regalia

Forms

regalia f (plural regalias)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish regalía (“right belonging to the king; privilege”), as Houaiss, Cunha, Nascentes, Aurélio and Wiktionary all derive it.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The Spanish word is a learned formation that Corominas lists among the derivatives of rey (“king”) and dates from 1640, in Saavedra Fajardo.^[6] It goes back to Latin rēgālis (“royal, kingly”), from rēx (“king”).^[7][8]

The dates do not fit the Spanish source well: Houaiss himself gives 1640 for the Spanish word, but Lorenzo found the plural Old Galician-Portuguese regalias in a Galician charter of 1473.^[2][9] Older dictionaries took the word straight from Latin: Vieira derives it from the Latin adjective, and Silva Bastos from the neuter plural rēgālia.^[10][11] Michaelis analyses it as a Latin stem with the suffix -ia.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a Galician charter of 1473, which complains that a house had lost o couto e vasallaje e regalias e moitos bees “its privileged land, vassalage, regalian rights and many goods”: the rights that belong to a lord by royal grant.^[9][2]

Semantic evolution

Houaiss gives the word two senses: the rights inherent in royalty, and, more widely, any privilege or prerogative.^[2] Vieira still defines it first as the sovereign's majestic right and royal jurisdiction, with “privilege, prerogative” as a further sense, and quotes the 18th-century Cartas of the Cavaleiro de Oliveira on a ruler who knew how to defend a sua jurisdição, e regalia.^[10] Today the broad sense is the usual one: the DLP adds the privileges and perks that go with a profession or social group.^[8][13]

Timeline

• 1473 – regalias in a Galician charter.^[9]
• 15th century – Cunha's date for the word.^[3]
• 1640 – the Spanish regalía is first recorded, in Saavedra Fajardo.^[6]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira defines it as the sovereign's right and as a privilege.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A right that belongs to the king or to royalty; a royal prerogative.^[2][5][1]
2. (by extension) A privilege or advantage; an immunity.^[2][14][1]
3. A perk or benefit attached to a profession or social position.^[8][13]

Related words

• rei
• real
• régio
• Latin rēgālis
• Spanish regalía

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. regalia
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. regalia
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. regalia
5. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. regalia
6. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 900
7. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. regalía
8. ^ a b c 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. regalia
9. ^ 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. regalia
10. ^ a b c Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 5, 155
11. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. regalia
12. ^ 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. regalia
13. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7921
14. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. regalia