The etymology of "religion" comes from "legere" meaning to read + "re" meaning again. Or does it? (more inside) [closed]
The etymology of religion as mentioned in the title comes from Etymonline.
And that's very interesting. It makes sense too.
My question is, how do the phrases, "to read", "to choose", "to gather", "law", and "to bind" all come together to form the phonetic root "leg"/"lig" which constitutes the etymology of "religion". Or do they at all? Also, is there any meaning to the whole "leg" (body part) thing? Does this have something to do with legs and free will? Because that would be interesting.
Other roots with 'legere'
- "intelligence". 'intere': "between" + 'legere': "choose, pick out, read". [2]
- "legal": 'legere':"to gather" or 'lex':"law". [3]
- "ligament": L 'ligamentum': "to bind, tie". [4]
So, given this background, what do you know about the etymology of the word "religion", the meaning(s) of "legere", and, perhaps most importantly, the legitimacy of Etymonline as a source?
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=religion&searchmode=none http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=intelligence&searchmode=none http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=leg&searchmode=none http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=ligament&allowed_in_frame=0
Religion comes from Latin religio; many people from Cicero onwards have speculated about the origin of religio, but there is no known answer.
Legere meant originally 'to pick out', and went by a fairly obvious route to 'to read'.
You will have to make your own mind up about etymonline.com; like most sources it is useful if you understand it but not if you just copy it blindly.
The rest of your question would be very welcome on Latin.SE but isn't really on-topic here.
The question makes a false assumption in claiming etymonline.com says:
The etymology of “religion” comes from “legere” meaning to read + “re” meaning again.
Read the etymonline.com entry again, it only says for certain that English "religion" comes from Latin religio (via Anglo-French and Old French). Beyond this, it offers three possible different roots:
- re+legere "read again", according to Cicero
- religare "to bind fast", according to later ancients (and many modern writers)
- religiens "careful"