Middle English Dictionary Entry
leǧende n.
Entry Info
| Forms | leǧende n. Also legend, legande, legent, legant, (Latinate) legenda. |
| Etymology | OF legende & ML legenda. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) A written account of the life of a saint; (b) a collection of saints' lives; the ~, the Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine.
Associated quotations
a
- (c1380) Chaucer CT.SN.(Manly-Rickert)G.83 : For bothe haue I the wordes and sentence Of hym that at the seintes reuerence The storie wroot, and folwe hir legende.
- a1400(?a1325) Bonav.Medit.(1) (Hrl 1701)51 : Seynt Martyals legende wytnesseþ ryȝt.
- a1400 Cursor (Frf 14)20900 : Qua wille haue mare of þis matere [of the life of St. Peter], rede þe legende, & ȝe mai here.
- (a1400) Chaucer CT.Rt.(Manly-Rickert)I.1088 : The translacioun of Boece de consolacione and othere bookes of legendes of seintes and Omelies and moralitee and deuocioun, that thanke I oure lord Iesu Crist.
- 1447 Bokenham Sts.(Arun 327)81 : The matere..Is the lyf of blyssyd Margarete..As pleynly declaryth hyr legende.
- a1450 St.Editha (Fst B.3)2610 : Of a fayre meracle ychulle ȝow telle..As ȝe mowe in þe legende rede & spelle.
- c1450 Alph.Tales (Add 25719)508/5 : Thome Martiris Cantuariensis. We rede in his Legent how þer was in his dioces a preste þat daylie sang mes of our Ladie.
- (a1460) Bokenham Sts. (Adv Abbotsford B3)43.28(v.1:p.281) : As it is founden in his longe legenda, he lefte behynden hym whan he deide, of religious men and religious wommen in diuers collegis which he had ordeyned.., aboute the nombre of two thousand and two hundred.
- c1475(a1449) Lydg.Test.(Hrl 218)38 : Marter Ignacius..With Aureat letteres..His herte was graven; men may his legende se.
b
- (c1380) Chaucer CT.SN.(Manly-Rickert)G.25 : I haue here doon my feithful bisynesse After the legende..of thy glorious lyf and passioun..Thee mene I, mayde and martir, Seinte Cecilie.
- c1400(?a1387) PPl.C (Hnt HM 137)18.157 : Meny manere men þer beoþ, as sarrasyns and Iewes, Louyeþ nat þat lorde a-ryght, as by þe legende sanctorum.
- (1402) Hoccl.Cupid (Hnt HM 744)316 : In our legende of martirs may men fynde..That ooth noon, ne byheeste, may men bynde.
- a1425(?c1384) Wycl.Church (Bod 788)344 : Aftir bileve of hooli writt, þat telliþ of Petre and oþir apostlis..taken we biside bileve of many oþir þat þei ben seintis, as of Clement and Laurence and oþir þat þe Legende spekiþ of.
- c1430(c1386) Chaucer LGW (Benson-Robinson)1689 : He that cleped is in oure legende The grete Austyn, hath gret compassioun Of this Lucresse.
- 1447 Bokenham Sts.(Arun 327)9456 : The yere of grace..As seyth Ianuence in hys golden legende..Owt of thys werd passyd seynt Elyzabeth.
2.
(a) An account of a saint's life, or a portion thereof, appointed to be read in a church service; (b) a book containing such accounts; a book of lessons; ~ bok.
Associated quotations
a
- (a1387) Trev.Higd.(StJ-C H.1)5.49 : Of his [Zephirinus'] makynge is þe legende þat is i-rad a children masse day, and bygynneþ 'Zelus quo tendat'.
- (1429) Will Braybroke in Ess.AST 5302 : Also a portous of two volumes not noted with legendes after the newe ordinal.
- (1447) Acc.St.Mary Thame in BBOAJ 1156 : Item. Legends of Seint Marie through the yere wt service for Corpus Christi and Seint Thomas.
b
- (1429) Will Braybroke in Ess.AST 5301 : Also my best antiphoner noted; also my beste grayel; also a portous withowte legend; also a manuel.
- (1432) Rec.St.Mary at Hill27 : Also ij legendes & a manwell & a Ordynall.
- (1455) Acc.St.Ewen in BGAS 15146 : Item, j legend whiche begynneth, Passionem Sancti Andree, etc., and endeth with the iij lessons of Saynt Eusebius Eodem tempore quo Liberius Papa, etc.
- (1458-60) Acc.St.Andrew Hubbard in BMag.31249 : For amendyng of the masse booke & byndyng of the legent boke, xvij d.
- (1459) Paston (Gairdner)3.188 : Inprimis, ij antyfeners. Item, j legande of hoole servyce.
- (1466) Rec.St.Stephen in Archaeol.5037 : Item, j grete legent wryt in the firste lefe in the ijde Columpe, ve genti procatrici.
- (1472) Acc.St.Edm.Sarum4 : Item, j newe grete legant..in the ijde lef 'de diuersis tractatibus' with rede Inke.
- (1475-76) Acc.Croscombe in Som.RS 44 : Comes Mayster John Toker and gyfes to the new legent, vj s. viij d.
- (1475-76) Acc.Croscombe in Som.RS 45 : The Wardence have paid for stoff and writtyng of the new legent, which is xlvi queyres, pres per queyer iij s., summa vj l. xviij s.
- a1500(a1460) Towneley Pl.(Hnt HM 1)172/203 : Syrs, I pray you inquere in all wrytyng, In vyrgyll, in homere, And all other thyng Bot legende..lefe pystyls and grales; Mes, matyns noght avalys; all these I defende.
3.
(a) A story about a person; also, a collection of stories about persons; (b) a narrative dealing with a happening or an event; (c) ~ of lif, the list of those persons predestined to everlasting life.
Associated quotations
a
- (c1390) Chaucer CT.Mil.(Manly-Rickert)A.3141 : For I wol telle a legende and a lyf Both of a carpenter and of his wyf.
- (c1390) Chaucer CT.ML.(Manly-Rickert)B.61 : Who so that wol his large volume seke, Cleped the Seintes Legende of Cupide, Ther may he seen the large woundes wyde Of Lucresse, [etc.].
- (c1390) Chaucer CT.Sh.(Manly-Rickert)B.1335 : Thanne wolde I telle a legende of my lyf, What I haue suffred sith I was a wyf.
- (c1395) Chaucer CT.WB.(Manly-Rickert)D.686 : To reden in this book of wikked wyues, He knew of hem mo legendes and lyues Than been of goode wyues in the Bible.
- (?a1439) Lydg.FP (Bod 263)1.331 : This poete [Chaucer] wrot, at request off the queen, A legende off parfit hoolynesse, Off Goode Women.
- (?a1439) Lydg.FP (Hrl 1766)9.3578 : Beth war afforn, folk haue ther tounges fre, Lyk your dyscert shal rede your legende.
- c1450(c1386) Chaucer LGW Prol.(1) (Benson-Robinson)483 : The moste partye of thy tyme spende In makyng of a glorious legende Of goode wymmen.
b
- c1390(c1350) NHom.(2) Corp.Chr.(Vrn)174/127 : Þis ensaumple..is writen In þe Legent Of þi[s] holy sacrament.
- c1400 *Bk.Mother (Bod 416)193/18 : It is rad in þe legende of þe Epiphanie.
- c1440 Bonav.Medit.(3) (Thrn)217 : Þe apparecione made to owre lady es noghte wretyne in þe gospell..as it es more schewede in the legent of his resureccione.
c
- c1400(a1376) PPl.A(1) (Trin-C R.3.14)11.262 : I was markid wiþoute mercy, & myn name entrid In þe legende [vr. legande] of lif longe er I were.