Realm
5612299
223299046
2008-07-03T13:26:39Z
Ion.lesan
2531955
corrected the semi-colon to a colon
{{for|other meanings|Realm (disambiguation)}}
{{wiktionarypar|Realm}}
A '''realm''' (pronunciation: ''Brit.'' {{IPA|[reɫm]}}, ''Amer.'' {{IPA|[rɛɫm]}}) 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).<ref>[[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition]] article "Realm"</ref>
"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).
==See also==
*[[Reich]]
==References==
{{1911|article=REALM}}
RFC2617
==Footnotes==
<references/>
[[Category:Monarchy]]
[[bg:Кралство]]
[[cs:Království]]
[[de:Königreich]]
[[fr:Royaume]]
[[hr:Kraljevina]]
[[nds:Königriek]]
[[simple:Kingdom]]
[[wa:Rweyåme]]