legendă

Forms

legendă f (plural legende)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French légende, together with Medieval Latin legenda, as DEX and MDA2 give it.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Tiktin names only the Medieval Latin word, and the DA only the French one.^[6][7] DN compares Italian leggenda too.^[8]

The Medieval Latin noun, “what is to be read”, is the neuter plural of the gerundive of legō (“to read”), read as a feminine singular.^[9][10] The lives of the saints were so called because they were read at meals in Catholic monasteries.^[7][10] French had the word from the end of the 12th century.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1829.^[6] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 defined легендъ as “the history of the lives of saints or other notable persons, told in a miraculous, fabulous way”.^[11] Costinescu (1870) too gave “the story of the lives of saints” first.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The DA starts from the life of a saint or martyr; by analogy the word named a miraculous story woven round a historical person, and by extension an inaccurate report.^[7] Maiorescu wrote of the ease with which false legende spread.^[7] Two technical senses came from French: the inscription on a coin or medal, and the key to the signs on a map or plan.^[7][13] Barcianu's dictionary of 1886 glossed it with German “Heiligengeschichte, Legende”, “Märchen” and “Umschrift”.^[14]

DEX now adds a piece of music on a legendary subject.^[2] The phrase a intra în legendă means “to become famous”.^[3] The adjective legendar is a loan of French légendaire.^[13]

Timeline

• 1829 – the first record.^[6]
• 1848 – легендъ “lives of saints” in Negulici's dictionary.^[11]
• 1870 – “the story of the lives of saints” in Costinescu's dictionary.^[12]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses it with “legend, fairy tale, inscription”.^[14]
• 1979 – the derivative legendaritate in România literară.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A legend: a story in prose or verse with fantastic or miraculous elements that explains the origin of a thing or the nature of an event or a hero: o legendă populară.^[2][3]
2. A composition in music on such a subject.^[2]
3. A story about someone that distorts the truth by exaggeration.^[3][7]
4. (rare) The inscription on a coin or medal.^[2]
5. The text that explains the signs of a map, plan or picture; a caption.^[2][8]
6. (religion) A life of a saint.^[3][16]

Word family

• legendar

Related words

• lector
• French légende

Usage notes

A rare variant lehendă is recorded.^[3] In Transylvania an old noun legendar “encyclopedia; school reader” came from German Legendar.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 584
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1340
4. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. legendă
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. legendă
6. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. legendă
7. ^ a b c d e f 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. legendă
8. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. legendă
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 737
11. ^ 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. legendă
12. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 26
13. ^ a b c Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. legendă
14. ^ a b Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 346
15. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. legendaritate
16. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. legendă