645: legend Sep 13, 2016

Legends are wonderful as stories, and can come in all sorts of places, like myths or modern folklore. What we consider legendary today is not what would have been only a couple centuries ago. The original meaning was the story of the life of a saint. The Middle English word gets its meaning, unsurprising for something with Christian connections, via Old French, 'legende', from medieval Latin 'legenda', a participle of 'legere' meaning ‘things to be read’. The word is ultimately from Greek, 'legein' and even earlier 'logos' meaning 'reason'. For more on 'logos' see Word Facts from August 4, 2016 (/stonewordfacts/2016/08/605-pedagogue-and-synagogue-aug-4-2016.html)