Realm

Realm

A realm (pronEng|rɛlm) is the dominion of a monarch: king, queen, emperor, empress, or other sovereign ruler.

The Old French word "reaume", modern French "royaume", was the word first adopted in English; the fixed modern spelling does not appear until the beginning of the 17th century. The word supposedly derives from medieval Latin "regalimen", from "regalis", of or belonging to a "rex", (king). [Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition article "Realm"]

"Realm" is particularly used for those states whose name includes the word "kingdom" (for example, the United Kingdom), to avoid clumsy repetition of the word in a sentence (for example, "The Queen's realm, the United Kingdom..."). It is also useful to describe those countries whose monarchs are called something other than "king" or "queen"; for example, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is a realm but not a kingdom since its monarch holds the title Grand Duke rather than King.

"Realm" is also frequently used to refer to territories that are "under" a monarch, yet are not a physical part of his or her "kingdom" (for example, the various Commonwealth Realms under the British Crown, in "Realm of Sweden," or to Holstein, which until the Second War of Schleswig was an important part of the Danish King's realm stretching to the border of Hamburg, although not a part of the Danish Kingdom). This Similarly, the Cook Islands, Niue, and Tokelau are considered parts of the "Realm of New Zealand," although they are not part of New Zealand proper. Likewise, the Faroe Islands and Greenland remain parts of the "Danish Realm."

Realm directly translates into "reich" in German, though the word "reich" is often used as a short form for 'kingdom' ("Königreich") and especially 'empire' ("Kaiserreich"). The German suffix -reich is only used for realms headed by a crowned monarch (or if they used to be, e.g. "Frankreich" for France). Territories ruled by non-crowned rulers end in the suffix -tum (engl.: -dom), i.e. Herzogtum (dukedom), Fürstentum (principality).

ee also

*Reich

References

RFC2617

Footnotes


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  • realm — [relm] n [Date: 1200 1300; : Old French; Origin: realme, from Latin regimen; REGIMEN] 1.) written a general area of knowledge, activity, or thought ▪ the spiritual realm realm of ▪ an idea that belongs in the realm of science fiction …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • Realm — steht im Englischen für Reich, Bereich, Domäne. Im Deutschen ist es ein Fachbegriff der Informatik. Bei Verzeichnisdiensten wie Active Directory, die z.B. über LDAP angesprochen werden, bezeichnet Realm die Gesamtheit aller Einträge eines… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • realm — [ relm ] noun count * 1. ) FORMAL a particular area of knowledge, experience, interest, etc.: the political/military realm realm of: This is not really within the realms of my experience. 2. ) MAINLY LITERARY a country ruled by a king or queen:… …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • Realm — (r[e^]lm), n. [OE. realme, ream, reaume, OF. reialme, roialme, F. royaume, fr. (assumed) LL. regalimen, from L. regalis royal. See {Regal}.] 1. A royal jurisdiction or domain; a region which is under the dominion of a king; a kingdom. [1913… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • realm — [relm] n. [ME reame, later realme < OFr, altered (by assoc. with reiel > ROYAL) < reaume < L regimen, rule: see REGIMEN] 1. a kingdom 2. a region; sphere; area [the realm of thought] 3. Ecol. any of the primary biogeographic regions… …   English World dictionary

  • realm — I noun area, authority, bailiwick, country, demesne, department, domain, dominion, empire, field, jurisdiction, kingdom, land, monarchy, orbit, perimeters, power, province, region, respublica, sphere, territory II index ambit, area (province),… …   Law dictionary

  • realm — (n.) late 13c., from O.Fr. reaume, probably from roiaume kingdom, altered (by influence of L. regalis regal ) from Gallo Romance *regiminem, accusative form of L. regimen system of government, rule (see REGIMEN (Cf. regimen)) …   Etymology dictionary

  • realm — [n] area of responsibility or rule branch, compass, country, department, dimension, domain, dominion, empire, expanse, extent, field, ground, kingdom, land, monarchy, neck of the woods*, neighborhood, orbit, place, principality, province, purview …   New thesaurus

  • realm — ► NOUN 1) archaic, literary, or Law a kingdom. 2) a field or domain of activity or interest. ORIGIN Old French reaume, from Latin regimen government …   English terms dictionary

  • realm — noun 1 area of activity/interest/knowledge ADJECTIVE ▪ whole ▪ the whole realm of human intellect ▪ new ▪ international ▪ public …   Collocations dictionary

  • realm — 01. The King was loved by all the people of his great [realm]. 02. The slogan of Germany s Nazi Party in the 1930s was, One [realm], one people, one leader. 03. In 3100 B.C., the King of Upper Egypt united the [realms] of Upper and Lower Egypt,… …   Grammatical examples in English

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