Etymograph

English

legist

Legist comes from Medieval Latin lēgista ‘one skilled in law, legist’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- ‘to lie’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*legʰ-1‘to lie’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*lḗgʰs1uncertain
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*lēks1‘law’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElex2‘law’
  5. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500lēgista2‘one skilled in law, legist’
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600légiste2
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1933legist2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin lex
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English legist
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1933, Herbert George Wells, The Second Conference at Basra, 1978: “There were a number of lawyers of the older…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*legʰ-Wiktionary, Latin lex‘to lie’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*lḗgʰsWiktionary, Latin lexuncertain
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*lēksWiktionary, Latin lex‘law’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElexWiktionary, English legist‘law’
  5. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500lēgistaWiktionary, English legist‘one skilled in law, legist’
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600légisteWiktionary, English legist
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1933legistWiktionary, English legist. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1933, Herbert George Wells, The Second Conference at Basra, 1978: “There were a number of lawyers of the older…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- ‘to lie’

law, low, lie, fellow, lawyer, layer, log, litter, ledger, lair, ledge, lawless, lees, lig, underlay, leaguer, lagan, lias, 16 more

through Proto-Indo-European *lḗgʰs

disloyalty, illegality, 4 more

through Proto-Italic *lēks ‘law’

illegal, loyalty, 6 more

through Latin lex ‘law’

college, lay, legal, loyal, legacy, colleague, delegation, delegate, lex, collegiate, relegate, leal, legate, collegium, 8 more

Today it means

noun One skilled in the law.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “legist”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin lex. 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 *legʰ- / legist

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