legate

See also: Legate and lëgatë

English

Etymology

From late Old English, from Old French legat, from Latin legatus (nominal use of perfect passive participle of lego (“bequeath, send as envoy”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛɡɪt/, /ˈlɛɡət/
• Rhymes: -ɛɡɪt, -ɛɡət

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, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], part 1, 2nd edition, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, OCLC 932920499; 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.

Related terms

• legatine

Translations

deputy representing the pope

• Armenian: նվիրակ (hy) (nvirak), լեգատ (hy) (legat)
• Bulgarian: легат m (legat)
• Classical Nahuatl: huēyi teōpixcātītlantli, Santo Padre ītītlan
• 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, nuncius
• Polish: legat (pl) m
• Russian: лега́т (ru) m (legát)

ambassador or messenger

• Bulgarian: пратеник (bg) m (pratenik)
• German: Gesandte (de) m
• Greek: απεσταλμένος (el) m (apestalménos), εκπρόσωπος (el) m (ekprósopos)

• Hungarian: követ (hu)
• Latin: lēgātus (la) m

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)

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To leave as a legacy.

Anagrams

• Teagle, eaglet, gelate, teagle, telega

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Esperanto

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /leˈɡate/
• Rhymes: -ate

Adverb

legate

1. present adverbial passive participle of legi

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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

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Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /leːˈɡaː.te/, [ɫ̪eːˈɡäːt̪ɛ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /leˈɡa.te/, [leˈɡäːt̪e]

Noun

lēgāte

1. vocative singular of lēgātus

Participle

lēgāte

1. vocative masculine singular of lēgātus