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The title of this video clip is "A Hero Becomes Legend", which phrase is also shown within the clip itself at 0:17 and 0:24.

I think if "legend" here meant "person" that it should be countable and have "a" like "A Hero Becomes A Legend".

But since it doesn't have "a", I think that "legend" here means a "story" as in "Legend has it that...".

Am I right about the meaning of this word?

Also, is it possible to use the word as a countable noun meaning "a person" in this title and in the clip and say "A Hero Becomes A Legend"?

JK2
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    Without the article, it has the sense of becomes legendary. – Lawrence Sep 22 '17 at 05:45
  • @Lawrence Are you saying that "becomes a legend" does not mean "becomes legendary"? I believe that "a legend" in "A hero becomes a legend" is an ascriptive PC (predicative complement) as opposed to a specifying PC, i.e., "a legend" denotes a property of being "legendary". – JK2 Sep 22 '17 at 06:06
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    Good question. Though I can't find supporting evidence, I'd treat 'become legend' as a fixed phrase here, a lexeme meaning 'develop to being regarded as the person around whom a legend has grown'. Arguing over whether 'legend' here is nounal (as one may argue, possibly with better grounds, for 'history' in 'become history': "My father walked through history and he became history" {The Economist_ludwig.guru}) or adjectival (cf "He became famous") seems unprofitable. – Edwin Ashworth Sep 22 '17 at 07:28
  • @JK2 My comment was about the other phrase. – Lawrence Sep 22 '17 at 09:25
  • ... The becomes a legend phrase can mean all sorts of things - turn into a footnote (cf legend as an assignment of colours to graphs), ends up legendary, was remembered as a story, etc. – Lawrence Sep 22 '17 at 09:32
  • I think it's worse than you ask. In that title legend without an article is almost perfectly comparable to hero without.

    A Hero Becomes Legend is as correct as Hero Becomes A Legend would be.

     – Robbie Goodwin Sep 24 '17 at 17:13
  • @RobbieGoodwin If you're saying that it's correct because it's used as a title, I don't think this is not about a special grammar applicable only to a title. As pointed out, the clip itself contains the same sentence. If that's not what you're saying, I don't know what you're talking about. Do you seriously mean "Hero" without any article can function as a subject in a grammatical sentence that's not a title? – JK2 Sep 25 '17 at 01:16
  • I’m not saying it's correct because it's a title. I’m saying if it’s ever correct, it relies on both poetic licence and hidden justification. You might accept it after seeing the clip; few would without.

    It’s certainly not about a special grammar applicable only to a title.

    My suggestion was Hero without an article is usually wrong in the way Legend. Either can be the subject in a grammatical sentence that's not a title; just not one like this.

    Try Hero is an honorary title given to a brave warrior.

    Try Legend is neither history nor myth.

     – Robbie Goodwin Sep 25 '17 at 17:56
  • Of interest: Is the word 'the' unnecessary in the English language? – Lawrence Jun 20 '18 at 04:26

1 Answers1

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There are two different meanings of the word legend in your question.

In the first:

A Hero Becomes Legend

The meaning is that the hero, is going to enter folklore, and enter into the popular cultural storytelling of that time.

See:

Legend (1)

  1. A traditional story sometimes popularly regarded as historical but not authenticated. ‘the legend of King Arthur’ - OLD.

The second use of the word legend with a, has a different meaning and as you conjecture, refers to an individual person. Specifically it refers to the fame or notoriety of an individual person.

See:

Legend (2)

  1. An extremely famous or notorious person, especially in a particular field. ‘the man was a living legend’ ‘a screen legend’ - OLD.

So to your questions...

I think if "legend" here meant "person" that it should be countable and have "a" like "A Hero Becomes A Legend".

Legend can refer to a person in both cases, the difference is whether we are talking about that person entering into popular folklore (first definition above), or about the fame or notoriety of that individual (second definition).

But since it doesn't have "a", I think that "legend" here means a "story" as in "Legend has it that...".

Yes exactly correct, as per the first definition above.

Also, is it possible to use the word as a countable noun meaning "a person" in this title and in the clip and say "A Hero Becomes A Legend"?

Yes you can use legend with a countable noun, as per the second definition above. However it would not make much sense in the example you offer, because:

A hero is:

A person who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. ‘a war hero’ - OLD.

A hero implies popular consent. A hero is someone who is already admired for their courage, outstanding achievement, or noble qualities, and would therefore already be famous.

However you might say something like:

My hero becomes a legend

Because if the person was just a hero to you, they could conceivably still become a legend (famous - see definition 2 above) more widely with other people of their time.

Gary
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