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Legimitacy? An actual word?
GiraffeGirl
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I'm looking at an article from 1997 about the monarchy in light of Princess Diana's death (long story). I've come across the following sentence:
The institution's gathering obsolescence has never been more cruelly exposed than over the last week; its hold on popular sentiment - crucial to its legimitacy - has been severely dented.
Now, is this an actual word, and if so, what does it mean? A quick Google shows it being used elsewhere in a legal/political sense, but no actual definition will come up. It reads to me like it might be to do with the monarchy ongoing into the future through inheritance? But I'd love an actual concise definition.
Or is it just a misspelling of 'legitimacy'?
The institution's gathering obsolescence has never been more cruelly exposed than over the last week; its hold on popular sentiment - crucial to its legimitacy - has been severely dented.
Now, is this an actual word, and if so, what does it mean? A quick Google shows it being used elsewhere in a legal/political sense, but no actual definition will come up. It reads to me like it might be to do with the monarchy ongoing into the future through inheritance? But I'd love an actual concise definition.
Or is it just a misspelling of 'legitimacy'?
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As per Google it appears in some book titles as well as in the titles of some reports.
The real word is legitimacy.
^ This
It is! The OP saw a typo in an article and thought it might be a real word.
Well I only thought it was real because it's present on many websites on the internet. It's not a logical misspelling, let's be honest.
Having researched a bit more, in the context of the extract of the article you quoted, it is likely a misprint for "legitimacy" and that word fits the sentence.
Of the Google hits for "legimitacy" I looked closely at, it appears that they are misprints for "legitimacy".
For example, here is a page about a book with the word "legimitacy" in its title:
http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Politics_of_Legimitacy.html?id=OGzWSAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y
Here is an Amazon advert for that book but it has "legitimacy in its title"
http://www.amazon.com/Politics-Legitimacy-Struggles-Community-International/dp/071008966X
I thought so, I just thought I'd better check before I altered it. And wanted to be sure before one of my students asked
I wasn't having a pop at you honest! I guess there are so many words in so many articles/websites online, that most misspelt words will produce a number of hits if you Google them
No worries. Very true.
Thanks for your help all.
Good point
It just shows the dangers of relying on Google to check words/facts. You can't beat a good old fashioned paper dictionary!
I was too lazy to get off my bum to get my dictionary
It could be that there are a lot of pages reporting on, or mentioning, the original article. I've seen that happen with other misspelled words, and even with reported "facts".
I'd say it is. I think the other's a misspelling.
Been there, done that, all sorted.
Okaaaay.
Good. Here's your change 'aaa'.
Put "define" before a word and Google acts as a dictionary.
That's a cool way to check dubious words, as it defaults to the correct spelling e.g. searching for "define legimitacy" produces: