legal

Forms

legal m or f (plural legais, comparable, comparative mais legal, superlative o mais legal or legalíssimo, diminutive legalzinho, augmentative legalzão)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin lēgālis (“of the law, legal”), from lēx (“law”) and the suffix -ālis.^[2][3][1][4] It is the learned doublet of leal “loyal”, the popular outcome of the same Latin word.^[2][5][1]

Other Romance languages have the same pair: Spanish legal and Spanish leal, French légal and French loyal, Italian legale and Italian leale.^[6][7][8]

De Vaan reconstructs a Proto-Italic root noun *lēg- (“law”), perhaps a “collection” of rules, and doubts that it existed in Proto-Indo-European.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to the 13th century and Cunha to the 15th, with the sense “of the law, according to the law”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau's dictionary (1712–1728) defines it as concerning or conforming to the laws, and explains parentesco legal as the kinship created by adoption.^[10] Morais (1789) gives “according to the laws” and “introduced by law”.^[11] Vieira adds dia legal, a day reckoned from eve to eve.^[12] The DLP also records a religious sense, “of the law of Moses”.^[13]

In informal Brazilian Portuguese the word took the sense “in order, all right” and then became an all-purpose word of approval, “good, nice, cool”, said of people and things alike; it is also an adverb, “very well”.^{[2][14][15][1]} It takes the augmentative legalzão and the diminutive legalzinho.^[1] Estraviz records the Brazilian sense “excellent” in Galician too.^[16]

Timeline

• 13th century – Houaiss's first date.^[2]
• 15th century – Cunha's first date.^[3]
• 1712 – Bluteau explains parentesco legal.^[10]
• 1734 – Feijó lists legal, “what conforms to the laws”.^[17]
• 1789 – Morais's dictionary.^[11]
• 1871 – Vieira lists dia legal.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to the law: medicina legal.^[2][14][1]
2. lawful, in accordance with or laid down by law: um contrato legal.^[13][15]
3. (religion) Of the law of Moses.^[13]
4. (Brazil, informal) In order, all right: Com o remédio ele já ficou legal.^[2][14]
5. (Brazil, informal) cool, nice, good: said of a person who is kind or friendly, or of a thing that is pleasant or interesting: Que professora legal!^{[2][14][15][1]}

Adverb

1. (Brazil, informal) Very well: A viagem correu legal.^[2][14]

Word family

• legalmente

Related words

• ilegal
• legalidade
• leal
• Latin lēgālis

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. legal
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. legal
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. lēgālis
5. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. leal
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. legalis
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. loyal
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. legalis
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. lēx
10. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. legal
11. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 12
12. ^ a b Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 3, 1277
13. ^ a b c Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. legal
14. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. legal
15. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. legal
16. ^ Estraviz, Isaac Alonso, Dicionário Estraviz, https://estraviz.org, p. s.v. legal
17. ^ Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. legal