regnum

English

Etymology

From Latin rēgnum (“kingdom”). Doublet of reign.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɛɡ.nəm/

Noun

regnum (plural regnums or regna)

1. (biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below dominium and above divisio.

   Synonym: kingdom

2. A badge of royalty, especially the early form of the pope's tiara.

Anagrams

• Munger

Latin

Etymology

From rēx (“king”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈreːɡ.num/, [ˈreːŋnʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈreɲ.ɲum/, [ˈrɛɲːum]

• Audio (Classical Latin, educated guess):

  (file)

Noun

rēgnum n (genitive rēgnī); second declension

1. royal power, power, control, reign
2. kingdom, realm, throne

   Sum sine rēgnō. ― I am without a kingdom.

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.199–200:

     Templa Iovī centum lātīs immānia rēgnīs,
     centum ārās posuit [...].

     [Iarbas] in his far-reaching realms had built a hundred great temples, a hundred altars, for Jupiter.
     (See: Iarbas, Iovi.)

3. kingship, royalty
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 5.461–462:

     ‘quī modo, sī volucrēs habuissem rēgna iubentēs,
     in populō potuī maximus esse meō’

     “I who just now, if I would have had the bird-omens ordaining kingship, I might have been able to be the greatest among my people.”
     (The ghost of Remus laments how the auspices or bird-omens instead favored his brother Romulus to be king; see Romulus and Remus.)

4. in a negative sense: despotism, tyranny, aspiring to or seeking the throne or royal power during the Roman Republic
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 6.189–190:

     vīxit, ut occīderet damnātus crīmine rēgnī:
     hunc illī titulum longa senecta dabat.

     He lived, that he might die, having been condemned in the crime of [aspiring to] royal power: This [is] the title that was given him in old age.
     (See: Marcus Manlius Capitolinus.)

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	rēgnum	rēgna
Genitive	rēgnī	rēgnōrum
Dative	rēgnō	rēgnīs
Accusative	rēgnum	rēgna
Ablative	rēgnō	rēgnīs
Vocative	rēgnum	rēgna

Derived terms

• rēgnō
• vicerēgnum

 

Descendants

• Old Leonese: regno
  • Asturian: reinu
  • Extremaduran: reinu
  • Leonese: reinu
  • Mirandese: reino
• Catalan: regne
• Dalmatian: raigno
• French: règne
  • → English: reign
  • → Romanian: regn
• Friulian: regn
• Italian: regno
• Ligurian: régno
• Old Galician-Portuguese: reino, reyno
  • Fala: reinu
  • Galician: reino
  • Portuguese: reino
• Piedmontese: regn
• Sicilian: regnu
• Sardinian: regnu, arregnu, rennu
• Spanish: reino
• Translingual: regnum

References

• “regnum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “regnum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• regnum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• regnum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to take upon oneself absolute power: imperium, regnum, tyrannidem occupare
    
  • to aspire to the sovereignty: regnum appetere (B. G. 7. 4)
    
  • to obtain the sovereignty, kingly office: regnum adipisci
    
  • to invest some one with royal power: alicui regnum deferre, tradere
    
  • to restore a king to his throne (not in solium): aliquem in regnum restituere
    
  • (ambiguous) to depose a king: aliquem regno spoliare or expellere (Div. 1. 22. 74)
    
• “regnum”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly