Etymograph

English

league

League comes from Middle French ligue, from Italian lega, from the verb legare, from Latin ligō ‘to tie’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEligō1‘to tie’
  2. Italianc. 1300–presentlegare1‘to tie, bind’
  3. Italianc. 1300–presentlega1‘league’
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600ligue1
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500liege1‘alliance, agreement’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1667league1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English league
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1667, John Milton, Book X: “Out of my sight, thou Serpent, that name best…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEligōWiktionary, English league‘to tie’
  2. Italianc. 1300–presentlegareWiktionary, English league‘to tie, bind’
  3. Italianc. 1300–presentlegaWiktionary, English league‘league’
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600ligueWiktionary, English league
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500liegeWiktionary, English league‘alliance, agreement’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1667leagueWiktionary, English league. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1667, John Milton, Book X: “Out of my sight, thou Serpent, that name best…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with league, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *leyǵ- ‘to bind’

  • obligation ← obligacioun ← obligacion ← obligatio ← obligatum
  • oblige ← obligen ← obligier ← obligō ← ob

through Latin ligō ‘to tie’

31 more relatives in the full family tree

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Another origin of league

  1. Proto-Celticc. 1300–800 BCE*lougāreconstructed
  2. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEleuca‘the Gaulish mile’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lege
  4. Englishtodayleague

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Today it means

noun A group or association of cooperating members.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “league”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Latin ligō / league