realm

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A realm ( /ˈrɛlm/) is a community or territory over which a sovereign rules; it is commonly used to describe a kingdom or other monarchical or dynastic state.

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).^[1]

"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" (e.g. the 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). 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 may commonly also be used to describe the Commonwealth realms which all are kingdoms in their own right and share a common monarch, though they are fully independent of each other.

Realm directly translates into Reich in German. The term reich does not literally connote an empire as is commonly assumed, the term "Kaiserreich" literally denotes an empire - particularly a hereditary empire led by a literal emperor, though "reich" has been used in German to denote the Roman Empire because it has a weak hereditary tradition.^[2] In the case of the German Empire, the official name was Deutsches Reich that is properly translated as "German Realm" because the official position of head of state in the constitution of the German Empire was officially a "presidency" of a confederation of German states led by the King of Prussia who would assume "the title of German Emperor" as referring to the German people but was not emperor of Germany as in an emperor of a state.^[3] Dutch the word Rijk is synonymous to the German Reich, and is used as a designation for the national government.

See also

• Biogeographical realms

References

1. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition article "Realm"
2. ^ Harper's magazine, Volume 63. Pp. 593.
3. ^ Harper's magazine, Volume 63. November 1881. Pp. 593.

Attribution

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). "Realm". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Realm.