Legend

Legend is a narrative tradition that preserves stories about real places, people, and events, often embellished with miraculous or extraordinary elements. Legends are typically presented as plausible or near-true, distinguishing them from myths that seek to convey cosmic or religious truths. They are transmitted through generations by oral storytelling, local histories, and later written forms, and they tend to evolve with each retelling. While legends may be anchored in historical memory, they accumulate fantastical details, moral lessons, or explanations for local customs and place-names.

Subgenres of legend include heroic legends about famous figures such as King Arthur or Robin Hood; local legends associated with specific places—haunted houses, cursed springs, or miraculous healings; and urban legends, contemporary stories circulated as believable rumors, often featuring sensational or cautionary themes. Legends can serve to explain the origins of a community, reinforce social values, entertain, or warn listeners about dangers.

In a different sense, legend also refers to a map key or explanatory list that decodes symbols, colors, and line styles used on a map. This cartographic sense of the word comes from the idea of “things to be read” and helps readers interpret geographic information.

The term legend, in English, thus covers both a type of narrative grounded in tradition and a practical reference in mapping, with each sense shaped by culture and usage.