Etymologically
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regio

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈrɛ.ɡi.oː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈrɛː.d͡ʒi.o][1]

Forms

regiō f (genitive regiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin regō (“to direct, guide”) + -iō.[2][3] The verb is inherited from Proto-Italic *reg-e/o-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ-e/o- (“to stretch, direct”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[4] who asks in what district a son bought a house.[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

Its basic sense was a direction or line, as in rēctā regiōne “in a straight line” and ē regiōne “opposite”.[2][6][1] It also meant relative position, geographical situation and a boundary line, especially the lines marking out the sky in augury.[2] From this it came to mean a part of a larger area, a district or region, a region of the sky or of the body, and figuratively a field of thought or activity.[2] Döderlein contrasts regiō, a space seen as a circle, with locus, a single point, and tractus, a line.[7]

Isidore derived it from rēctōrēs, governors.[3] In medieval Latin it was a kingdom, the district of a city, a county and a principality.[8] It survives in Italian rione (“district of a city”), and was borrowed as French région; English region is recorded about 1300.[1][9]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a district of a town.[2][5]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of the boundary lines in augury.[2][5]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar uses rēctā regiōne “in a straight line”.[6][5]
  • Middle Ages – It is used of a kingdom and a county.[8]
  • c. 1300 – English region is recorded.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A direction, line, ē regiōne, opposite.[2][1]
  2. Relative position; geographical situation.[2]
  3. A boundary line, (augury) the lines marking out the sky.[2]
  4. A district, region, locality.[2]
  5. A region of the sky; a part of the body.[2]
  6. A field of thought or activity, sphere.[2]
  7. (Medieval Latin) A kingdom; a county; a principality.[8]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  8. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com