reina

Forms

reina f (plural reinas)^[1] Old Spanish reína was stressed on the i: so in Berceo, the Vida de Santa María Egipciaca and Juan Ruiz, and still in the 15th century; the modern two-syllable réina is found in Gonzalo de Segovia in 1475.^[2][3] Leonese documents of 1245–1260 have rina, from reína; the word was sometimes written in the Latin way regina.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish reyna, inherited from Latin rēgīna (“queen”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin word was first stressed on the ⟨i⟩, as Old Spanish reína still was; the stress moved to the diphthong ⟨ei⟩ by the late 15th century.^[2][1]

The same word is Portuguese rainha, Galician raíña, Asturian reina, Catalan reina, Occitan reina, French reine and Italian regina.^[5][6][1]

rēgīna is clearly related to rēx (“king”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to rule”), but its exact formation is unclear: it may come from an adjective *rēg-īno- “meant for the king”, or, as Sihler proposes, be a remodelled form of an older feminine.^[1] The OLD analyses it as rēx with the suffix -īna.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DCECH dates the word to the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140), with reína then the usual form.^[2][3] In Alfonso X's Lapidario (1250–1279) the book came into the hands of King Alfonso, son of King Ferdinand & dela reyna donna beatriz “and of Queen Beatrice”: the king's wife.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X already used the word for a queen regnant, for the kingdoms of Egypt ruled by queens, and for something outstanding of its kind: a stone that makes women loved is called la reyna.^[8] Autoridades gave the king's wife and the woman who holds a kingdom by right, and noted that in courtly and playful style any woman could be called reina (Réina mia).^[9] The Academy added the chess piece, the queen bee and the figurative sense in 1884.^[10]

In Havana in 1568 Black men and women of the town called themselves reyes e reinas and held gatherings, and in the Dominican Republic a reina is the woman with spiritual authority in a cofradía of the congos.^[11][12] Regional uses include Mexico and Nicaragua “conceited woman” and Puerto Rico reina for a tree and for a small bird, the reinita.^[13][14] Cebuano, Tagalog and Papiamentu have borrowed the word.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has reína.^[2][3]
• 1245–1260 – Leonese documents write rina.^[2]
• 1250–1279 – the Lapidario of Alfonso X names la reyna donna beatriz.^[8]
• 1475 – Gonzalo de Segovia's verse has the two-syllable réina.^[2][3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin regina and Greek-derived bassilissa.^[15]
• 1554 – first record from the Americas, in Peru.^[11]
• 1737 – the Diccionario de Autoridades notes the playful use for any woman.^[9]
• 1884 – the Academy adds the chess piece and the queen bee.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. queen: a woman who rules a kingdom in her own right.^[4][1]
2. A queen consort, the wife of a king.^[4][1]
3. A woman, animal or thing that stands out above the rest of its kind: la reina de la fiesta.^[4][16]
4. (chess) The queen, the strongest piece after the king; also dama.^[1][17][16]
5. (card games) A queen of the French-suited pack.^[1]
6. (zoology) The queen bee, abeja reina, and the fertile female of other social insects.^[17][16]
7. (Mexico, Nicaragua; colloquial) A conceited woman.^[13]

Word family

• virreina

Related words

• rey
• reino
• reinar
• Latin rēgīna
• Portuguese rainha

Usage notes

Set phrases include reina madre “queen mother” and reina de los prados, the plant meadowsweet.^[1][4] The DLE treats reina under rey, as its feminine.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 900
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. rey
4. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. rey, reina
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. regina
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. rēgīna
8. ^ a b c Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. reina
9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 554
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 915
11. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. reina
12. ^ Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. rey, reina
13. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. reina
14. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. reina
15. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. reina
16. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. reina
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. reina