leigo

Forms

leigo m (plural leigos)^[1] Houaiss records leiga and leygo in the 13th century, leigos in the 14th and leyguas in the 15th.^[2] Wiktionary lists leygo as an old spelling.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin lāicus (“of the people, lay”), written Old Galician-Portuguese leigo and Old Galician-Portuguese leygo in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] Houaiss and Aurélio call it the popular form of the Latin word, Nascentes a semi-learned one; the fully learned form is laico.^[2][4][5] The Latin word, a term of the Church, is taken from Ancient Greek λαϊκός (laïkós, “of the people”), from λαός (laós, “the people”).^[1][6]

The same Latin word is Galician leigo, Spanish lego, Catalan llec, French lai and Italian laico.^[7][8] The Spanish word is recorded from Berceo on, and its learned laico came into common use only in the 19th century.^[9]

Bluteau in 1712 already explained the word from the Greek for “people”, and quoted the Latin Bible's phrase for bread that is not consecrated.^[10][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Latin charter of 875 already has the form leiga.^[2] In the 13th century the Cantigas de Santa Maria tell of an abbot who left his office and tornou-se leygo, became a layman, and the Miragres de Santiago set os clerigos et os leigos side by side.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is “not in holy orders”, said of people and things.^[2][11] Houaiss notes that the noun first meant a lay servant of a convent, a sense the Priberam still gives for a convent servant without orders.^[2][12] Cardoso in 1569 renders it with Latin prophanus.^[13] Morais's dictionary of 1813 adds the sense “one who has no learning, ignorant”, from which came the modern “non-expert, unfamiliar with a subject”.^[14][2] In Brazilian law a juiz leigo is a judge who is not a law graduate.^[2]

Timeline

• 875 – a Latin charter has leiga.^[2]
• 13th century – leiga and leygo; the Cantigas de Santa Maria use leygo for a layman.^[2][11]
• c. 1438 – the Vida de Santa Eufrosina (witness 1431–1446).^[15]
• 15th century – the spelling leyguas.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses the word with Latin prophanus.^[13]
• 1712 – Bluteau derives it from Greek laos “people”.^[10]
• 1813 – Morais records the sense “unlearned, ignorant”.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. lay; not in holy orders: um irmão leigo.^[2][12][1]
2. Not belonging to the Church; secular: uma escola leiga.^[2][4]
3. Unfamiliar with a subject or profession; inexpert: Sou leiga em questões de informática.^[2][12]
4. (law, Brazil) Of a judge: not holding a law degree.^[2]

Noun

1. A layman, a person not in holy orders.^[2][1][16]
2. A person without expert knowledge of a subject.^[2][1]
3. (historical) A lay servant of a convent, without orders.^[2][12]

Related words

• laical
• laicalismo
• laicidade
• laicização
• laicizar
• laico
• Latin lāicus
• Spanish lego

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 j k l m n o p q r Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. leigo
3. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. leigo
4. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. leigo
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. leigo
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. lāĭcus
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4853
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. laicus
9. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 624
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. leigo
11. ^ a b c Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. leigo
12. ^ a b c d Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. leigo
13. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. leigo
14. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 213
15. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. leigo
16. ^ 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. leigo