Etymologically
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royal

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈrɔɪ.əl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English royal,[2] borrowed from Old French roial (“royal, regal; splendid, magnificent”) (modern royal),[3][4][5] from Latin rēgālis (“of a king, kingly”),[3][4] from rēx (“king”) (genitive rēgis),[3][4] from Proto-Indo-European *reg- (“to move in a straight line; to direct, rule”).[3] It is a doublet of regal, which came directly from Latin.[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Fit for a king, magnificent: about 1250 in Barnhart,[4] the mid-13th century in Etymonline.[3]

Semantic evolution

“Of or pertaining to a monarch, majestic” is from about 1375, in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales,[4][6] the late 14th century in Etymonline.[3] The French origin of several Middle English uses shows in the position of the adjective after the noun, as in blood royal and battle royal (1670s).[4][3] Of institutions, “founded under the patronage of a sovereign”, it is from about 1500.[3] The noun, a royal person, is from about 1400, and a member of the royal family, colloquially, from 1774.[3] The sense “splendid, first-rate” is by 1853, and the American colloquial intensive, as in a royal pain, from the 1940s.[3] The Royal Oak is the tree at Boscobel in which Charles II hid in 1651.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1250 – fit for a king.[4]
  • c. 1375 – of a monarch.[4][6]
  • c. 1400 – noun, a royal person.[3]
  • c. 1500 – founded by a sovereign.[3]
  • 1670s – battle royal.[3]
  • 1774 – a member of the royal family.[3]
  • 1853 – splendid, first-rate.[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Of, relating to or belonging to a king or queen; regal.
  2. Having the rank of a monarch or belonging to a monarch's family.
  3. Founded or authorized by a monarch: the Royal Navy.
  4. Fit for a king; splendid or superior.
  5. (informal, chiefly US) Very great: a royal pain.

Noun

  1. (informal) A member of a royal family.
  2. A sail above the topgallant; a size of paper.

Word family

  • royally
  • real
  • realm
  • regal
  • royalty
  • royalist
  • rex
  • reign
  • rule

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press