regină

Forms

regină f (plural regine, masculine equivalent rege)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin rēgīna (“queen”), a learned borrowing.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]} The Latin noun is formed on rēx (“king”) with the suffix -īna.^[7][1] The word was inherited in Romance: Italian regina, French reine, Spanish reina, Portuguese rainha.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to about 1700, in the Lexicon Marsilianum, a Latin–Romanian–Hungarian dictionary of the 17th century;^[2][3] MDA2 cites it from Tagliavini's edition of 1930.^[2][3] The sense is “queen”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In the 19th century the word spread with the press and literature: DLR quotes Asachi and a newspaper of 1846 on the queen's reply.^[5] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 defined it as the king's wife or the sovereign of a kingdom ruled by women.^[9] Figurative uses followed: Costinescu has the rose as „regina florilor” “the queen of flowers” and regina balului “the belle of the ball”.^[10] It also names the queen bee, the queen in chess and plants such as regina-nopții (Nicotiana).^[4][2] Regional speech uses it for a freshwater fish and a variety of maize.^[3][11]

Timeline

• c. 1700 – regină in the Lexicon Marsilianum, the first record.^[2]
• 1846 – the queen's reply in a newspaper.^[5]
• 1848 – defined in Negulici's dictionary.^[9]
• 1870 – regina florilor and regina balului in Costinescu.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The sovereign of a kingdom, a woman reigning as monarch.^[4][3]
2. The wife of a king.^[4][3]
3. (figurative) A person or thing holding the first or dominant place: regina florilor.^[4][6]
4. regina-nopții: garden plants of the genus Nicotiana whose fragrant flowers open at nightfall.^[4]
5. (entomology) The queen bee, the fertile female; matcă.^[4][3]
6. (chess) The queen, the strongest piece after the king; damă.^[4][3]

Related words

• rege

Usage notes

Beside the standard plural regine, popular speech has regini.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. regină
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 680
4. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 936
5. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. regină
6. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. regină
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7171
9. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. regină
10. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 416
11. ^ Marin, Maria; Mărgărit, Iulia, Glosar dialectal. Muntenia, București: Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti”, p. 368