, bind”), for which de Vaan tentatively reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *liǵ- (“to tie”).^[1][5]

Nocentini notes that French ligue and Spanish liga are loans from Italian, through the old variant Old Italian liga, remade on the Latin verb.^[3] DEI dates the French word to the 15th century and also traces it to the same form, which it calls northern Italian.^[6] The English word league “alliance” came from the French in the 15th century.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's earliest record is the metallurgical sense, an alloy, in Dante (1300–1313), with Medieval Latin liga at Piacenza in the 13th century.^[2] The political sense, an alliance or agreement, follows in the 14th century in the Cronichetta d'incerto.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

Giovanni Villani (before 1348) uses lega for a pact of people working for their own gain, and in his chronicle the coinage worsened non di lega, ma di peso (“not in alloy, but in weight”).^[2][8] Di mala lega (1584) and di bassa lega (1697) described gold and coins with much base metal, and so, figuratively, things or people of poor quality.^[2][4]

Associations of private people for a common aim are recorded from 1543 (Annibal Caro).^[2] At the turn of the 20th century leghe were the workers' and peasants' organisations that came before the trade unions, and the derivative leghista dates from 1902.^[4][3][9] At the end of the 20th century Lega became the name of the regional parties of the north, and leghismo is recorded from 1990.^[3][10]

Timeline

• 13th century – Medieval Latin liga “alloy” is recorded at Piacenza.^[2]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses lega for an alloy.^[2]
• 14th century – The Cronichetta d'incerto uses it for a political alliance.^[2][8]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses it for a pact of people seeking their own gain.^[2]
• 1543 – Annibal Caro uses it for an association of private people.^[2]
• 1902 – Leghista, a member of a workers' league, is recorded.^[3]
• 1990 – Leghismo is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A league, alliance between states, cities or communes: la lega lombarda.^[4][10][11]
2. An association of private people or bodies for economic, political or social aims.^[4] (historical) A workers' organisation before the trade unions.^[4][9]
3. An association for humanitarian or scientific aims.^[4]
4. (sport) A body that runs the championships of a sport.^[4]
5. (capitalized) The Lega Nord party, or the Lega delle Cooperative.^[4]
6. A pact between people, especially for illicit ends, or the group of them.^[4]
7. (historical) In the Florentine republic, each of the groups of communes into which the countryside was divided.^[4]
8. An alloy of two or more metals, or of a metal with other elements: ruote in lega.^[4] (figurative) Nature, kind: un tipo di bassa lega.^[4][2]
9. The base metal added to a precious one.^[4]

Word family

• leghista
• leghismo
• superlega
• interleghe

lega² league (measure of distance)

Pronunciation

• /ˈle.ɡa/^[1]

Forms

lega f (plural leghe)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the old measure of distance is borrowed from Old Occitan lega, according to DELI, or the Occitan form legoa, according to Nocentini.^{[2][3][12][8]} The Occitan word comes from Late Latin leuga or leuca, recorded from 145 AD and of Gaulish origin, as Isidore of Seville states (“the Gauls say leagues”).^[2][8] Wiktionary takes the Italian word straight from the Late Latin.^[1]

The Romance forms presuppose *legua, recorded only in Medieval Latin.^[2] Corominas, lacking documents for it, prefers a longer chain of intermediate forms from the Late Latin word to the Occitan one.^[2] The same word is French lieue, Catalan llegoa, Spanish legua and Portuguese légua.^[3][12] The Celtic origin itself is uncertain: the diphthong is secondary and the word has no clear Insular Celtic cognates.^[1]

Spanish usage reinforced the word in Italian in the 16th century.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Medieval Latin leuga is recorded at Venice in 1232.^[2] The Italian word first appears in Bono Giamboni, who died before 1292.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

Dante has più che mezza lega (“more than half a league”), and his commentator Francesco da Buti glossed it: Lega è misura che è per 4 millia (“a league is a measure of four miles”).^[2][13] The length varied from country to country, from about four to more than six kilometres.^[8] The plural lege appears in the portolans of 1444, and leghe di mare (sea leagues) in 1869.^[2]

Timeline

• 1232 – Medieval Latin leuga is recorded at Venice.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses lega.^[2]
• Before 1406 – Francesco da Buti defines the league as four miles.^[2]
• 1444 – The plural lege appears in portolans.^[2]
• 1869 – Leghe di mare is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A league: an old unit of distance, still sometimes used, of different length in each country.^[4] Lega marina, the sea league, of about five kilometres.^[4][11][8]