English
legacy
Legacy comes from Middle English legacie, from Old French legacie and Medieval Latin lēgātia, from Latin lēgō ‘to bequeath’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElēgō‘to bequeath’
- Medieval Latinc. 600–1500lēgātiaperfect passive participle of lēgō
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400legacieuncertain
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500legacie
- Englishearliest quotation 1951legacy
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElēgō‘to bequeath’
- Medieval Latinc. 600–1500lēgātiaperfect passive participle of lēgō
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400legacieuncertain
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500legacie
- Englishearliest quotation 1951legacy
Earliest quotation: 1951, D. S. Barrie, British Railways: A Survey, 1948-1950: “During the first year or so of British Railways,…”
The story
The boardgame sense was coined by game designer Rob Daviau in 2011 with the game Risk Legacy.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- ‘to lie’
law, low, lie, fellow, lawyer, layer, log, litter, ledger, lair, ledge, lawless, lees, lig, underlay, leaguer, lias, lagan, 17 more
through Proto-Indo-European *lḗgʰs
disloyalty, illegality, 5 more
through Proto-Italic *lēks ‘law’
through Latin lēx ‘a formal motion for a law’
lay, legal, loyal, lex, leal, 9 more
through Latin lēgō ‘send, despatch’
election, college, collection, elite, lesson, select, collective, eligible, legend, lecture, colleague, elect, coil, collector, negligence, delegation, legion, elegant, diligent, negligent, delegate, collegiate, negligible, cull, legible, lectern, ineligibility, legation, collegium, lector, relegate, 24 more
through Latin lēgātum
Today it means
noun Money or property bequeathed to someone in a will.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin lēgō / legacy