n.
    - a traditional story popularly regarded as historical but which is not authenticated.
 - an extremely famous or notorious person:
 a screen legend.
 - an inscription on a coin or medal. 
▸explanatory wording on a map, diagram, etc.
 - historical a written account of a saint's life.
 
adj.
 very well known:
 his speed and ferocity in attack were legend.
 
  Etymology
  ME: from OFr. legende, from med. L. legenda ‘things to be read’, from L. legere ‘read’.