lega

lega¹ tie, bind

Etymology tree of lega¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin ligō

Aromanian leg

French lier

Spanish liar

Italian legare

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

Spanish liga ← ligar

Pronunciation

• /leˈɡa/^[1]

Forms

lega (third-person singular present leagă, past participle legat, third-person subjunctive lege) 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

The verb for tying and binding is inherited from Latin ligō (“to tie, bind”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Wiktionary traces the Latin verb to Proto-Indo-European *leyǵ- (“to bind”).^[1]

It survives in all four branches: Aromanian leg, Megleno-Romanian leg and Istro-Romanian legu.^[2][6] Its Romance cognates include Italian legare, French lier, Occitan liar, Spanish liar and Portuguese liar.^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century: lega in Psalms 146:3 and 149:8.^[8][9] MDA2's first record is the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583).^[4]

Semantic evolution

The DA defines the core as tying things together so that they do not come apart; from it came binding a prisoner or an animal, binding a book, bandaging a wound and the figurative “to link, connect” places, ideas or people.^[10][3] For one group of senses the DLR also compares Latin obligō (“to bind, oblige”).^[11]

Folk belief gave “to bind by a spell”, making a man impotent or keeping a girl from marrying (a lega cununile).^[2][12] Ciorănescu rejects Iordan's explanation of this sense from the gelding of bullocks and sees a normal development from “to forbid”.^[2] Of plants the verb means “to set fruit”, and of sauces and jams “to thicken”.^[3][2]

Timeline

• c. 1500–1520 – lega in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[8]
• c. 1563–1583 – the Codicele Voronețean, MDA2's first record.^[4]
• c. 1573–1578 – lega in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To tie the ends of a string, rope or wire together; to tie up a sack or a bundle.^[3][1]
2. (transitive) To fasten something with a rope or a lace; to bind a book.^[3][1]
3. (transitive) To tie up a person or an animal; to put in chains.^[3][2]
4. (transitive, figurative) To connect two points, ideas or people;^[1] (reflexive) to become attached to something.^[3][1]
5. (reflexive) To commit oneself;^[13] (transitive, in folk belief) to bind by a spell.^[3][2]
6. (transitive) To bandage a part of the body.^[3][2]
7. (intransitive, of plants) To set fruit;^[13] (reflexive, of sauces) to thicken.^[3][2]

Word family

• legat
• legător
• legătoare
• legătorie
• legământ
• legătură
• dezlega

lega² bequeath

Pronunciation

• /leˈɡa/^[1]

Forms

lega (third-person singular present leghează, past participle legat) 1st conjugation^[3]

Etymology

The verb for bequeathing is borrowed from French léguer, with Latin lēgō (“to bequeath”) as a second model, a 19th-century legal term.^{[3][14][13][2][11]} The Latin verb is formed on lēx (“law”).^[15][1] The noun legat “legacy” is older: Ciorănescu derives it from Latin lēgātum, partly through Modern Greek λεγάτον (legáton), and finds it in the 17th-century law code Îndreptarea legii.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is Ion Ghica's letters to Alecsandri, in the edition of 1887.^[14] The DA quotes the civil code in Hamangiu's edition, of a singular legatee who may not take possession of the thing bequeathed.^[10]

Timeline

• 1887 – Ion Ghica's letters, MDA2's first record.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. (dated, law) To bequeath, to leave something by will.^[3][14]

Word family

• legatar