reine
Pronunciation
Forms
reine f (plural reines, masculine roi)[1] Old French reïne (three syllables) in the West, roïne in the centre, after roi; two syllables from the 14th century; in the 16th century reine and roine were both heard.[2] Académie 1694: reine, reyne.[2][3][4]
Etymology
It is inherited from Old French reïne, inherited from Latin rēgīna (“queen”),[4][3][5][6] the feminine of Latin rēx (“king”) (see roi).[3][2] The modern pronunciation comes from the West.[2] Middle French also had the learned “regine” (1465–1512).[4]
Cognate with Italian regina, Old Occitan reina, Catalan reina, Spanish reina and Portuguese rainha.[7][2]
Earliest recorded meaning
The Chanson de Roland (about 1100) has reïne Bramimonde, the wife of King Marsile.[4][2]
Semantic evolution
About 1160 (Eneas) it named a woman ruling in her own right.[4] Wace (about 1145) calls the Virgin reïne, later reine du ciel, reine des anges (Marot).[4][3] From the 13th century it was said of what dominates (la coutume, royne et emperiere du monde, Montaigne), and, from 1531 of a woman who outshines the others, as in the 20th-century reine de beauté.[3][2] The reine de la fève of Twelfth Night dates from 1377, the chess queen from about 1380 and the playing card from about 1514.[4][3]
Reine mère is in Du Bellay (1559), à la reine from 1680 (bouchée à la reine, 1845), and port de reine from 1690.[4][3][8] The queen bee is a reine from 1751, and the bicycle la petite reine from 1911.[4][9] In Switzerland a reine is the cow that leads the herd after winning the fights of the alpine pastures.[3]
Timeline
- c. 1100 – Reïne in the Chanson de Roland.[4]
- c. 1145 – The Virgin, in Wace.[4]
- c. 1160 – A queen regnant, in Eneas.[4]
- 1377 – Royne de la fevre.[4]
- c. 1380 – The chess queen.[4]
- 1559 – Royne mère in Du Bellay.[4]
- 1655 – Reine-des-prés.[3]
- 1751 – The queen bee.[4]
- 1911 – La petite reine.[4]
Meanings
Noun
- A queen: the wife of a king; a woman ruling a kingdom: la reine d'Angleterre, reine mère.[10][11]
- A woman who dominates or excels: la reine de la soirée, reine de beauté.[11][3]
- What prevails: ici l'ironie est reine.[11]
- (chess, cards) The queen.[4][10]
- (zoology) The queen (of bees, ants, termites).[11][1]
- La petite reine: the bicycle, bouchée à la reine: vol-au-vent, la reine du ciel: the Virgin Mary.[9][10]
- (Switzerland) The leading cow of a herd.[3]
Word family
- vice-reine
- reine-claude
- reine-des-prés
- reine-marguerite
Related words
- roi
- régner
- Latin rēgīna
References
- ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
- ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
- ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 210b
- ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
- ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
- ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
- ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)