Meaning and Origin
What does the name Legion mean? Keep reading to find the user submitted meanings, dictionary definitions, and more.
Origin and Meaning of Legion
User Submitted Origins
Latin
66%
English
26%
American
6%
French
3%
User Submitted Meanings
- A submission from New York, U.S. says the name Legion means "Army or military of demons".
International Interest
Also see international interest
Webster's Unabridged Dictionary
noun Le"gion
Senses
- [Rom. Antiq] A body of foot soldiers and cavalry consisting of different numbers at different periods, -- from about four thousand to about six thousand men, -- the cavalry being about one tenth.
- A military force; an army; military bands.
- A great number; a multitude."Where one sin has entered, legions will force their way through the same breach." [Rogers.]
- [Taxonomy] A group of orders inferior to a class.
Etymology: OE. legioun, OF. legion, F. légion, fr. L. legio, fr. legere to gather, collect. See Legend
Other Dictionary Sources
- A vast multitude
- Archaic terms for army
- A large military unit ("the French Foreign Legion")
- Association of ex-servicemen ("the American Legion")
- Amounting to a large indefinite number ("Palomar's fans are legion")
Wiktionary
Attested (in Middle English, as legioun) around 1200, from Old French legion, from Latin legiō, legionem, from legō (“to gather, collect”); akin to legend, lecture.
Generalized sense of “a large number” is due to (inaccurate) translations of allusive phrase in Mark 5:9
- And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.
- (military, Ancient Rome) The major unit or division of the Roman army, usually comprising 3000 to 6000 infantry soldiers and 100 to 200 cavalry troops.
- (military, obsolete) a combined arms major military unit featuring cavalry, infantry, and artillery
- (military) A large military or semimilitary unit trained for combat; any military force; an army, regiment; an armed, organized and assembled militia.
- (often or ) A national organization or association of former servicemen, such as the American Legion, founded in 1919.
- A large number of people; a multitude.
- (often plural) A great number.
- Where one sin has entered, will force their way through the same breach. — John Rogers (1679-1729) Google Books
- (dated, taxonomy) A group of orders inferior to a class; in scientific classification, a term occasionally used to express an assemblage of objects intermediate between an order and a class.
legion was also found in the following language(s): Esperanto, Middle French, and Polish