Viceroy and vicereine - and old word and a new word for me / myLot

Rockingham, Australia

April 26, 2023 3:13pm CST

The photo is of part of the formal garden at Kylemore Abbey. With all this sight-seeing and touring we’ve been doing, I guess it’s no surprise I’ve learnt a new word or two. I’ve known ‘viceroy’ for a long time but didn’t know there was a feminine form to it. ‘Viceroy’ can be gender neutral but there is also the word – vicereine – often used for the wife of a viceroy. ‘Reine’ is the French for ‘queen’ and the opposite is ‘roi’, king. Perhaps the spelling has been anglicised and we now have ‘viceroy’ rather than ‘viceroi’. Totally useless information but interesting to me.

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10 responses

OceanTiara

@RebeccasFarm (87082)

• United States

26 Apr 23

Useless but interesting..I learned a new word today then thanks Judy. Thanks even more for the lovely green of Ireland.

3 people like this

Judy Evans

@JudyEv (330214)

• Rockingham, Australia

28 Apr 23

Mayo actually has a lot of brown too. The vicereine was in a notice in Dublin Castle.

2 people like this

OceanTiara

@RebeccasFarm (87082)

• United States

28 Apr 23

@JudyEv Every place has brown bits..shite everywhere

2 people like this

Amber

@AmbiePam (87167)

• United States

26 Apr 23

I didn’t know the tidbit about the feminine form of a viceroy either.

3 people like this

Judy Evans

@JudyEv (330214)

• Rockingham, Australia

28 Apr 23

We learnt a lot of feminine and masculine forms at school but not this one.

2 people like this

snowy

@snowy22315 (173413)

• United States

26 Apr 23

I never heard the word vicerine either.

2 people like this

Judy Evans

@JudyEv (330214)

• Rockingham, Australia

28 Apr 23

We learnt a lot of masculine/feminines at school but this one got missed.

1 person likes this

Ron Rybs

@Ronrybs (18042)

• London, England

27 Apr 23

Wonder how often vicereine was used? Can't say I have heard it before

2 people like this

Judy Evans

@JudyEv (330214)

• Rockingham, Australia

28 Apr 23

It was in a notice in Dublin castle. It's the first time I've ever seen it.

2 people like this

Ruby Hawk

@RubyHawk (99410)

• Atlanta, Georgia

27 Apr 23

Very interesting words and the:gardens are beautiful. Nice that you can do so much sightseeing.

1 person likes this

Judy Evans

@JudyEv (330214)

• Rockingham, Australia

28 Apr 23

Only two more sleeps now and we'll be heading home.

1 person likes this

Judy Evans

@JudyEv (330214)

• Rockingham, Australia

29 Apr 23

@RubyHawk A bit of both. I don't think we'll be visiting Ireland again so that's a bit sad but it will also be nice to be home.

1 person likes this

Ruby Hawk

@RubyHawk (99410)

• Atlanta, Georgia

28 Apr 23

@JudyEv Are you sad to be leaving or anxious to get home?

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M Cheung

@Beestring (13732)

• Hong Kong

27 Apr 23

The garden is beautiful. I do not know those words. Learned something new.

2 people like this

Judy Evans

@JudyEv (330214)

• Rockingham, Australia

28 Apr 23

There are some words that even native English speakers aren't very familiar with.

2 people like this

rebelann1949

@rebelann (111865)

• El Paso, Texas

26 Apr 23

That's interesting. I've heard the word viceroy before but never bothered to find out what it referred to but I'd never heard vicereine before, I would think that only a wife of a king could have been a stand in for him if he'd gone off to war or whatnot ..... I have heard of a few ruling monarchs that were female but most were male.

1 person likes this

Judy Evans

@JudyEv (330214)

• Rockingham, Australia

28 Apr 23

Yes, it seems most rulers were kings or at least they got the most publicity.

1 person likes this

rebelann1949

@rebelann (111865)

• El Paso, Texas

28 Apr 23

Exactly.