rei

Forms

rei m (plural reis, feminine rainha, feminine plural rainhas)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote rei, rey, rrey and rej, and Houaiss records the Latinising rex and reix in the 14th century.^[2][3] Bluteau (1712–1728) heads the word Rei, ou Rey.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin rēx (“king”), written Old Galician-Portuguese rei and Old Galician-Portuguese rey in the oldest texts.^[2][5][1] Wiktionary and Nascentes derive it from the accusative of the Latin word.^[1][5] The glossary of the Cancioneiro da Ajuda explains the word as coming from an older Old Galician-Portuguese ree.^[3]

The same Latin word is Galician rei, Spanish rey, Catalan rei, French roi and Italian re.^[6][1]

The Latin word goes back to *rēks and *h₃rḗǵs (“ruler, king”).^[7][1] Its closest cognates are rí (“king”) and राजन् (rā́jan, “king”), so that the word belongs to the vocabulary of rule shared by the eastern and western ends of the Indo-European world.^[7][1][8] The OLD relates it to the verb regō (“to rule, guide”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Latin charter of 1101 already has the Romance form in a place name, inter Almahala de Rei.^[3] Houaiss and Machado date the word in Portuguese to 1214.^[2][3] In the Cantigas de Santa Maria Alfonso X calls himself Don Affonso de Castela, de Toledo, de Leon Rey, and the poems speak of o bon rei Davi and of os tres Reis, the Magi.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The troubadours of the Cancioneiro da Ajuda use rei with the Portuguese article, o bon rei, but put the Spanish article el before it only when they speak of the kings of Castile and León.^[3] Bluteau (1712–1728) still names the King of Portugal el-Rey.^[4] He quotes João de Barros on the difference between the titles Rey and Senhor, as in Rey de Portugal but Senhor de Guinè.^[4]

From the monarch the word passed to anyone who holds absolute power, to the most outstanding member of a group, to the principal piece in chess and to the court cards of a pack.^[2][10] The plural Reis names Epiphany, the feast of the Magi, and in Brazil Rei Momo is the king of carnival.^[2][11] In Portuguese dialects the word also names the winner or first player in a game, a variety of red maize and a variety of fig.^[12]

The word passed into the creoles (Kabuverdianu and Papiamentu rei, Kristang re, Sãotomense alê) and was borrowed into Old Tupi as reîa.^[1]

Timeline

• 1101 – a Latin charter has the place name Almahala de Rei.^[3]
• 1214 – first record of the Portuguese word.^[2][3]
• 13th century – rei and rey in the Cantigas de Santa Maria and the Cancioneiro da Ajuda, with os tres Reis for the Magi.^[3][2]
• 1340 – the spelling rej;^[2] rex, reix and rrey in the 14th century.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders Rei by Latin rex.^[13]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau heads the word Rei, ou Rey and discusses the titles of the kings of Portugal.^[4]
• 1881 – the original Caldas Aulete gives the senses of the playing card and the chess piece.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A king, the sovereign ruler of a kingdom (reino); a monarca.^[2][14][1]
2. In some monarchies, the title of the queen's husband.^[11][14]
3. (by extension) Someone who holds absolute power.^[2][10]
4. (figurative) The most outstanding member of a group or the leading figure in a field; a dominant producer of something: o rei do café.^[2][10]
5. (chess) The king, the principal piece, whose checkmate ends the game.^[2][11][1]
6. (card games) Each of the four court cards ranking above the jack and the queen.^[2][15][1]
7. (in the plural, Reis) Epiphany, the feast of the Magi on 6 January: Dia de Reis.^[2][15]

Word family

• el-rei
• vice-rei
• bolo-rei
• astro-rei
• aqui-d'el-rei
• peixe-rei
• Dia de Reis

Related words

• realeza
• reinado
• reinar
• reino
• rainha
• Latin rēx
• Galician rei
• Spanish rey

Usage notes

Rei morto, rei posto “the king is dead, a king is set up” is said when a vacancy is filled at once.^[2][15] Ter o rei na barriga “to have the king in one's belly” means to be arrogant and self-important, and sem rei nem roque “without king or rook” means without order or government.^[11][15] The feminine is rainha;^[11][7] Latin had rēgīna (“queen”) beside the word for king.^[11][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. rei
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. rei
4. ^ a b c d Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. rei
5. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. rei
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. rex
7. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. rēx
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. roi
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. rex
10. ^ a b c d 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. rei
11. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. rei
12. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. rei
13. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. rei
14. ^ a b 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. rei
15. ^ a b c d Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7939