legate

See also: Legate and lëgatë

English

Pronunciation

noun

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛɡɪt/, /ˈlɛɡət/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • Audio (Southern England):

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  • Rhymes: -ɛɡɪt, -ɛɡət
• (nonstandard) IPA^(key): /ˈliːɡeɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

verb

• IPA^(key): /ləˈɡeɪt/

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old English legat(e), from Old French legat, from Latin lēgātus, substantivized from the perfect passive participle of lēgō (“to bequeath, send as envoy”).

Noun

legate (plural legates)

1. A deputy representing the pope, specifically a papal ambassador sent on special ecclesiastical missions.
2. An ambassador or messenger.
   • c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene i:

     Moſt great and puiſant Monarke of the earth,
     Your Baſſoe wil accompliſh your beheſt:
     And ſhew your pleaſure to the Perſean,
     As fits the Legate of the ſtately Turke.

   • 1965, John Fowles, The Magus:

     The dark figure on the raised white terrace; legate of the sun facing the sun; the most ancient royal power.

3. The deputy of a provincial governor or general in ancient Rome.
   • 1911, Rudyard Kipling, “The Roman Centurion’s Song”, in The History of England:

     Legate, I had the news last night—my cohort ordered home
     By ships to Portus Itius and thence by road to Rome.

Derived terms

• legatee
• legateship

Related terms

• legacy
• legatine
• legation
• prolegate

Translations

deputy representing the pope

• Armenian: նվիրակ (hy) (nvirak), լեգատ (hy) (legat)
• Bulgarian: легат m (legat)
• Czech: legát m
• Dutch: legaat (nl) m
• Esperanto: legato
• French: légat (fr) m

  Middle French: legat m

  Old French: legat m

• German: Legat (de) m
• Greek: παπικός έξαρχος m (papikós éxarchos)
• Hungarian: legátus (hu), nuncius (hu)
• Irish: leagáid m
• Nahuatl:

  Classical Nahuatl: huēyi teōpixcātītlantli, Santo Padre ītītlan

• Polish: legat (pl) m
• Russian: лега́т (ru) m (legát)
• Spanish: legado pontificio m

ambassador or messenger

• Bulgarian: пратеник (bg) m (pratenik)
• Czech: vyslanec (cs) m
• German: Gesandte (de) m
• Greek: απεσταλμένος (el) m (apestalménos), εκπρόσωπος (el) m (ekprósopos)
• Hungarian: követ (hu)
• Irish: leagáid m
• Latin: lēgātus (la) m
• Spanish: legado (es) m (desus.)
• Turkish:

  Ottoman Turkish: ایلچی (elçi), سفیر (sefir)

deputy of a provincial governor or general in ancient Rome

• Armenian: նվիրակ (hy) (nvirak), լեգատ (hy) (legat)
• Dutch: legaat (nl) m
• Esperanto: legato n pl
• French: légat (fr) m
• Greek: έξαρχος (el) m (éxarchos)
• Hungarian: helytartó (hu)
• Polish: legat (pl) m
• Russian: лега́т (ru) m (legát)
• Spanish: legado (es) m

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin lēgātus, perfect passive participle of lēgō (“to bequeath, leave as legacy, legate”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

Verb

legate (third-person singular simple present legates, present participle legating, simple past and past participle legated)

1. (transitive) To leave as a legacy. [from 1546]
2. (obsolete) past participle of legate [1442-1533]

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Latin lēgātum (“a legacy”), substantivized from the neuter forms of the perfect passive participle of lēgō (“to bequeath, leave as legacy, legate”). Doublet of legacy.

Noun

legate (plural legates)

1. (obsolete) A legacy or bequest. [1438-1530]

Anagrams

• Teagle, eaglet, gelate, teagle, telega

Esperanto

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /leˈɡate/
• Rhymes: -ate

Adverb

legate

1. present adverbial passive participle of legi

Italian

Etymology 1

Adjective

legate

1. feminine plural of legato

Participle

legate f pl

1. feminine plural of legato

Etymology 2

Noun

legate f pl

1. plural of legata

Etymology 3

Verb

legate

1. inflection of legare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Anagrams

• gelate

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ɫeːˈɡaː.tɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [leˈɡaː.te]

Noun

lēgāte

1. vocative singular of lēgātus

Participle

lēgāte

1. vocative masculine singular of lēgātus

Spanish

Verb

legate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of legar combined with te