A
realm () is a
dominion of a
monarch 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).
"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, 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
