Meaning

verb make legal

verb show or affirm to be just and legitimate

verb make (an illegitimate child) legitimate; declare the legitimacy of (someone)

originFrom Middle English legitimat, legytymat, from Medieval Latin lēgitimātus, perfect passive participle of Latin lēgitimō (“to make legal”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from Latin lēgitimus (“lawful”), originally "fixed by law, in line with the law," from Latin lēx (“law”). Originally "lawfully begotten". The noun was derived from the adjective within English or earlier by…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0