rainha

Forms

rainha f (plural rainhas, masculine rei, masculine plural reis)^[1] Medieval texts write raina, rayna, reínna and reya (13th century), arreyna and rrainha (14th century) and rainha (15th century).^[2][3] The Cantigas de Santa Maria write reynna dozens of times.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin rēgīna (“queen”), recorded as Old Galician-Portuguese reínna, Old Galician-Portuguese raina and Old Galician-Portuguese rayna in the 13th century.^[2][3][1] Aurélio calls it the popular development of the Latin word, and Nascentes traces it through the nasal forms Old Galician-Portuguese reĩa and Old Galician-Portuguese raĩa.^[5][6][7] Both a first syllable in ⟨re-⟩ and one in ⟨ra-⟩ occur from the start.^[2]

The same Latin word is Galician raíña, Spanish reina, Catalan reina, Occitan reina, French reine and Italian regina.^[8][1][9]

The Latin noun is formed from rēx (“king”) with the suffix -īna.^[10] Wiktionary calls the details uncertain, while the link with the word for “king” and Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to rule”) is clear.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to the 13th century from Cunha's slips of medieval Portuguese, with the forms raina, rayna, reínna and reya.^[2] The Cantigas de Santa Maria have reynna dozens of times, and the word heads cantiga 315 of the Cancioneiro da Ajuda.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word named both the wife of a king and a woman who reigns herself.^[2][3] Bluteau (1712) quotes Bernardo de Brito on why a donation of Prince Afonso Henriques calls Dona Teresa Rainha though her husband was a count: it was then usual to give the title to every king's daughter.^[11] Morais (1789) adds the queen in chess, the figurative sense “the foremost of a kind” (the eagle as rainha das aves) and the plant name rainha do prado.^[12]

Later senses are the queen of social insects, the queen in cards, varieties of apple, pear and mango, and the queen of a carnival or festival; in Rio Grande do Sul the girl chosen to head the “court” of a club or festivity.^[2][5][13]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records, as raina, rayna, reínna and reya.^[2][3]
• 13th century, second half – reynna throughout the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[4]
• 14th century – arreyna and rrainha.^[2]
• 15th century – the spelling rainha.^[2]
• 1491 – rainha in the Vida de Santo Elói.^[14]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary renders rainha by Latin regina.^[15]
• 1712 – Bluteau defines the queen as a sovereign princess or a king's wife.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais records the chess sense.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A queen, a woman who reigns over a kingdom.^[2][5][1]
2. The wife or widow of a king, a queen consort.^[2][5][1]
3. (figurative) A woman who holds absolute power.^[2][16]
4. (figurative) The foremost or most outstanding of a group; the woman elected queen of a carnival or festivity.^[2][17]
5. (entomology) The fertile female of a colony of ants, wasps, termites or bees.^[2][18]
6. (chess) The queen.^[2][1]
7. (cards) The queen, also called dama.^[2][1]
8. A variety of apple, pear or mango.^[2][19]

Word family

• abelha-rainha
• vice-rainha

Related words

• rei
• Latin rēgīna
• Galician raíña
• Spanish reina

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. rainha
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. rainha
4. ^ a b c Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. rainha
5. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. rainha
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. rainha
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 432
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. regina
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. rainha
12. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 281
13. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. rainha
14. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. rainha
15. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. rainha
16. ^ Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. rainha
17. ^ Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. rainha
18. ^ Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. rainha
19. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. rainha