legal

Forms

legal m or n (feminine singular legală, masculine plural legali, feminine/neuter plural legale)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French légal, with Latin lēgālis (“of or concerned with law”) as a second model, a neologism of the 19th century; the DLR adds German legal as a third model.^[2][3][4][5] Gabinschi describes it as a European loanword of Latin origin that reached Romanian through French, German and Russian легальный (legalʹnyj).^[6] Scriban gives Latin alone.^[7]

The Latin adjective is formed lēx (“law”) with the suffix -ālis.^[8][1] French borrowed it from Latin in 1365, and it replaced the inherited Old French leial, which survives as French loyal.^[9] Romanian has the same pair: leal and loial are doublets of this word.^[6][1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DLR and MDA2 quote Ion Heliade-Rădulescu first, with ordinea legală “the legal order”, from an undated poem.^[5][3] The first dated record is Negulici's dictionary of 1848, which spells it in the transitional alphabet and explains it as “according to the law; what concerns the law”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The word belongs to the political and legal language of the mid-19th century: the DLR quotes ordinea legală from a text of 1850 and chipuri legale “legal means” from one of 1855, used of bringing Romanian institutions into line with those of Europe.^[5] Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 records medicină legală “forensic medicine” and the adverb legalmente, a Gallicism later replaced by legal and în mod legal.^[11] The negative nelegal and the noun legalitate followed.^[11]

Timeline

• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[10]
• 1850 – ordinea legală “the legal order” in a political text.^[5]
• 1870 – medicină legală “forensic medicine” and legalmente “legally” in Costinescu's dictionary.^[11][12]
• 1886 – in Barcianu's dictionary, glossed German gesetzlich.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Existing or done under a law, provided for by law, in accordance with the law; licit.^[2][1]
2. Of a marriage, spouse or child: contracted, married or born as the law requires; legitimate.^[3]
3. Relating to the law: medicină legală “forensic medicine”.^[3][11]

Adverb

1. legally, by the law: a proceda legal “to act lawfully”.^[3][7]

Word family

• legalitate
• nelegal

Related words

• lege
• leal
• loial
• Latin lēgālis

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 583
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1336
4. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. legal
5. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. legal
6. ^ a b Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 122
7. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 736
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. lēgālis
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. légal
10. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. legal
11. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. legal
12. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 304
13. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 346