Etymology of the English word legal
the English word
legalderived from the Old French word
legalderived from the Latin word
legalis (legal, of, concerned with law)
derived from the Latin word
lex (law; motion, bill; word)
derived from the Proto-Indo-European root
*leg- (to collect, to speak)
Date
The earliest known usage of legal in English dates from the 16th century.
Derivations in English
certiorari,
ignoramus,
inquisition,
mesnalty,
mesne,
extralegal,
legalism,
legalize,
medicolegal,
nonlegal,
paralegal,
preterlegalCognates
Dutch
legaal, French
légal, German
legal, Italian
legale, Latin
legalis, Lithuanian
legalus, Norwegian
legal, Polish
legalny, Russian
лeгaльный, Swedish
legalUsage
Word found in Modern English
