Etymologically
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regal

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈɹiːɡəl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English regal,[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman regal (“royal”) and directly borrowed from Latin rēgālis (“of or belonging to a king, royal”),[4][5][6][7] from rēx (“king”) and the suffix -ālis.[4][8] The OED dates the French adjective to the second half of the 13th century in Anglo-Norman and to 880 in Old French, as regiel;[4] the Anglo-Norman Dictionary records it from 1121–25.[9] The early noun senses reflect various French and Latin nouns formed from the adjective,[4] and Barnhart thinks that some uses of the adjective may have grown out of the noun.[10] Ayto considers regal probably a direct borrowing from Latin, while its doublet royal came through Old French.[11] The Latin noun comes from Proto-Indo-European *reg- (“to move in a straight line, to lead, rule”),[5][8] and is related to Old Irish rí (“king”) and Sanskrit राजन् (rājan, “king”).[6][10][12] Old English had regallic (“splendid”), formed from the Latin adjective, in a gloss.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a noun, royalty or royal authority: before 1375, in William of Palerne.[4] As an adjective, "of a king, royal": about 1380, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius.[4][10]

Semantic evolution

The adjective took on the sense "like a monarch; splendid, stately, magnificent" in 1561, in Googe's translation of the Zodiake of Life.[4] Johnson (1755) defined it simply as "royal; kingly", with quotations from Shakespeare.[13] The noun had many concrete senses that are now lost: a royal right or privilege (1540–1797), in Scotland a territory ruled with royal jurisdiction (1381–1609), a kind of precious stone (about 1426–1631), the Regal of France, a gem at St Thomas Becket's shrine in Canterbury that Henry VIII set in a ring, and the chalice used at English coronations (1603–77).[4][14][3] Its only living noun sense is horticultural: a regal is a regal pelargonium (from 1894).[4]

Timeline

  • before 1375 – noun, royalty, sovereignty (obsolete by 1460).[4]
  • c. 1380 – adjective, of or relating to a monarch.[4][10]
  • 1381 – noun, in Scotland, a territory under royal jurisdiction (obsolete by 1609).[4]
  • c. 1440 – the Regal of France, a gem at Becket's shrine.[4]
  • before 1540 – noun, a royal right or privilege (obsolete by 1797).[4]
  • 1561 – like a monarch; splendid, stately.[4]
  • 1603 – the coronation chalice (obsolete by 1677).[4]
  • 1894 – a regal pelargonium.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of, relating to or suitable for a king or queen; royal: the regal title.[15][3][4]
  2. Magnificent or stately, as if of a monarch: She swept into the hall with a regal air.[3][4]

Noun

  1. (horticulture) A regal pelargonium.[4]
  2. (obsolete, 1540–1797) A royal right or privilege.[4][14][3]
  3. (obsolete, 1603–77) The chalice used for Communion at English coronations.[4][3]

Word family

  • regality
  • regally
  • regalness
  • superregal
  • unregal
  • viceregal
  • regal moth

Usage notes

A rarer noun regal was a small portable reed organ of the 16th and 17th centuries, and later an organ reed stop; it is recorded from about 1475 and is apparently from French régale, of uncertain origin.[4][14][3] A regal or groove, from 1458, is apparently from a variant of Middle French rigole,[4] and survived in the dialects of the west of England and the Isle of Wight.[16]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  10. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  11. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  14. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  15. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  16. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)