From Latin 'legenda' (things to be read) — originally saints' lives read aloud in churches, often wildly embellished.
A traditional story sometimes popularly regarded as historical but not authenticated, or a person famous enough to be the subject of such stories.
From Latin 'legenda,' literally 'things to be read' or 'that which ought to be read,' the gerundive (neuter plural) of 'legere' meaning 'to read, to gather, to choose, to collect.' The PIE root is *leǵ- (to collect, to gather, to speak, to read), which is among the most productive in the Indo-European lexicon. In medieval usage, 'legenda' referred specifically to the lives of saints that were to be read aloud during the divine office
A 'legend' was originally something you were supposed to read. The Latin 'legenda' literally means 'things to be read' — specifically, the lives of saints read aloud in monasteries and churches. Because these hagiographies grew increasingly fantastical over the centuries, 'legend' shifted from '