regina

Forms

regina f (plural regine, masculine re)^[1] The older form is Old Italian reina, still used in poetry; northern Italy had Old Italian raina and Old Italian ragina in the 13th and 14th centuries, and old texts also have Old Italian redina.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin rēgīna (“queen”), a learned form that replaced the older Old Italian reina.^[5][2][3] Wiktionary treats the Italian word as inherited instead.^[1] The Latin word is related to rēx (“king”), and the other Romance languages have it by direct descent: French reine, Occitan reina, Catalan reina, Spanish reina and Portuguese rainha.^[5][6][1] Sabatini and Coletti take the older Italian form from French.^[7]

De Vaan derives the word for “king” from Proto-Indo-European *h₃rḗǵs (“ruler, king”).^[8] Nocentini compares the feminine with Oscan regenai (a dative), Sanskrit राज्ञी (rājñī, “queen”) and Old Irish rígain, while Wiktionary calls the exact formation uncertain.^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The form reina is used for the Virgin Mary by Garzo about 1225.^[9][10] DELI's first record of regina “wife of the king” is in Brunetto Latini before 1294, and reina in the same sense is in the Novellino at the end of the 13th century.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Guittone d'Arezzo called Florence reina delle città before 1294, and Dante uses the word for a woman who excels among others.^[9] The chess piece is already called regina in the 13th-century Tavola Ritonda.^[9] Nocentini explains it as a calque of French reine: the original name of the piece came through Arabic and Spanish from Persian farzīn “sage”;^[5] Old French fierge was taken for vierge “virgin”, and the Virgin then for the queen.^[5]

The sense “woman who reigns” is dated before 1535 (Francesco Berni).^[9] The fertile female of ants, bees and wasps is recorded in 1738, and in 1963 a dictionary mocked a proposal of 1948 to say ape madre instead of ape regina.^[9] The playing card is dated 1939–1940.^[9] Plant and fruit names followed: uva regina (1773) and regina dei vigneti (1942) for table grapes, and regina dei prati for meadowsweet, perhaps from French.^[9][2] Maltese borrowed the word as reġina.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1225 – Garzo calls the Virgin reina.^[9][10]
• 13th century – The chess piece is a regina in the Tavola Ritonda.^[9]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses regina “wife of the king”.^[9]
• Before 1535 – Francesco Berni has the sense “woman who reigns”.^[9]
• 1738 – Regina is used of the queen bee.^[9]
• 1872 – Tommaseo records la regina dei mari for Venice.^[9]
• 1905 – Reginetta is recorded.^[5]
• 1939–1940 – The playing card is called regina.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. queen, the wife of a king: Il re e la regina salutarono dal balcone.^[10][11][12]
2. A queen who reigns, the sovereign of a monarchy: la regina di Danimarca.^[10][11][7]
3. (figurative) A woman who stands out among others; also a city or thing that excels: la regina della serata, la rosa, regina dei fiori.^[10][7][13]
4. (religion) A title of the Virgin Mary, usually with a capital: Regina del cielo.^[10][14]
5. (zoology) The fertile female of social insects such as bees, ants, wasps and termites.^[10][7][13]
6. (chess) The queen, the most powerful piece.^[10][7]
7. (card games) The card between the king and the jack.^[10][13]

Word family

• reginetta
• reginella

Related words

• re
• regno
• regale
• reale
• Latin rēgīna

Usage notes

After a noun regina is used as an invariable modifier, as in ape regina.^[13][7] DEI lists separately the name of two white grape varieties (19th century) and of a sea fish (17th century, Redi).^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3223
3. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 831
4. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
5. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli