different between herd vs legion

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /h??d/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /h?d/
• Rhymes: -??(?)d
• Homophone: heard

Etymology 1

From Middle English herde, heerde, heorde, from Old English hierd, heord (“herd, flock; keeping, care, custody”), from Proto-Germanic *herd? (“herd”), from Proto-Indo-European *?erd?- (“file, row, herd”). Cognate with German Herde, Swedish hjord. Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian herdhe (“nest”) and Serbo-Croatian krdo.

Noun

herd (plural herds)

1. A number of domestic animals assembled together under the watch or ownership of a keeper. [from 11th c.]
   • 1768, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,

     The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea.

2. Any collection of animals gathered or travelling in a company. [from 13th c.]
   • 2007, J. Michael Fay, Ivory Wars: Last Stand in Zakouma, National Geographic (March 2007), 47,

     Zakouma is the last place on Earth where you can see more than a thousand elephants on the move in a single, compact herd.

3. (now usually derogatory) A crowd, a mass of people; now usually pejorative: a rabble. [from 15th c.]
   • 1833, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Table Talk, 8 June 1833

     You can never interest the common herd in the abstract question.

Derived terms

• herd immunity
• herd instinct

Translations

Verb

herd (third-person singular simple present herds, present participle herding, simple past and past participle herded)

1. (intransitive) To unite or associate in a herd; to feed or run together, or in company.

   Sheep herd on many hills.
2. (transitive) To unite or associate in a herd
3. (transitive) To manage, care for or guard a herd

4. (intransitive) To associate; to ally oneself with, or place oneself among, a group or company.

   • I’ll herd among his friends, and seem
     One of the number.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English herde, from Old English hirde, hierde, from Proto-West Germanic *hird?, from Proto-Germanic *hirdijaz. Cognate with German Hirte, Swedish herde, Danish hyrde.

Noun

herd (plural herds)

1. (now rare) Someone who keeps a group of domestic animals; a herdsman.
   • 2000, Alasdair Grey, The Book of Prefaces, Bloomsbury 2002, page 38:

     Any talent which gives a good new thing to others is a miracle, but commentators have thought it extra miraculous that England's first known poet was an illiterate herd.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

herd (third-person singular simple present herds, present participle herding, simple past and past participle herded)

1. (intransitive, Scotland) To act as a herdsman or a shepherd.
2. (transitive) To form or put into a herd.
3. (transitive) To move or drive a herd.

Translations

See also

• Appendix:English collective nouns
• drove
• gather
• muster
• round up
• ride herd on

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

herd

1. imperative of herde

Old High German

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *herþ.

Noun

herd m

1. hearth

Descendants

• Middle High German: hert
  • German: Herd
  • Luxembourgish: Häerd

English

Etymology

Attested (in Middle English, as legioun) around 1200, from Old French legion, from Latin legi?, legionem, from leg? (“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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?li?d??n/
• Rhymes: -i?d??n

Adjective

legion (not comparable)

1. Numerous; vast; very great in number

   Synonyms: multitudinous, numerous

Translations

Noun

legion (plural legions)

1. (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.

   Meronyms: cohort, maniple, century

2. (military, obsolete) A combined arms major military unit featuring cavalry, infantry, and artillery.

   Coordinate terms: combat team, regimental combat team, brigade combat team

3. (military) A large military or semi-military unit trained for combat; any military force; an army, regiment; an armed, organized and assembled militia.
4. (often Legion or the Legion) A national organization or association of former servicemen, such as the American Legion.
5. A large number of people; a multitude.

   Synonyms: host, mass, multitude, sea, throng

6. (often plural) A great number.
7. (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.

Coordinate terms

• (military unit): fireteam, section, troop, squad, platoon, company, battalion, regiment, brigade, division, corps, wing, army, army group

Related terms

• legionary
• legionnaire

Derived terms

• superlegion
• sublegion
• infralegion

Translations

Verb

legion (third-person singular simple present legions, present participle legioning, simple past and past participle legioned)

1. (transitive) To form into legions.

Quotations

Further reading

• Roman legion on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• legion (taxonomy) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• legion (demons) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• legion in popular culture on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

Anagrams

• eloign, longie, ogle-in

Danish

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin l?gi?.

Noun

legion c (singular definite legionen, plural indefinite legioner)

1. legion

Declension

Esperanto

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /le??ion/
• Hyphenation: le?gi?on
• Rhymes: -ion

Noun

legion

1. accusative singular of legio

Middle French

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /le??jõ?/

Noun

legion f (plural legions)

1. (military) legion

Descendants

• French: légion

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin l?gi?.

Noun

legion m (definite singular legionen, indefinite plural legioner, definite plural legionene)

1. legion

Further reading

• “legion” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin l?gi?.

Noun

legion m (definite singular legionen, indefinite plural legionar, definite plural legionane)

1. legion

Further reading

• “legion” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?l???.j?n/

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

legion m inan

1. legion

Declension

Swedish

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin l?gi?.

Noun

legion c

1. legion

Declension

Anagrams

• logien