legendarius

Forms

legendārius m (genitive legendāriī); second declension^[1] It is also an adjective, legendārius, -a, -um, and a neuter noun legendārium is found.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin legenda (“legend, a saint's life to be read”) + -ārius.^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler finds it first in Johannes Beleth, before 1165,^[1] as a book collecting the lives of saints.^[1][4]

Semantic evolution

It named a book of saints' lives, a legendary,^[4][1][5] and in ecclesiastical use also a book of the Epistles read at Mass.^[6] In Poland liber legendarius was a book containing saints' lives, and inventories of 1397 and 1421 list legendaria, one for the temporal cycle and one for the saints.^[2]

English took it as the noun legendary “a collection of legends” in the 1510s, and as the adjective in the mid-16th century.^[3]

Timeline

• before 1165 – Johannes Beleth uses it for a collection of saints' lives.^[1]
• 1397 – A Kraków record lists two legendaria.^[2]
• 1510s – English borrows it as legendary, a collection of legends.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A collection of saints' lives, a legendary.^[4][1][5]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A book of the Epistles.^[6]

Adjective

1. (Medieval Latin) Containing legends: liber legendārius, a book of saints' lives.^[2]

Related words

• English legendary

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
2. ^ a b c d e Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ a b Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum / Slovník středověké latiny v českých zemích (1977–), Prague: Academia; electronic version, Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson