legare

legare¹ to tie

Etymology tree of legare¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin ligō

Aromanian leg

French lier

Spanish liar

Italian legare

Spanish ligar

From the same root · legare¹

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

Spanish liga ← ligar

Pronunciation

• /leˈɡa.re/^[1]

Forms

legare (first-person singular present légo, first-person singular past historic legài, past participle legàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

The word for tying is inherited from Latin ligō (“to tie, bind”), a verb that Latin used of physical binding and, in the imperial period, of moral ties too.^[2][3][4][1] The older form Old Italian ligare, in which the first record is written, survives as an archaic or regional variant.^[2][4][5][6]

The verb is found across the Romance languages: French lier, Occitan liar, Catalan lligar, Spanish liar, Portuguese liar, Sardinian liare and Romanian lega.^[3][7][8] Several Italian words of the family came through Latin itself: legatura continues Late Latin ligātūra (Palladius, 4th century), legame ligāmen and legamento ligāmentum, both later than Augustus.^[2][3] In legaccio DELI sees the influence of laccio.^[2]

The Latin verb itself has few comparisons;^[3] Nocentini counts Albanian lidh (“to tie”) among sure cognates, with Old Norse and Old Irish words for “rope” and “sinew”.^[3] De Vaan accepts only the Albanian verb, which can be explained in other ways too, and derives the verb with a question mark from a root Proto-Indo-European *liǵ- (“to tie”); since the simple verb is not found before Catullus and only compounds such as alligō and obligō are older, he takes it as a factitive formation rather than a denominal verb.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the 13th-century Sicilian poet Stefano Protonotaro, who writes ligare in the sense “to wrap and bind a person, a thing or several things together with a rope or the like”.^[2] The form legare appears in 1305 in the sermons of Giordano da Pisa.^[2] Nocentini dates the verb to the early 13th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From binding things together the verb soon came to mean fastening something to something else (about 1350, in the vernacular Crescenzi), setting a stone in a jewel (late 13th century, Novellino), and binding the gathered sheets of a book into a volume (before 1410).^[2] The reflexive “to bind oneself by a tie” is in Giovanni Villani before 1348, and the metallurgical sense of alloying metals in Vannoccio Biringuccio before 1537.^[2] In the late 17th century the verb became intransitive, “to go well together” and “to form a league, get on” (Baldinucci, Magalotti).^[2] In cooking it means thickening a sauce or soup with flour, egg yolk or butter, recorded before 1911.^[10][11]

The phrase matto or pazzo da legare “mad enough to be tied up” recalls the old treatment of the insane by restraint;^[2] Anton Francesco Doni (before 1574) tells of a woman thought mad whom “they tied up” (la legarono).^[2] Legarsela al dito, “to tie it round one's finger”, that is, not to forget a wrong, is recorded from the 15th century and comes from tying a thread round a finger as a reminder.^[12] German borrowed the verb as ligieren in fencing (1619) and as legieren “to alloy” (17th century) and “to thicken” (18th century).^[10]

Timeline

• 13th century – Stefano Protonotaro writes the form ligare.^[2]
• Late 13th century – the Novellino uses the verb of setting a stone.^[2]
• 1305 – Giordano da Pisa writes legare.^[2]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses the reflexive legarsi “to bind oneself”.^[2]
• About 1350 – the vernacular Crescenzi uses it for tying to something.^[2]
• Before 1410 – the bookbinding sense is recorded.^[2]
• Before 1537 – Biringuccio uses it of alloying metals.^[2][10]
• Before 1574 – Doni tells of a madwoman being tied up.^[2]
• 1619 – German fencing borrows ligieren.^[10]
• 1697 – Magalotti uses the intransitive “to form a league, associate”.^[2]
• Before 1911 – the cooking sense “to thicken” is recorded.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To tie or bind a person or thing, or several things together, with a rope or other flexible means, to join or hold them still: Lega bene lo zaino prima di partire.^[4][5][6]
2. To fasten one thing to another with a rope or chain: legare la bici al palo.^[4][5][13]
3. (figurative) To tie down, deprive of freedom: legare le mani a qualcuno, to stop someone acting freely.^[4][13][14]
4. (figurative) To unite people by a bond of friendship, love or common interests.^[4][6][13]
5. To connect ideas or parts logically.^[4][6]
6. To bind a book; the same as rilegare.^[4][6][14]
7. To set a gem in metal.^[4][6][14]
8. (metallurgy) To alloy metals.^[6][13][14]
9. (cooking) To thicken a sauce or soup by adding flour, egg yolk or butter.^[6][13][14]
10. (music) To play a group of notes without a break in the sound; see legato.^[6][14]
11. (boxing) To hold the opponent with one's arms so that he cannot hit.^[4][5][13]
12. (intransitive) To get on well together, to bond; of substances, to combine.^[1][2]

Word family

• legame
• legamento
• legatura
• legaccio
• legante
• legatore
• legatoria
• legatrice
• lega
• rilegare
• rilegatura
• slegare

legare² to bequeath

Etymology tree of legare²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin lēx

French loi

Italian legge

Spanish ley

Latin legō

Italian legare

From the same root · legare²

Latin lēgālis ← lēx

Latin lēgifer ← lēx

Latin lēgislātiō ← lēx

Latin lēgislātor ← lēx

Latin lēgitimus ← lēx

Latin prīvilēgium ← lēx

Latin ablēgō ← legō

Latin allēgō ← legō

Latin collēga ← legō

Latin dēlēgō ← legō

Latin ēligō ← legō

Latin lēgātia ← legō

Latin lēgātiō ← legō

Latin lēgātus ← legō

Latin praelēgō ← legō

Latin relēgō ← legō

Latin supellex ← legō

Pronunciation

• /leˈɡa.re/^[1]

Forms

legare (first-person singular present légo, first-person singular past historic legài, past participle legàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

The word for bequeathing is borrowed from Latin lēgō (“to commission; to send as envoy; to bequeath”), a learned borrowing.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin verb is a derivative of lēx (“law”), with the original sense “to dispose according to the law”, or “to commission by contract”.^{[2][3][6][11]} Roman legal language had already formed lēgātum (“legacy”) from its past participle, and later lēgātārius, the sources of legato “bequest” and legatario.^[2][3] The same Latin verb lies behind allegare, delegare and relegare, and it gave French léguer and Spanish legar.^[3][15]

De Vaan explains all the senses of the verb and its compounds, which involve a task or assignment, from the noun for law; he takes the root noun Proto-Italic *lēg- as a “collection” of rules, and whether it already existed in PIE is uncertain.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI finds the verb in a Venetian testamentary note of 1321 and in Matteo Villani before 1363, with the sense “to leave by will as a legacy”.^[2] In Villani many people legavano alla detta compagnia tutti i loro beni (“left all their goods to the said company”).^[16][17] The noun legato “bequest” is older, as leghato in 1286.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used the verb in the Latin sense “to send as envoy, to delegate”: Dino Compagni writes that the guilds legarono certain matters to their consuls.^[16][17] The GDLI treats this sense as a third legare, from Latin legare “to send as ambassador”.^[16] The legal sense remains: Tommaseo records gli ha legato una casa “he left him a house” and the figurative bequeathing of debts and miseries.^[17] The present participle legante is used as a noun for the testator.^[11]

Timeline

• 1286 – the noun leghato “bequest” is recorded.^[2]
• 1321 – a Venetian testamentary note uses the verb.^[2]
• Before 1363 – Matteo Villani writes of citizens bequeathing their goods.^[2][4]
• Before 1396 – legatario “legatee” appears.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (law) To bequeath, to leave something by will as a legato: Ha legato la biblioteca al comune.^[4][5][6]
2. (archaic) To send someone as envoy; to delegate.^[4][6][18]

Word family

• legatario