Etymograph

English

lection

Lection comes from Old French lection ‘election’, from Latin legō ‘to read’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- ‘to gather’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leǵ-1‘to gather’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*léǵeti1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*legō1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElegō2‘to read’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElēctiōnem2
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400lection2‘election’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1885lection2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin lego
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English lection
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1885, Richard Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night: “This man […] came to dwell in our city,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leǵ-Wiktionary, Latin lego‘to gather’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*léǵetiWiktionary, Latin legoreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*legōWiktionary, Latin legoreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElegōWiktionary, English lection‘to read’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElēctiōnemWiktionary, English lection
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400lectionWiktionary, English lection‘election’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1885lectionWiktionary, English lection. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1885, Richard Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night: “This man […] came to dwell in our city,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- ‘to gather’

technology, logic, apology, catalogue, trilogy, collect, analogy, terminology, sociology, pathology, logos, physiology, astrology, prologue, pathologist, epilogue, archaeologist, monologue, eulogy, leach, cosmology, etymology, logistic, epistemology, entomology, lexical, homologous, lexicon, gynecologist, lignite, lignin, apologia, alexia, etiology, lexis, syllogism, bacteriology, dialectical, dialectic, bacteriologist, 151 more

through Proto-Italic *legō

intelligence, intelligent, intellectual, ineligible, elector, legionella, legionnaire, legionary, 18 more

through Latin legō ‘to read’

college, elite, legend, legacy, eligible, lesson, colleague, select, elegant, coil, collective, negligence, lecture, delegate, collector, negligent, elect, delegation, collegiate, diligent, negligible, legion, cull, legible, legate, collegium, ineligibility, legation, lectern, lector, 25 more

Today it means

noun The act of reading.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “lection”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin lego. 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 / Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- / lection

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