regnare

Forms

regnare (first-person singular present régno, first-person singular past historic regnài, past participle regnàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian rengnare, Old Italian regniare and Old Italian rennare.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin rēgnō (“to rule as a king”),^[4][5][6][2] a verb formed from rēgnum (“kingship, kingdom”), itself from rēx (“king”).^[7][8][9]

DEI notes that the Latin verb spread as a cultural word through all of Western Romance: Old French regner, Old Occitan renhar, Spanish reinar and Portuguese reinar.^[4][10][11] Latin rēx goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₃rḗǵs (“ruler, king”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is rengnare in a poem by Don Arrigo di Castiglia of about 1268; the form regnare follows in Dante, in the sense of ruling as king of a monarchy.^[12][2]

Semantic evolution

The sense widened from kings to any power or dominion (Giovanni Villani, before 1348) and to God's rule (Dante).^[12] Figuratively a thing “reigns” where it is everywhere present, a use recorded in Arrighetto (1304–1313), and Tommaseo's dictionary (1872) adds plants that thrive in a place.^[12] An old sense “to blow”, of the wind, is obsolete.^[13]

For emperors and popes Italian uses regnare, since imperare and pontificare are not common in that sense.^[14] The verb can be transitive in poetry, as in Foscolo.^[2][14]

Timeline

• About 1268 – Rengnare in Don Arrigo di Castiglia.^[12][2]
• 1304–1313 – Arrighetto uses it for “to prevail, be present”.^[12]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses regnare of kings and of God.^[12]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses it for “to hold power”.^[12]
• 1872 – Tommaseo's dictionary records it of plants that thrive.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To reign, to rule as monarch: La regina Vittoria regnò per oltre sessant'anni.^[2][7][13]
2. (intransitive) By extension, to rule as emperor or pope; of God, to reign.^[2][7]
3. (intransitive) To hold power, dominate: Per secoli Venezia regnò sull'Adriatico.^[2][7][13]
4. (intransitive, figurative) To prevail, be found everywhere: In casa regnava un silenzio assoluto.^[2][7][13]
5. (intransitive) Of plants and animals, to be dominant or thrive in a place.^[2][13]
6. (transitive, literary) To rule over, govern.^[2][14]

Word family

• regnante
• regnatore

Related words

• regno
• re
• reame
• Latin rēgnum

Usage notes

Regnare takes avere; old texts also have essere in the sense “to reign”.^[13][1]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 15, 724
4. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3224
5. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
6. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
12. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)