Holy Cow, Where'd All Those Legends Come From?

News releases from publicists come in waves by snail mail, e-mail and that ancient technology the fax machine. By rough estimate, at least half concern the latest CDs, concerts or club appearances of legends:

...the legendary _____________(fill in the blank)

...a legend of the (piano, drums, bass, trumpet, oboe ____________(fill in the blank).

Let's consult a dictionary. The one in the answers.com dictionary will do; it essentially agrees with the definitions in the Random House and Webster's dictionaries and adds an interesting usage note.

leg·end (lĕj'ənd) n.

1.

a. An unverified story handed down from earlier times, especially one popularly believed to be historical.

b. A body or collection of such stories.

c. A romanticized or popularized myth of modern times.

2. One who inspires legends or achieves legendary fame.

[Middle English, from Old French legende, from Medieval Latin (lēctiō) legenda, (lesson) to be read, from Latin, feminine gerundive of legere, to read.]

USAGE NOTE Legend comes from the Latin adjective legenda, "for reading, to be read," which referred only to written stories, not to traditional stories transmitted orally from generation to generation. This restriction also applied to the English word legend when it was first used in the late 14th century in reference to written accounts of saints' lives, but ever since the 15th century legend has been used to refer to traditional stories as well. Today a legend can also be a person or achievement worthy of inspiring such a story--anyone or anything whose fame promises to be enduring, even if the renown is created more by the media than by oral tradition. Thus we speak of the legendary accomplishments of a major-league baseball star or the legendary voice of a famous opera singer. This usage is common journalistic hyperbole, and 55 percent of the Usage Panel accepts it.

I'll try to keep the wisdom of the Usage Panel in mind the next time I read a news release or a liner note about some 23-year-old singer who is a legend. If she's a female singer, she is, of course, a legendary diva.

There's no perbole like hyperbole.