英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

legion (n.)[legion 词源字典]: c. 1200, from Old French legion "Roman legion" (3,000 to 6,000 men, under Marius usually with attached cavalry), from Latin legionem (nominative legio) "body of soldiers," from legere "to choose, gather," also "to read" (see lecture (n.)).

Generalized sense of "a large number" is due to translations of allusive phrase in Mark v:9. American Legion, U.S. association of ex-servicemen, founded in 1919. Legion of Honor is French légion d'honneur, an order of distinction founded by Napoleon in 1802. Foreign Legion is French légion étrangère "body of foreign volunteers in a modern army," originally Polish, Belgian, etc. units in French army; they traditionally served in colonies or distant expeditions.[legion etymology, legion origin, 英语词源]
legionnaire (n.): 1818, from French légionnaire, from légion (see legion). Legionnaires' Disease, caused by Legionella pneumophilia, was named after the lethal outbreak of July 1976 at the American Legion convention in Philadelphia's Bellevue Stratford Hotel. Hence Legionella as the name of the bacterium that causes it.
legislate (v.): 1805, back-formation from legislation, etc. Related: Legislated; legislating.
legislation (n.): 1650s, from French législation, from Late Latin legislationem (nominative legislatio), properly two words, legis latio, "proposing (literally 'bearing') of a law;" see legislator.
legislative (adj.): 1640s; from legislator + -ive. Related: Legislatively.
legislator (n.): c. 1600, from Latin legis lator "proposer of a law," from legis, genitive of lex "law" + lator "proposer," agent noun of latus "borne, brought, carried" (see oblate (n.)), used as past tense of ferre "to carry" (see infer). Fem. form legislatrix is from 1670s.
legislature (n.): 1670s; see legislator + -ure.
legit: colloquial shortening of legitimate, 1897, originally in theater, in reference to legitimate drama, that which has literary merit (Shakespeare, etc.).
legitimacy (n.): 1690s, of children; general use by 1836; see legitimate + -cy. Legitimateness an earlier word for it.
legitimate (adj.): mid-15c., "lawfully begotten," from Middle French legitimer and directly from Medieval Latin legitimatus, past participle of legitimare "make lawful, declare to be lawful," from Latin legitimus "lawful," originally "fixed by law, in line with the law," from lex (genitive legis) "law" (see legal). Transferred sense of "genuine, real" is attested from 1550s. Related: Legitimately.
legitimate (v.): 1590s, from Medieval Latin legitimatus, past participle of legitimare (see legitimate (adj.)). Related: Legitimated; legitimating.
legitimation (n.): mid-15c., from Middle French légitimation, from Medieval Latin legitimationem (nominative legitimatio), noun of action from past participle stem of legitimare (see legitimate (adj.)).
legitimism (n.): 1877, from French légitimisme; see legitimate (adj.) + -ism.
legitimist (n.): 1841, from French légitimiste, from légitime (see legitimate).
legitimize (v.): 1795, from Latin legitimus (see legitimate) + -ize. Earlier was legitimatize (1791). Related: Legitimized; legitimizing.
legless (adj.): 1590s, from leg (n.) + -less. Related: Leglessly; leglessness.
Lego: 1954, proprietary name (in use since 1934, according to the company), from Danish phrase leg godt "play well." The founder, Ole Kirk Christiansen, didn't realize until later that the word meant "I study" or "I put together" in Latin.
legume (n.): plant of the group of the pulse family, 1670s, from French légume (16c.), from Latin legumen "pulse, leguminous plant," of unknown origin. One suggestion ties it to Latin legere "to gather" (see lecture (n.)), because they can be scooped by the handful. Used in Middle English in the Latin form legumen (late 14c.).
leguminous (adj.): early 15c., from Latin legumen (see legume) + -ous.
lei (n.): 1843, from Hawaiian, "ornament worn about the neck or head."